Beastly
In Competition No. 3192 you were invited to submit a short story that features an animal (or animals) taking revenge…
Cancel culture
In Competition No. 3191 you were invited to submit a Shakespearean soliloquy reflecting on the news that the Bard has…
First and worst
In Competition No. 3190 you were invited to submit the first paragraph of your least favourite type of novel. Sci-fi…
Heaven scent
In Competition No. 3189 you were invited to submit a poem about a favourite smell. This challenge certainly seemed to…
No place like home
In Competition No. 3188, a challenge designed to make us all feel better about the looming prospect of another enforced…
Wave power
In Competition No. 3187 you were asked to provide a sea shanty on a topical theme. This challenge was an…
Mixed messages
In Competition No. 3186 you were invited to supply an acrostic poem praising or dispraising a public figure, in which…
The state we’re in
In Competition No. 3185 you were invited to compose a sonnet called ‘England in 2021’. The challenge was inspired by…
Laughter lines
In Competition No. 3184 you were invited to tell a joke in verse form. This challenge, suggested by a reader…
Adverbial
In Competition No. 3183 you were invited to submit a short story entitled ‘My Year of Living [insert adverb of…
Over to the dark side
In Competition No. 3182 you were invited to rewrite a famous piece of light verse with a dirge-like, hieratic tone…
Naysayers
In Competition No. 3181 you were invited to submit a letter by a publisher rejecting a well-known literary classic. The…
Cautionary tales
In Competition No. 3180 you were invited to submit a Belloc-esque cautionary tale featuring a high-profile public figure. Cautionary Tales…
Singular sonnet
In Competition No. 3179 you were invited to submit a Christmas hit single rewritten as a sonnet. This seasonal challenge…
What the Dickens
In Competition No. 3178 you were invited to submit an extract from a Dickensian novel based around the name of…
Backchat
In Competition No. 3177 you were invited to submit a well-known fictional person’s view of their author. Highlights in a…
To the city
In Competition No. 3176 you were invited to write a poem to a city. This challenge was inspired by both…
A bit previous
In Competition No. 3175 you were invited to submit a prequel to a well-known poem. C. Paul Evans’s opening to…
True to type
In Competition No. 3174 you were invited to write a poem in which each line begins with the letters A…
Hyper deflation
In Competition No. 3173 you were invited to give a fresh twist to a well-known single line of poetry by…
Now We Are Six
In Competition No. 3172 you were invited to submit a poem about the government’s coronavirus messaging. Many of you, nudged…
Economies of scale
In Competition No. 3171, a challenge suggested by a kind reader, you were invited to submit a requiem in verse…
Letter of the law
In Competition No. 3170, a challenge inspired by Shelley’s assertion that ‘poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world’, you…
In my end is my beginning
In Competition No. 3169 you were invited to submit a poem about autumn in which the last letter of each…
The art of saying no
In Competition No. 3168 you were invited to compose a response on the part of a well-known writer to an…
