*****Call for artwork******

Art exhibition to be displayed alongside the The Bangor Poetry Competition(sixth year) in conjunction with Aspects Festival.

It is that time of year again and we are looking for your very best
artwork, photography, textile pieces, graphic design etc etc…. really anything that can be hung on the wall. We have room for a few small standing pieces which can be displayed in the cabinet, but we are more likely to take work that can be displayed on the wall!

There is no theme, and we are open to any medium and style as long as it is of a high standard. You can submit up to six images of your artwork to us to be considered for this year’s exhibition. We do not have a lot of room for extremely large pieces, however, we may be able to take a couple of these- so please state if they are large pieces in the email and we will consider them.

The instructions and details are:

Email up to six images of your artwork to:

thebangorliteraryjournal@hotmail.com

In the heading of the email you MUST state: ARTWORK FOR BPC and your name. (This is very important for administration purposes) Please include a two line biography in your email and the following details: Your name/ contact telephone number/ email address/ the titles of your pieces/ price of each piece/ size of each piece/ medium of each piece. All details MUST be included to be considered as we receive very high volumes of emails.

The deadline for submission is midnight of 15th July 2018. No work will be considered after this date. If your pieces are chosen, each piece will incur a £5 hanging fee which is payable when you deliver your work. If your piece sells, there shall be a 25% commission taken. Please take this in to consideration when pricing your piece.

This event is extremely well advertised and we get a very high volume of people over the door as it is part of Aspects Festival.

The launch of the exhibition shall be at The Blackberry Path- Art Studios, Gray’s Hill, Bangor, NI on Friday 17th August 2018 from 6pm-9pm and shall run until 17th September. Entrance is free and there shall be buffet food and a drink reception.

Many thanks in advance- Amy

The Bangor Poetry Competition

 

Download Spring’s Bride Bangor Literary Journal here for free.

 

 

Two new poems by P.W. Bridgman which are published in the current issue of The Bangor Literary Journal.  Read other new poems and flash fiction by other writers in the current issue for free.

Poetry by P.W. Bridgman Biography:

P.W. Bridgman writes from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has earned graduate and postgraduate degrees in psychology and a degree in law as well. His poems and short fiction and have been published in The Antigonish Review, Grain, The Honest Ulsterman, Ars Medica, The Glasgow Review of Books, The Moth Magazine, Poetry Salzburg Review, Litro Magazine (UK), Litro Magazine (NY), Praxis, Pif Magazine, Ascent Aspirations, The New Orphic Review, Easy Street, London Grip, A New Ulster, Section 8 Magazine, Mulberry Fork Review, Aerodrome and other literary periodicals and e-zines. Bridgman’s writing has also appeared in anthologies published in Canada, Ireland, England and Scotland, and his first book—a selection of short stories entitled Standing at an Angle to My Age—was published in 2013. You may learn more about P.W. Bridgman by visiting his website at <www.pwbridgman.ca>.

___________________________________________________________________________

Not the Way a Bullet Leaves a Gun

 

Ruth leaves Jim the way a hand leaves a glove,

with five gentle thumb-and-forefinger tugs from right to left.

Each of the fingers comes partly free,

then the thumb:

each tug a little more confident,

each causing the gentle, leathern grip of wedlock

to relax a touch more until, at last,

it comes full away

with a sound

like a sigh.

 

She leaves him the way a ferry leaves a dock:

with four short soundings of the ship’s whistle,

spaced months apart

(their import unmistakable to anyone but him),

followed by a long one

(the one that signals imminent departure).

Her hull begins to shudder,

engines churn inside it,

water boils up in the widening

space between them,

between loading ramp and dock.

Going nowhere and everywhere, she waves.

He waves back.

 

She does not leave him the way he had always feared,

the way a bullet leaves a gun (all trajectory and target,

with a bang and a puff of smoke,

gone in a trice and forever buried,

deep in another’s heart).

At least not that.

 

At least not that.

____________________________________________________________________

Don’t Touch That Dame

 

P0T 2W0: September 1960

 

On my deathbed my thoughts shall return

to eight-year-old Gloria Dye.

 

Red-faced, rough-skinned, tousle-headed, scrappy,

perplexed by unkindness, tormented by eczema,

resolutely rejecting of pity.

 

Strong yet vulnerable.  Enigmatic, so very enigmatic.

On my deathbed I shall wonder:

whatever became…

 

On the schoolyard they said: “Don’t touch that dame

or you’ll die.”  “We can’t touch her or else we’ll die,”

they said.

 

Not my words. From me, no words at all—

kind or unkind, helpful or hurtful, comforting or cruel—

were spoken to, or for the benefit of, or to the detriment of,

Gloria Dye.

 

On my deathbed I shall remember tears withheld,

her fierce beauty.  I shall be galled by my own

faltering silence.

 

I shall take not even hollow comfort from knowing

that I showed her no active unkindness.

 

No active unkindness.

 

On my deathbed I shall plead for forgiveness,

not from God but from Gloria Dye.

 

On my deathbed I shall yearn to reach out

and touch that dame.

Do you have any Easter or Spring themed poems, flash fiction, art or photography that you would like to send us to be published on our website in a small online publication? Work that has been previously published is fine as long as you tell us where.

 

This is a separate call from the call for work for issue two- so you can submit to both!

FORTY WORDS

 

We are delighted to announce the winners, runners up, highly commended and commended writers in each category of The FORTY WORDS Competition.

 

Thank you to everyone for sending in your fantastic work.  We had 243 entries in total, of an extremely high standard and it was a very difficult job to select our winners.

 

Winners will be contacted by email this weekend to confirm availability for reading and presentation.

 

Congratulations to the winners and thank you so much to everyone for allowing us to read your work.

 

FORTY WORDS- Fiction

 

Winner- Sherry Morris-‘Reckoning Day’

Runner-up- Ed Broom- ‘Every Penny Warms the Sea’

Highly commended- John Holland- ‘Iodine’

Highly commended- Lynda Kirby- ‘Wishing’

Commended- Eilise Norris- ‘Three days, no sightings’

Commended- Martin Parker- ‘Fabulous’

Commended- David Atkinson- ‘My Father Cut My Hair Until I Was Fifteen’

Commended- JL McCavana- ‘Target Practice’

Commended-Ingrid Jendrzejewski – ‘Hyperbolic Geometry’

Commended-Marilyn Timms- ‘First Frost’

 

FORTY WORDS- Poetry

 

Winner- David Braziel- ‘Snails’

Runner-up-Nick Allen- ‘Salt’

Highly commended- Peter Adair- ‘Open Chapel’

Highly commended- Richard Hough- ‘Ambiguity’

Commended- Anne Casey- ‘Final Offensive’

Commended- Patricia Bennett- ‘Rewrite’

Commended- Kevin Reid- ‘Four Walls and an Absence of Livestock’

Commended- Angela Graham- ‘View-finder’

Commended- Aine McAllister- ‘How to Take the Next Step’

Commended- Diane Jackman- ‘A comparison of cows’

Don’t miss out!

You have until midnight on Thursday 15th Feb 2018 to enter The FORTY WORDS Competition.  Only £2 to enter a piece or enter three pieces for £5.

Two categories- mini poetry and mini-fiction.

Find out about our prizes here.

 

 

You only have until midnight to submit your best poetry, flash fiction, art and photography on the theme of ‘Firsts’- so don’t miss out!

 

We are really looking forward to seeing what you have sent us.  The response has been overwhelming! Thank you!

 

Amy and Paul

A free poetry competition for young people and students who currently live in Northern Ireland.

There are three categories:
Group 1- Age 6-10 years
Group 2- Age 11- 15 years
Group 3- Students aged 16-21 years

Each young person can enter one previously unpublished poem for free- no longer than 20 lines long. (not including the title) Poems can be in any style and on any theme.

Poems must be typed onto a Word Document and attached to the email. No name should be included on the Word document. In the body of the email, please state the poet’s name/ age/ contact phone number/ email address.

Please send your submission to thebangorliteraryjournal@hotmail.com and state in the heading of the email- YOUNG VERSES- (and the category 1, 2 or 3). The deadline for submissions is: midnight 15th April 2018.

First Prize in each category:
A framed certificate/ an opportunity to read your work/ publication in The Bangor Literary Journal/ a writing book and pen

Join the Facebook Event to keep up to date.