FIRE RIVER POETS OPEN POETRY COMPETITION

Judged by Alison Brackenbury

1st Prize £200, 2nd Prize £100, 3rd Prize £75

Prizewinners will also be invited to take part in a special Reading in Taunton

Closing date 31^st October 2016 for online and postal entries

Alison Brackenbury was born in Lincolnshire in 1953, and comes from a long line of skilled farm workers. She now lives in Gloucestershire and has published nine collections of poems. Her work has won an Eric Gregory Award and a Cholmondeley Award. She reviews poetry for leading journals, including P N Review and Poetry London. Her work has been broadcast many times on BBC Radio, and she has been interviewed in the national press about her interest in promoting poetry via the Internet, especially on Facebook and Twitter.

Her latest collection, Skies, was published by Carcanet in 2016. Skies has been featured in The Guardian, The Independent, The Poetry Book Society Bulletin, and on Radio 4’s arts programme, Front Row. The award-winning poet Helen Mort has called it ‘her best, most urgent collection to date … tender, exact and unflinching’. Skies has also been selected as The Observer's Poetry Book of the Month. Kate Kellaway, the reviewer, wrote ‘The seasoned craft and musicality of Alison Brackenbury’s poetry shine through in this humble, haunting and humorous collection'. 

More information, including new poems and a blog, can be found at Alison’s website:

www.alisonbrackenbury.co.uk NB: Alison will read all the competition entries.

Fire River Poets Open Poetry Competition 2016 – Rules

Closing Date: 31st October 2016

Prizes: 1st Prize £200 2nd Prize £100 3rd Prize £75

Fee: £4 for one poem; £3 for each additional poem up to a maximum of 6 poems

Poems

• Poems may be in any style and on any subject. They must be the entrant’s original and unaided work; in English and not a translation; have a maximum of 40 lines per poem excluding the title and be printed or printable on one side of A4 paper.
• Up to six poems per entrant may be submitted, provided each is on a separate sheet and the correct entry fee is paid.
• The entrant’s name mustnotappear on the poem.
• Poems must not have been published (in print or online), or have won a prize in a previous competition, or be currently submitted to another competition or for publication.
• Members of Fire River Poets and their immediate families are not eligible.
• It is regretted that entries cannot be returned.
• The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence can be entered into. 
• Submission of a poem implies the entrant’s acceptance of the rules.

Postal Entries (with cheque or Money Order) 

• Poems must be accompanied by the correct payment and a sheet of paper giving titles of poems, entrant’s name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.

Send to: Fire River Poets Poetry Competition 2016, 2, Deane View, Bishop’s Hull Road,

Taunton TA1 5EG.  (Please ensure sufficient postage is paid.)

• Please make cheques and International Money Orders payable to FIRE RIVER POETS. We can only accept pounds sterling (GBP).
• If acknowledgement of entry is required by post, send SAE marked ‘A’ for acknowledgement.

Online Entries (via PayPal)

Please see our website for full details of how to enter online: http://fireriverpoets.org.uk

Notification
We will notify prizewinners by the end of January 2017. A list of prizewinners and

winning poems will appear on the Fire River Poets website as soon as possible after

this notification. Copyright remains with the author.