The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is open for entries until 31 August, presenting a fantastic opportunity for short fiction and poetry writers to showcase their work to a wider audience. Judges include Arifa Akbar, Literary Editor at The Independent and i newspapers and Professor Oz Hardwick, Writer, Photographer and Musician. The Award invites submissions from writers at any stage in their career. Prizes include publication for shortlisted writers, and a consultation with Christine Green Authors’ Agent and Apples and Snakes for the poetry and fiction winners respectively. Previous finalists include Lesley Quayle, Sharon Black, Lauren K. Alleyne and Christina Lloyd.

Lesley Quayle
Lesley Quayle is a poet, folk/blues singer and former editor of Aireings. Her latest collection, Sessions was inspired by music and her love of the stunning landscapes of Yorkshire. Recent work has featured in Prole, Interpreter’s House and City Fox, among others, also online poetry blogs And Other Poems and Stares Nest. Poems have been recorded for neo:anthology and Litworks and a recent foray into flash fiction saw her win first place in the Spectator competition. Her poem, Gone Far Away, won first prize in the Ian Rennie, Rhyme and Reason Competition. She is currently finishing her first novel.

Sharon Black
Originally from Glasgow, Sharon Black now lives in the Cévennes mountains of southern France. Previously she was a journalist and taught English in France and Japan. She currently runs a holiday venue and organises creative writing retreats. Her poetry has been published widely. In 2013 she won Ilkley Literature Festival Poetry Competition and Sentinel Annual Poetry Competition and was runner-up in the Troubadour Poetry Prize. Her first collection, To Know Bedrock, was published by Pindrop in 2011. Her second, The Art Of Egg, is forthcoming from Two Ravens in late 2014.

Lauren K. Alleyne
Lauren K. Alleyne is the author of Difficult Fruit (Peepal Tree Press, 2014). Her poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and interviews have been widely published in journals and anthologies, including Guernica, The Crab Orchard Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, New York Arts Magazine, Growing Up Girl, and Gathering Ground, among others. She has been awarded an Iowa Artist Grant, two Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg poetry prizes, a Small Axe literary prize, and fellowships from organizations such as A Room of Her Own Foundation, The Fine Arts Work Center, The Saltonstall Foundation, and Cave Canem. Most recently, she was selected as the summer 2015 Picador Guest Professor in Literature at the University of Leipzig.

Christina Lloyd
A finalist in Aesthetica’s Creative Writing Award in 2012 and 2013, Christina Lloyd is a poet whose work has appeared in Pearl, The GW Review, The North and other publications. Her pamphlets Territories (Finishing Line Press) and Heels Chafing on the Shore (Blue Light Press) were published in the States, and she is finalising work on her third pamphlet, From Maps and Albums. Esperanza selected for the 2014 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is about witnessing the advancement of Alzheimer’s disease in a loved one.

Entries close 31 August for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award. For more information and to submit visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.

Credits
1. Gracjana Rejmer, Hammer Reality of Sweet Paradise. Aesthetica Art Prize Painting and Drawing Finalist. Courtesy of the artist and Aesthetica.

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