As Sound Walk September opens, we are delighted to be able to publish short prose and poetry from more than 20 authors who have been long listed in our inaugural writing competition.

There are some great stories and beautiful poetry to enjoy, all inspired by walking and listening: listening to our surroundings. listening to conversations overheard, listening to birds and even listening to the mechanics of warfare.

The WRITE ABOUT WALKING & LISTENING writing competition was launched in July and submitters were asked to write poetry or prose in fewer than 250 words. We were bowled over by the quality and quantity of submissions, receiving  more than 120 pieces – remarkably, evenly balanced between poetry and prose.

We had four volunteer judges, Dr Kerri Andrews and Geert Vermeire considered the poetry entries, and Nick Hallissey and Nigel Bristow the prose entries. They narrowed down the submissions to a long list of 26 pieces which you will find published here 

“In all honesty there were no entries we thought were poor or which did not provoke thought and pause. The richness of observation, language and emotion was quite staggering throughout. We enjoyed the pieces which focused on in-the-moment observations of nature; these seem to be the ambient baseline of the entries. We’ve given our highest scores to entries that we thought had genuine uniqueness or strangeness, or a distinct and thought-provoking voice. We also wanted to reward entries which felt especially close to the aims and outlook of Walk Listen Create.”

From our judges

Next week we will be announcing those of the long list who have made it to the shortlist. Those shortlisted will have their pieces included in an illustrated chap book anthology called WALKING which will be published by Sampson Low Publishers in the next couple of weeks (fingers crossed) as well as having the opportunity of reading their work aloud at the WRITE ABOUT WALKING Sound Walk Story Sunday Showcase on the Sunday 26 September (Book a ticket to the showcase here).  At the Showcase event the winners in each of the poetry and prose categories will be announced and will be crowned Walk Listen Create on-line Writer in Residence for 2021/22.