Air BnB Fund

Henrietta Rose-Innes in Geneva

This is Henrietta at the launch of the French translation of her latest novel in Geneva.

Hello - TG Lurgan

Beautiful version of Adele's "Hello" by Shannon Bryan in Gaeilge with choir and ballet, all from TG Lurgan. You can read the lyrics in Irish by following the link to YouTube.

Interview with Gene Wilder

A wonderful interview with Gene Wilder (1933 - 2016). He's great on what it was like working with Richard Pryor, amongst other things.

Scenes from Notting Hill Carnival

Photo: Diamond Geezer (Background: Trellick Tower)


Photo: Andrew Smith

It's deadline day

The end is nigh. No not transfer requests. There's only till midnight to enter the short story competition.
More info here: www.newshortstories.com.
If you're ready to rock, submit here:
http://willesdenherald.submittable.com/submit

This afternoon

Wood End Road

Cricklewood Pop-up Library

At Willesden Green station last night

Signs of the times?

Estate agents' window in Willesden last night

The unquiet spirit of Louis Wain?

Café window art, Fulham Palace Road

Last Call. Inspirations and Prize Fund

Here's a link to the WordPress version of our short story competition "last call" newsletter: http://newshortstories.com/last-call-inspirations-and-prize-fund/. There's a sign-up form over on the right of this page if you want to get the occasional newsletters. There's also a link to view the previous newsletters in the series.

All about the short story comp'. Closing date: 31 August

Copy of the rules and info from our Submittable entry page:

The rules have changed for 2016. Please read carefully. 

Rules

This competition is open to all aged 18 or over, regardless of nationality or country of residence.

Entries must be:

• In English
• Double-spaced
• In a normal font (12 point preferred)

Entries must not contain any quotations for which copyright might have to be obtained, e.g. song lyrics.

Entries must be entirely your own individual work and never previously published or broadcast. 

Manuscripts must show no name, address or identifying marks other than the title of the story. 

Any comment or enquiry to the readers or judges about an entry before the results are out will disqualify.

The word limit this year is 7,500. There is no minimum.

There is no set theme.

You can submit as many entries as you wish but we're not keen on "multiple identities".

Please let us know if your story is accepted for publication elsewhere before our results are announced. You can always use Submittable to withdraw your entry.

If your story has won a prize in another public competition, it's excluded. If it was only short-listed or long-listed that's okay, as long as it hasn't been published.

Previous prizewinners in this competition are excluded. We regret that winners of first or runners-up prizes in previous Willesden Herald short story competitions, i.e. the top three only from each year, are excluded.

Also excluded: Organisers and sponsors, of course, and relatives of this year's readers and judges.

We will not enter into any correspondence about entries or results.

Unfortunately we cannot help with any payment problems you might experience due to geographical location, computer system incompatibilities or other issues.

Entry is by completing the online entry form and uploading your manuscript in Microsoft Word (".doc" or ".docx") or RTF (".rtf") format to our account in the Submittable.com system.

Judging and Dates

All judging is anonymous, using the Submittable "blind" setting we don't see who has sent in the stories till after the judging.

We will reduce the entries to ten from which the overall winner will be chosen anonymously by this year's judge, Katy Darby.

The results will also be announced online, of course, and by email to the writers concerned, as well as at the event. The overall winner will not be announced till the night of the event.

Opening date for submissions: 1 May 2016

Closing date: 31 August 2016

Results due by 31 October 2016. We will be organising a results and book launch event and so the exact date may vary.

Prizes 2016

• 1st prize is a one-off Willesden Herald mug inscribed "The Willesden Short Story Prize 2016" and a bottle of champagne courtesy of Liars' League.
• Additionally either (a) half of all net entry fees OR (b) all net entry fees after the first 150 entries,  whichever is the greater, will be divided equally among the ten short-listed.
• All ten short-listed stories will be published in "Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 9".
• Two complimentary copies of the anthology to each of the ten authors.
• A results / book launch event with Liars' League actors reading from the short-listed stories.
• Literary agent Carrie Kania of Conville & Walsh agency has kindly agreed to read the ten winning stories.

Copyright

Worldwide copyright on each entry remains with its author. By entering you grant permission, ONLY if your story is short-listed:

• to include it in "Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 9" print and ebook editions;
• for the story or an excerpt from it to be read at the results and or launch event for the book;
• for said reading to be recorded and shared through online video and sound sharing media.

Note: Author compensation for inclusion in "Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 9" is limited to two complimentary copies of the anthology plus an equal share of prize fund, as described above.

By submitting an entry you agree to accept all the above rules and terms in full.

"And finally," as They Say on the News

The aim of this competition is to encourage the creation of excellent new short stories. Organisation, reading and judging are done on a voluntary or nominal basis, all for the love of the short story.

Please read some of our previous collections to get an idea of what we like and why we do this. You can find them here:

http://www.newshortstories.com/category/books.

Join Jeremy Corbyn in Kilburn on the eve of the poll

This is the last rally before ballot papers go out in the Labour leadership election. It's a ticketed event so if you support Jeremy Corbyn please follow this link to "RSVP". It's at the old Gaumont State.

Rally: Join Jeremy Corbyn in London

We will be joined by Jeremy Corbyn, trade unionists and community activists from across the country. This will be a coming together to show support for Jeremy’s vision to rebuild and transform Britain.

This is a ticketed event so please RSVP

WHEN

August 21, 2016 at 6pm - 8pm

WHERE

Ruach City Church
197-199 Kilburn High Rd
London NW6 7HY
United Kingdom
Google map and directions

Station

Slow day

Hydrangeas (?) in Hanwell

Competition update 27 July 2016

With 38 days till the closing date, there is still all to play for. To date we have had just 63 stories submitted and I'm eight behind in the reading, looking at two tentative yeses, and a small number of maybes. At this grade of ore, we will need about 300 entries to get 10 yeses for the short list.

By the way with the profit-sharing system, when we go over 150 - break even point - all subsequent entry fee income will be split equally among the ten short-listed. As we only get £4 per entry after Submittable commission, that would produce a prize fund of £600.

If you're wondering what the first 150 entry fees are used for, the answer is for publishing the book, author copies, and the results event. If there's anything left over we'll chuck it into the prize fund as well.

Steve

All details and how to enter: www.newshortstories.com

Can you help trace the Willesden Morozoff family?

Letters

Can you help me find the mystery lady in the photograph? This is the story:

My great aunt Emily Elizabeth Hall married a Russian Tailor called John Morozoff. They had children: John (1891) & Vera Maria (1893), both born in Westminster; then Leslie Paul (1904) born at 18 Grange Road Willesden; then Henry Frank (1898),  Pauline (1900) and Emily Elizabeth (1901) all born at 13 Hawthorne Road Willesden, which subsequently became no.51 Hawthorne Road.

My great aunt died in childbirth with Emily Elizabeth. After that the father moved to l, Brenthurst Road, Willesden and had the children baptized in St.Marys Church Willesden.- they were there but

They moved to Belgium in 1904. Later 3 of the children came back here; they were John, Vera Maria and Henry Frank and I am in contact with this part of the family. However  we don't know what happened to the other 3 children: Leslie Paul, Pauline and Emily Elizabeth.

I have been in touch with the Belgium archives and I was very fortunate that they had the Morozoff file. As they were foreigners in the land they had to inform the authorities when they moved address. So I know that Pauline was leaving Ixelles in Belgium in 1926, unfortunately don't know where to.

The photograph I have is in 1904 in Belgium. But apparently this woman figured in the family when in Willesden. She would have descendants somewhere and if recognized may be a stepping stone to finding where the rest of the family went. I have done work on the Ancestry Search engine and have trawled all the passenger lists and cannot find any of these Morozoffs so have hit a brick wall at the moment.

Kathy

If you have any info. for Kathy, please contact kathleenpjones at  live.co.uk. Ed.

A literary agent to read our winning stories

We are delighted to announce that agent Carrie Kania of literary agency Conville & Walsh has kindly agreed to read the ten winning stories this year. Here is a link to Carrie's profile. Among her many credits, she launched an imprint that racked up 13 New York Times bestsellers. She also works for leading writers in the short story world, including Simon Van Booy, who won the Frank O’Connor award in 2009 for his collection of stories Love Begins in Winter, and Paul McVeigh. So once again, please send us your best short stories. Each one will be carefully read and considered. Thanks. (Ed.)

Today's specials

Sudbury Hill

But remember you can't have a la carte Europop now that we're leaving the EU.

Europop Week - Wednesday - for Remain (2)

Summer Night City - ABBA

Let's enjoy all this wonderful territory of ours.

Europop Week - Wednesday - for Remain

With the added delights of watching the reactions of the irreplaceables Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson in the audience as Andrea takes the high note - and the roof off the Albert Hall

Europop Week - Tuesday - for Remain

Solidarity with Ukraine as Russia attacks it and annexes Crimea, just for wanting to join the EU

Europop Week - Monday - for Remain

Je t'aime / moi non plus - Serge Gainsbourg (France) and Jane Birkin (England) - l'Entante très cordiale. The best pop song in the history of the world?

Europe is ours. Own It!

From the Acropolis to Galway Bay, from Lappland in the Arctic Circle to the subtropical Canary Islands, the European Union is ours. Europe is ours.