The compelling collection of poetry and short fiction in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Anthology unites established and emerging literary talent from around the world, and features the winners and finalists from this year’s Aesthetica Creative Writing Award. The prize was established to celebrate writers and poets and showcase their work to a wider audience. With over 140 pages of captivating stories in under 2,000 words alongside contemporary poetry, the anthology is a great opportunity for literary lovers to discover inspirational new writing.
Covering a broad range of topics from family relationships, love, loss and identity with satire too, the works in this unique collection draw upon many different aspects of contemporary life. The Award is judged by literary experts including Arifa Akbar, Literary Editor of the Independent and inewspapers and professor and poet Oz Hardwick who give insightful introductions to the current face of storytelling and poetry-writing, contextualising the outstanding entries for 2014.
This collection comes at an important time, as the short story form has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. Arifa Akbar comments on the form’s development in today’s literary culture: “our most critically acclaimed writers such as Margaret Atwood, George Saunders, Lorrie Moore and Graham Swift have proved with their latest collections that the short story is to be taken seriously and not merely a transitional form for fledging novelists-in-training.” The short story is celebrated in this anthology as an art form and a powerful communicative tool.
The selected poems this year also demonstrate the capability of skilled writers to construct patterns that catch the eye and evoke new meanings. Poet Oz Hardwick praises the collection for its stimulating first impression: “even before I’ve read a word, the pages offer tantalising landscapes, each one different, that invite the reader to exploration.” The themes are just as exciting, and the use of unique phrases paint exquisite pictures that will stay with you long after reading.
Share the joy of discovering new writing with this fantastic book, which readers can return to time and time again. To order your copy of the Aesthetica Creative Writing Anthology visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/shop.
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Credits
1. Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual 2015 cover image: Marcus Lyon, EXODUS VI – West Lamma Channel, South China Sea (2011). Courtesy of the artist and Aesthetica.
