"Dear Willesden, what's your Christmas wish?"

Food For Thought café, Willesden High Road

Merry Christmas and Hanukkah!

Red, Feargal, Mona, Steve, Simon, Carmencita, Kronk, Mavis, Malachy, Noël, Harry, SJ, Zoz, Nick, Ossian, Bartell, Jacintha and all the gang.

Competition update, December 2011

There are over 380 entries. I'm miles behind with the reading but looking forward to catching up over the holidays. Thanks to everyone who entered. The art of the short story is alive and well.

More news of former finalists

Jenny Barden's novel Mistress of the Sea is set to be published by Ebury Press in September 2012.

A.N. Wilson, writing in The Financial Times, named The Coward's Tale by Vanessa Gebbie as his novel of the year for 2011. Vanessa was also photographed and interviewed in this week's Telegraph.

James Lawless, whose story "Jolt" was a highlight of New Short Stories 1, and who has published the novels "The Avenue", "For Love of Anna" and "Peeling Oranges" is also a poet. His poem "Christmas Eve" is in this week's Sunday Independent (Ireland).

Steve

While we sail the ship that never goes to sea...

In memory of Zoltan (1998-2011), the guard dog of Herald House

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christopher Hitchens (1949 – 2011)

The sounds of London mapped

London Sound Survey featuring London maps, sound recordings, sound maps, local history, London wildlife

Short story competition deadline Friday 16th

A reminder that the closing date for entries to the short story competition is this Friday December 16th, 2011. Please send your best.

MissElayneous

Real Dublin

Saturday evening

London Plane

Silver Birch

Willesden Stadium

plane tree and willow

one bedizened with baubles

one with no eyebrows

--
Stephen Moran

Vera Magpie

Vera Magpie eBook: Laura Solomon

Continuing to bring you news of new publications and achievements by past Willesden Herald competition finalists. This time it's a new novel by Laura Solomon, for Kindle, and it sounds quite an intricate and dramatic story.

A magnificent new library centre

"...it's genuinely one in the eye for the Big Society..." (diamond geezer: Canada Water library)

Well done Southark Council. Shame about Brent.

Handy dog snack