Bold Types Scottish Women’s Creative Writing Competition

Be bold and submit your short stories and poems to our annual writing competition. We’re following Book Week Scotland theme’s this year – CELEBRATION – and we can’t wait to see what you conjure up!

Email your short stories and poems of up to 1000 words (either in a Word Document or typed in the body of the e-mail) to info@womenslibrary.org.uk with Bold Types Competition Entry in the subject line. You can enter once in each category, with a new piece of writing that hasn’t been submitted elsewhere. The closing date for entries is 5pm on Thursday 14^th October.

Shortlisted writers will read their stories and poems on Thursday 18th November at our online Bold Types Creative Writing Showcase. Our wonderfully supportive and encouraging panel of judges include poet and filmmaker Sunnah Khan, member of 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE poetry collective; writer Noren Haq, whose short story features in the recent anthology ‘A made in heaven: Muslim women write about love and desire’; and GWL’s own librarian, Wendy Kirk. Winners will be announced on the night and prizes include a one-to-one mentoring session with one of our judges and a selection of covetable books!

Do you want to get involved but need a bit of help? Have no fear because our Bold Types workshops are here to help you be bold! We have an online Creative Writing & Editing Mistress Class on Wednesday 29^th September, the ideal place to try out some fantastic fiction and ravishing rhymes with thought-provoking writing exercises. If your work is almost there and you’d like some editing encouragement, this session will also support you to polish your writing gem until it sparkles.

Closing date: Thursday 14^th October, 5pm

Submitting your work: email your short stories and poems of up to 1,000 words to info@womenslibrary.org.uk in a Word Document or typed in the body of the e-mail with ‘Bold Types Competition Entry’ in the subject line.  Writers retain full copyright of their work.

Who can enter? If you are a woman* who was born in Scotland or you live or have lived in Scotland, you can enter the Bold Types competition. *This is inclusive of Trans and Intersex women, as well as non-binary and gender fluid people.

Supported by Book Week Scotland 2021.

Terms and Conditions

1. Entries received after 5pm Thursday 14th October 2021 will not be eligible for the Bold Types competition.
2. Writers may submit only once to each category (one story and one poem), with a new piece of writing that hasn’t been submitted elsewhere.
3. Writers retain full copyright of their work and we will only publish work on womenslibrary.org.uk with the permission of each winning writer.
4. The competition is open to women residents of Scotland, women who have previously lived in Scotland, or women born in Scotland of any age.
5. There is no entry fee, no purchase necessary and you do not need to attend the Bold Types workshop to enter this competition.