Competition

End paper

28 March 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2890 you were invited to imagine that one of the major newspapers has ceased publication and provide…

End paper

26 March 2015 3:00 pm

In Competition No. 2890 you were invited to imagine that one of the major newspapers has ceased publication and provide…

Men behaving badly

21 March 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2889 you were invited to submit an extract from an imaginary novel written from the perspective of…

Men behaving badly

19 March 2015 3:00 pm

In Competition No. 2889 you were invited to submit an extract from an imaginary novel written from the perspective of…

Acrostic

14 March 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2888 you were invited to submit a poem in the style of a well-known poet, the first…

Heaven and hell

7 March 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2887 you were invited to describe your idea of heaven or hell in verse. Nietzsche famously said…

Londoner’s Diary

28 February 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2886 you were invited to submit a Pepys’-eye view of modern life. Pepys’s candid and minutely observed…

As you liken it

21 February 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2885 you were invited to write a sonnet beginning ‘Shall I compare thee to a [trisyllable of…

Hair brained

14 February 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2884 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of beards. The beard has…

Your problem solved

7 February 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2883 you were invited to cast a well-known writer, living or dead, in the role of agony…

Election blues

31 January 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2882 you were invited to submit a blues song written by a well-known politician contemplating the impending…

Lines on law

24 January 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2881 you were invited to do as Carol Ann Duffy has done and provide an amusing poem…

Hard sell

17 January 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2880 you were invited to provide a publicity blurb for the Bible to sell it to a…

Rehabilitation

10 January 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2879 you were invited to follow in the footsteps of Hilary Mantel and provide a scene that…

New year haiku

3 January 2015 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2878 you were invited to submit a poem composed of three haikus that looks forward to the…

Season’s greetings

13 December 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2877 you were invited to submit a Christmas round robin as it might have been written by…

It’s a rap

6 December 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2876 you were invited to submit an example of an ill-advised foray by a poet laureate, past…

Verse Viagra

29 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2875 you were invited to submit a poem about an unlikely aphrodisiac. Thanks are due to that…

Problem child

22 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2874 you were invited to submit a scene written by a well-known children’s author of the past…

Concrete poem

15 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2873 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of a well-known building. It…

Thanks but no thanks

8 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2872 you were invited to submit an author’s acknowledgments page that contains subtle indications that no thanks…

Two hander

1 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2871 you were invited to submit a dialogue in verse between man and God. The tone of…

Autumn villanelle

25 October 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2870 you were invited to submit an autumn villanelle. Stephen Fry likes villanelles. The form inspired him…

Spooner verse

18 October 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2869 you were invited to submit a poem on any theme as it might have been written…

Magic touch

11 October 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2868 you were invited to take something mundane and filter it through the lens of magic realism.…