In 12 days the Summer Solstice occurs, and with it the close of Submissions for this year’s Solstice Shorts Festival, Time and Tide, which will be held on December 21st 2019.

Heading to the coast, and to tidal rivers, we are looking for stories poems and songs with an historical ring to them, from writers anywhere in the world. We are looking for live music too, traditional or original – no cover versions! But if you want to sing or play you need to be local to one of our sites, which are…

Aberdeen, Maryport, Holyhead, Greenwich, Hastings, Lisbon (Portugal) and possibly Brighton.

If you are thinking aww, why isn’t there anywhere near me, and you are willing to do the organising (find a venue on the coast or a tidal river, and readers, and publicise the jolly roger out of it), get in touch!

Currently we have LOADS of poems, and hardly any stories, so get a shuffle on short story writers.

We want stories that engage with the sea, in an historical way. so pirates (if you must!), merchant ships, silver darlings, migration, dock workers and ship builders, that sort of thing, but before it turns too macho, remember that the Suffragette magazine was called Time and Tide (because they wait for no man).

We are keen to include stories (in particular) from BAME writers, women, writers with disabilities (esp Deaf writers – you can send BSL video), LGBT writers.

we will also accept works (provided they come with a translation) in Portuguese, Scots Gaelic, Doric and Welsh.

You don’t have long left – Time and Tide won’t wait… via submittable only, where you will find LOTS more info.

https://arachnepress.submittable.com/submit

In the meantime, here’s a video of one of the poems from last year’s NOON, read last week in the delightful Brockley Brewery, for the Brockley Max Festival, Michelle Penn reading Mandy Macdonald’s Arthur Streeton Advises his Students.