Exeter Writers

Prolific writer, journalist and teacher Margaret James 's latest novel The Wedding Diary has become a huge hit since its publication last year - and now it's been shortlisted in the 2014 Romantic Novelists Association Awards. The winners will be announced on 17th March at a ceremony in London hosted by Darcey Bussell. Good luck, Margaret! Check out the full shortlists here .

The Harry Bowling Prize is awarded every two years by Headline Publishing and the MBA literary agency. Previous years have seen success for Exeter Writers Sophie Duffy (runner-up in 2008) and Cathie Hartigan (longlisted in 2010). This year it’s the turn of Daniel Knibb, who has been shortlisted in both novel and – new for this year – flash fiction categories. The winners will be announced in March at harrybowlingprize.co.uk . Dan and his fellow Exeter Writers Su Bristow and Gill Barr have been longlisted for the exciting new Exeter Novel Prize , judged by the literary agent Broo Doherty. Keep an eye out for the shortlist, which will be published this Friday.

Ron Tiner, illustrator and Exeter Writer, celebrates his successful book Drawing From Your Imagination finding a new audience. Budding Chinese illustrators can now enjoy Ron's guide and its rather splendid new cover:

Exeter Writers' Elizabeth Ducie has two reasons for celebration at the moment. She has just completed the NaNoWriMo challenge at the third time of trying, writing more than 50K words during November. Her resulting 20+ short stories are in draft form and will be edited and submitted to magazines or competitions from January 2014. At the same time, she has published her third anthology which grew out of a writing challenge she set herself earlier this year. Parcels in the Rain and Other Writing is a collection of thirty-one short stories, travel writing and childhood memories which was produced in just one month. Elizabeth chose 10th April — her late parents’ wedding anniversary — as the e-publication date. By 31st March, the anthology was completed and on 10th April, Elizabeth held a virtual launch party for the ebook (her fourth). Now, just in time for Christmas, the book has been brought out in print form. Parcels in the Rain and Other Writing is out now and will be availabl...

Daniel Knibb writes: 25th November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. At Cardiff's Chapter Arts Centre last week, Cardiff Women's Aid held an event to celebrate their inaugural short story and poetry competitions. I was delighted to be asked to attend and read my winning story, 'Soft Tissue', to an audience of writers, people working with survivors of violence, and Cardiff's Assembly Minister Julie Morgan who presented me with this lovely trophy and a copy of the competition anthology. The theme of the competition was 'domestic violence'. It was sobering to be confronted with so many different accounts of abuse, control and (sometimes) survival. The work collected in the anthology is funny, sad, moving and well worth seeking out. Cardiff Women's Aid Creative Writing Competition 2013 , ISBN 9781291615722, available from Lulu.com.

The Exeter Writers Short Story Competition 2014 is now open for entries. Due to the success of the 2013 competition, this year we are able to offer a First Prize of £500, Second Prize of £250, and Third Prize of £100 - and there is an additional prize of £100 for a writer living in Devon See the Competition page for the rules and entry details.

Clare Girvan's take on the problems of the legendary Three Wise Monkeys for the Gi60 International One-Minute Play Festival .