Picture - taken Christmas 2016, larger tree this year, so far haven't taken any pics! Last night I slipped out to pick up a few items in Dereham town centre. There are some shops open quite late. It was only around 18:30 and quite dark. It got lively as I reached Greggs corner, where a small group came rushing out chasing an older man with a stick. I was between the group of one man and his two female friends and the man that they were chasing...

Poverty is always a simple story full of missing people. In a week when American Congress has passed a Bill to give over a trillion dollars American taxpayer’s money to the obscenely rich, Kit de Waal’s, My Name is Leon , is a fictional, child’s account, of what it means to be poor and forgotten in Britain in the nineteen-eighties. The irony here is things were better then. Leon is nine and he takes care of his mum, Carol, as best he can, his...

November's picks very kindly chosen by love_writing: Gosh it's so difficult, there are so many good pieces, but these are the two which have stayed with me; Poem: 'At the Arts Council in Manchester' It's a well crafted thought-provoking piece which mixes in a startling way everyday moments with death. Story: 'Poppy' This story told from child's perspective has stayed with me since reading it. It's hard- hitting in its innocence. https://www...

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This weekend, we are writing to 3 poets inviting them to re-submit a further 3 poems. We are also promoting a further 3 poets to the second stage submission process, inviting them to submit a small portfolio of 10 further poems. Plus, we are still receiving new submissions. Not bad going. Thanks for the support. More always welcome.

It's a writing dilemma. I know that I am able to push myself harder and there are a couple of directions where I can go. My writing strengths are non-fiction and fiction with its feet firmly embedded in fact. And thanks ABC for giving me the space to play around in all directions and come to this assessment. Now where do I go? One option is to create a collection of full-on factual memory writings. Another is to arise off my 61 year old ass and...

Very exciting news! One of our best poets on ABCTales - maggyvaneijk - has her first book coming out in January. You can pre-order it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remember-This-When-Youre-Sad/dp/1911600737/ref=... 're+sad

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 01 Dec 2017 Our Story of the Week is Richard Dobbs's 'The Stacks of Llandarcy', which combines social commentary with a moving account of a father and son relationship: https://www.abctales.com/story/richard-dobbs/stacks-llandarcy Poem of the Week is Well-Wisher's 'School', a piece of automatic poetry that has stayed with me since the first moment I read it: https://www.abctales.com/story/well-wisher/school%C2%A0-...

Our Story of the Week is Richard Dobbs's 'The Stacks of Llandarcy', which combines social commentary with a moving account of a father and son relationship: https://www.abctales.com/story/richard-dobbs/stacks-llandarcy Poem of the Week is Well-Wisher's 'School', a piece of automatic poetry that has stayed with me since the first moment I read it: https://www.abctales.com/story/well-wisher/school%C2%A0-automatic-poem This week's Inspiration Point...

A question of rights - free speech and/or free acts?