North West is the ‘write’ place for inspiration

North West compass

From Beryl Bainbridge to Anthony Burgess and William Wordsworth to Jeanette Winterson, the North West of England has been home to some of the country’s greatest novelists, screenwriters and poets.

Now the University of Salford is searching for new talent to enter a creative writing competition with stories, poems and memoirs inspired by their experiences of the region.

Entrants to Write Northwest can interpret the theme in any way they choose but judges, including The Curry Mile author Zahid Hussein, will be looking for a distinctive ‘Northwest’ flavour to the writing.

The overall winner can look forward to a free semester of teaching on a University of Salford Creative Writing MA course of their choice, and the work of the winner and runners up will be published in an anthology by Liverpool-based writers’ co-operative and small publishing house Erbacce Press.

Works can take the form of a single poem or a short story or memoir of up to 1,500 words and there is a £2 fee per entry. The competition closes on Friday 9 March with results announced on Saturday 31 March.

Competition organiser Dr Ursula Hurley, Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the heritage, culture and unique spirit of the North West of England. We hope to inspire new and established writers to create something special. All the shortlisted authors will be published in an internationally-available anthology, and we hope to work with the winner to develop their talent even further.”