January is tough, and it can be difficult to get back in motion, so here are some timely ideas provided by the Novelry. Five suggestions for overcoming writer’s block and five for finding new inspiration.
Faridah is the young writer, born and brought up in Croydon but proud of her Nigerian heritage, whose first novel Ace of Spades shot to best-selling success and a place on the New York Times Top Ten.
We are restarting our ‘Writer of the Month’ competition!
The theme this month is “Light and Dark”, fitting for this time of year and the times we are living in. Entries can be prose or poetry but should be short – flash fiction or a single stanza of verse. Entries should be a Word document attached to an email, or in the body of an email. Please send them to Stella at:
You will then be sent all the entries to read and asked to return your vote for the top three. The closing date will be Friday January 23rd and voting will close shortly afterwards. The winner will be announced and published on the website. There is no prize except recognition and we hope, a bit of motivation and inspiration!
The Daily Telegraph has a poetry competition. UK residents only, no cash prize but a year’s subscription, publication and performance in a short film. The theme is ‘Mothers’.
The Poetry Society has issued a new set of prompts. These are intended for people entering their current competition but might be of general interest to poets.
Glossy Planet is a new magazine which will run a monthly challenge for short, topical pieces of prose or poetry (1,000 words or two pages). The theme will be announced only shortly beforehand, and the first is ‘Monsters we Made’. First prize $1,000…
The 2025 National Poetry Competition from the Poetry Society is now open for entries from poets worldwide!
This year’s judges are Denise Saul, Ian Duhig and Susannah Dickey – find out more about them here.
The National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s biggest prizes for a single poem (£5,000) and all entries are judged via an anonymised process, so put your best poem forward!
The deadline for entries is 11:59pm (GMT UK time) on 31 October 2025 and the entry fee is £8 for the first entry and £6 for additional ones.
Members might be interested to hear about the regular local monthly sessions of Poets Anonymous. They meet in person on the First Friday of the month at Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Rd, Croydon CR0 1BD, from 8pm. The cost for attending is a very reasonable £2.
If you can’t get there in person, they also meet on Zoom on the Third Friday of the month at 8pm. Log-in details are sent out the day before.
To sign up for an online session or for further details please contact peter@poetsanon.org.uk
Croydon Writers 