TNW 95 - Mar/Apr 2009

In this issue we say goodbye to our Poetry Editor of six years, Catherine Smith. Her recent collection, Lip, has been extremely well received and we thank her for everything she's done to make the TNW poetry pages so luminescent; new work from Julian Colton, Ben Davison, Clive Eastwood, Peter Gilmour, Catherine Graham, Graham Hardie, Maureen Jivani, Kathleen Kenny, Robert Marsland, Anna Protherough, Rachel Shorer, Tim Leach, Tanner, Philip Tomkins, Christian Ward and Sarah Williams shines brightly in the last Versesmith. New fiction from Heather Parker, Lorraine Mace, Eamon Mathews and Miranda Lewis adds lustre, while articles on Historical Fiction, Getting Published, Writing FanFiction, Diary Writing, and Astrocharacters throw out yet more light.

TNW 94 - Jan/Feb 2009

Completely taken with Kristin Thompson's short story, The Heath in War, in this issue. Great start - "Suffolk in 1942 ... a fat little girl with red curly hair, absent father, sporadically depressed mother, no siblings or pets, lives with her godparents, her mother and a great uncle in a large house that smells of old people and dust. When at night the siren sounds and the bombs start to fall, Great Uncle Rygate refuses to leave his bedroom." You just want to read on ... evocative and exciting, this one delivers on every level. Also starring - How to structure your non-fiction book; How to Banish Back-Story; How to become a Letters Page Star; three more excellent stories from Hilary Wilce, Gavin Eynon, Alan Beard and a sublimely satisfying mix of poetry chosen by Catherine Smith.

TNW 93 - Nov/Dec 2008

More stories from the Highly Commendeds in our annual prizes - all brilliant of course - from E C Seaman, Ghislaine Goff, Paul Harvey, Mo McAuley. Poetry editor, Catherine Smith, is shaken up and thrown round the room by American soldier-poet, Brian Turner's collection "Bullet" (Bloodaxe) and reviews it here - "he shows us landscapes ravaged by fighting but he never succumbs to cynicism or despair". Three articles, not intended to be linked, but hey that's an editor at work - on specialization: broaden your opportunities by focusing your writing, taking inspiration from the everyday, and a professional attitude to writing: difference between failure and success. Read them and take it to the bridge.

TNW 92 - Sep/Oct 2008

Can football improve your writing? asks Esther Madden, a Reading FC fan - bit of an excuse to go to the game really but who's complaining; her refreshingly original article gives a whole new look to life on the terraces. Couple this with Sally Quilford's Cheat's Guide to Writing Science Fiction and you'll see we're going out of our way to give you insider tips galore. Linda Lewis's regular I'm Puzzled page is all about editing your work. Go on, lose that seemingly stunning sentence, you know it makes sense. Join Nick Corder to discover the delights of having A Shed of One's Own, a variation on Virginia Woolf's truism, "a woman must have a room of her own if she is to write." Nick's now in his new shed and all's right with the world. There's plenty more, dip in and discover all the fiction and poetry that make this a truly scrumptious issue.

TNW 90 - May/Jun 2008

If you're thinking of asking us for a free back copy, ask for this one, TNW 90, for no other reason than it kicks off with Susannah Rickards' brilliant short story, Mango. Highly commended in our annual Prizes, it should have gone all the way - it's a fantastic example of the craft in every respect. What else we got? Well, let's stick with the shorts. Although we've bigged up Susannah we could have said the some for the other three fiction writers in this fantastic issue; excellent new work from Jo Cannon, David Evans, Char March - all who have done well in competition over the years. So, yes, this is the issue to ask for if you want to see how it's done.

TNW 89 - Mar/Apr 2008

Special subscribers short shorts issue plus ... Writing Down Your Life with Hilary Lloyd; The Agent-Author Partnership; How to make Money writing Fillers; new contributor Mastoor Khan on the seductive nature of Writers' Groups; the continuing series by Linda Lewis answering readers' questions in I'm Puzzled; Sally Spedding's dark, brooding tale, Friends In High Places - spooky; poetry editor, Catherine Smith, loves hearing beautifully read poems on the radio, and she selects new work from twelve poets. Add regular features such as Reader's Challenge, Handy Hints, Circle Clinic, Writers Bulletin, and you have an issue which is not only meaty and beaty but big and bouncy!

TNW 88 - Jan/Feb 2008

That prolific and excellent writer of fiction, Sally Zigmond, is in this issue - no better reason to get hold of a copy. In her deeply evocative, seriously thoughtful, new piece, Curiosity, she succeeds in delivering in under two thousand words an object lesson in the craft of short story writing. From the very start, "The church clock is cased in ice, time held frozen in its hands", to the oh so moving ending, "They will preserve me behind glass and put someone else's name beneath my bones. People will look at me and wonder", you will find a story of incredible betrayal so tightly written that you will believe every word. If you're serious about your writing, go search this one out. The only surprising thing is that this mini-epic was a runner up in our annual Prose & Poetry Prizes and not an outright winner. PS: there's such a lot of good reading in this cold winter issue that will warm the old cockles.

TNW 87 - Nov/Dec 2007

No-one was more surprised than Gee Williams, when her first novel was launched, after all she'd begun her writing life as a poet. No-one could have been more excited than Kay Green when her first book was published a few years ago, now she's publishing books by other writers. No-one could have collected more rejection slips than Jon Haylett (okay, that bit's not true) but then he wrote a novel quite unlike anything he'd attempted before, broke all the "rules", and saw it published. As Jon would say, all three kicked against convention and won, and we share their stories with you. Also great fiction, poetry, features from so many fine writers including Heather Peace, Gabriel Griffin, Maureen Carter, James Midgeley, Pat Buik, Louis Malloy, Elizabeth Rutherford-Johnson... we could go on but I've run out of

TNW 86 - Sep/Oct 2007

Highly commended fiction from our annual Prizes from Amy Licence ("I said goodbye to my phantom husband and headed home to my fictional son"); Jonathan Atrill ("We were best mates once, but I was thinking in another life and I had a terrible sense of foreboding"); Paul Currion ("He came to live in our house. I skirted around him for days."); Valerie Thompson ("He doesn't know what to make of me. If I were a man I wouldn't have got this far.") and Samantha David reveals how her first novel came to be published; Rebecca Blunt finds out how three successful authors coped with second novel wobbles; crime novelist Carol Anne Davis survives the freelance life. All that and a fair bit more of the good stuff served up in a convivial manner.

TNW 84 - May/Jun 2007

Wannabe a writer? Jane Wenham-Jones tells us why she decided to reveal all in her new book for new writers. In fact, there's an awful lot of confessing going on at the moment, think daytime TV, and Catherine Smith talks to fellow poets Ros Barber and Clare Pollard about Confessional Poetry. Plus, for psycho-thriller writer Philip Caveney his first children's book happened almost by accident; in order to be a travel writer you need to have travelled a lot - not true, says Uma Girish; independent publisher Tom Chalmers gives us an insider's guide on getting published; and as always TNW crosses the great divide with features on Ian Fleming and Benjamin Zephaniah in this issue filled with riches.

TNW 83 - Mar/Apr 2007

Great examples of winning short stories from Gaynor Gabriel and Sharon Zink; highly commended poems by Julia Dean and Rowan Ferguson; bestselling author Claire Lorrimer reflects on a life of writing - no other option for the daughter of the Queen of Romance, Denise Robins; are your characters cardboard or quirky? asks Peter Rolls; Ghostwriting - be very afraid; an evening with prolific writer of children's books, Tony Bradman; and novelist Alice Jolly ("What The Eye Doesn't See" and "If Only You Knew") reflects on teaching creative writing in five different countries with the Open University; all this - and yes of course - much much more ...