Leith Writings

Leith on the page

Call for submissions: Leith Writings fourth edition.

Our theme for edition 104 is Sea-Change.

Our name, Leith, comes from a Gaelic word meaning ‘liquid’. The town has been at
the rivermouth for 1,000 years, changing all the time. What does change mean to
our home, our family, ourselves? To resist change, to be a part of it, to be perplexed
by it, to celebrate it. Change has a past, a present and a future.

GUIDANCE
We welcome anything from a haiku to 3,000 words, in any genre: poetry, short
story, non-fiction, a drama script. It could be in another language, with a translation in English. You can include a simple illustration or picture to accompany your text. You could send a graphic/cartoon strip, to occupy no more than 6 pages (see page dimensions below). You can also send creative typography, a handwritten piece, with its own calligraphy or integrated decoration.


This is primarily an anthology of writing, but there may be room for a few images,
with or without caption or title.

Note that all printing is monochrome. Page size is 14×20.5 cm: artists, allow room for margins. If the proportions are good, we can size the image to fit the page.


The author’s or artist’s name of each selected piece will be given on the page.
If you are a school pupil we will normally give your age and/or your school alongside your name. See our previous editions for our house style.

CONDITIONS
Submissions to be sent to hello@leithwritings.co.uk by the end of June 2024.

We can only accept submissions in a Word document or as a pdf. Images,
calligraphy, and any particular formatting should be in pdf.


Please include the following with each entry:
I … [name] … assert that the work above titled … [ title of work] … is my own work,
and is not subject to any copyright restrictions. I give permission to Leith Writings to
publish it in its forthcoming anthology edition 104 in hard copy and online.
[Name] (digital signature) … [date].


If it has been published before elsewhere, you will need to assert that you have
permission for us to use it. Leith Writings will make no payment for permission to publish. Leith Writings makes no copyright claim on any material we publish.

PROCEDURE
Selection will be made on the basis of
o literary / artistic merit;
o distinctiveness of ‘the voice’;
o the pursuit of a balanced anthology.

Selection will be made during July and August. All entrants will be informed of the
selection in the first week of September.

The launch party will be on 1 or 2 November 2024, at a Leith venue. The author or artist of each piece in the anthology will be invited to present their work. Each contributor will be given two hard copies of the book. Other copies are for free issue in Leith. Argonaut Books 15-17 Leith Walk is normally a collection point, where donations towards this issue and edition 105 can be made.
All named donors to our justgiving page are listed in the next edition.
We welcome promotion of Leith Writings in any appropriate social media.
All money raised is spent on production. Nobody at Leith Writings takes any money.

Call for submissions….Leith Writings: third edition

What we’re looking for:


This year’s theme is persevere…

The selection panel is looking for anything in length from a haiku up to 3000 words. Your piece can be poetry, fiction, short story, non-fiction, or lyrics. Leith, in some form, should be recognisably present in the work, however creatively expressed. Persevere… could relate to Leith, or to the cost of living crisis, or to whatever your imagination leads you to.

You can also send creative typography, a handwritten piece, with its own calligraphy and/or integrated decoration, scanned as a PDF in its final form.

You can include a simple illustration or picture to accompany your text, although you must be able to show that you have permission for us to use it.

*Note that all printing in the final book is monochrome.

The work should be your own and be original. If it has been published before elsewhere, we will need proof that you have permission for us to use it. Leith Writings makes no copyright claims on any material we publish.

How to submit your writing:

Please send a copy in either Word or PDF format to:
mail@leithwalks.co.uk


You must include your name and contact details in your email. Please also put your name on each page of your submission. Please complete the following statement and include it with your submission:

I am the creator of the work above titled [… …]. I assert that it is not the subject of copyright with any other body, and I hereby give permission to Leith Writings to publish it in the forthcoming annual edition no 103.

Signed [… …] date [… …]

The panel would like to include younger voices of Leith, so please let us know if you’re under 18. If you do not wish to be identified as the author of your piece in the final book, let us know. We’re happy to oblige.

When to submit your work:

The closing date for us to receive entries is midnight on the 1st of July 2023.
We will contact you by the 2nd of September 2023 with our decision.

The launch of the 2023 edition will be in November 2023. Please note we may also ask you to attend the launch event or take part in some publicity to promote the book.


Please also note that as a small, volunteer-led project, we will not be able to make any payment for contributions. We will provide all the authors selected for inclusion with two free copies of the book.


The book will be free and will be distributed by Leith Writings. Any donations or payments made for copies will be used to cover costs such as print or postage. Any excess will be used towards next year’s edition.

Neither Leith Writings volunteers nor the selection panel will receive any payment.


The selection panel is Megan Rudden (writer and visual artist); Annie McCrae (writer and teacher) and Aly Barr (Scottish Poetry Library).

A gallery of authors

A galaxy of talent. Some of the authors who contributed to The Darting Salamander presented their work at the launch in Out of the Blue on Tuesday 2 November 2021.

There are a few more pictures lurking on a mobile phone somewhere and we will add them as soon as we track them down.

In the pictures you will see…storytelling, poetry, polemic and song.

Top row: from left, the audience gathering at Out of the Blue, Carol Marr and grand-daughter Iona; Nick Gardner.

Second row: Alan Addison; Gavin Booth; Ali Rutherford

Third row: Sally Fraser; Megan Rudden; Gordon Munro

Fourth row: Stewart Lowe; Conrad Molleson

What is Leith Writings?

Megan Rudden; Annie McCrea; Gordon Munro; Billy Gould; [top of Sally Fraser’s head]; Norman Oyoo; Stewart Lowe; Gavin Booth; Alan Addison; Ali Rutherford; Tim Bell

Leith authors have come together to form a loose collective and create Leith Writings. This is the first of a new series of Leith anthologies, containing stories by Leith authors.

We plan to make this an annual release, and welcome contact from any writers (or potential writers) with a Leith connection who would like to get involved.

If you are interested in finding out more please contact us!

The picture shows The Darting Salamander team – some of the writers, poets, artists and performers who celebrated the delivery of the first edition., Leith’s first anthology, at Out of the Blue on Tuesday 2 November.

Just 300 copies, beautifully crafted by Out of the Blueprint. The first print run has been quite small (to fit our budget). We are currently fundraising to pay for more printings, and to enable us to continue working to produce future editions.

See our JustGiving campaign HERE – we first set a target of £3,000 to cover essential costs of printing and launching this handsome first edition. Now, thanks to the warmhearted support of Leithers we need just £350 more to meet the final costs of the pioneering first anthology. Any extra will go towards the bumper 2022 edition. All contributions are welcome.

The plan is for this to be an annual release on the 2nd of November each year. This date has been selected to commemorate the anniversary of the Edinburgh Boundaries and Tramways Extension bill. The bill was enacted on that date in 1920.

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