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Litro are pleased to announce that Sammy Wright, whose story Old featured in July’s issue of Litro, has won a writing competition.

Sammy won first place in the 2011 Unbound Press Short Story Award, judged by Zoë Strachan. His story, Simple Present, will appear in Unbound Press’s annual print anthology in November. You can read about the competition on the website - unboundpress.com

We would like to say congratulations to Sammy and hope that his success continues.

We do hope that you are all enjoying the first day of August (and hopefully a return to real summer weather)!

First of all, thank you to those who attended our Litro Live! Summer Party a couple of weeks ago. We always aim to have an eclectic, interesting and talented line-up to satisfy all sorts of tastes, and hopefully we delivered that once again.

As you may already know, issue 97 is now online. We’ve got the cover art up as well (shown left), in addition to all the stories, including pieces from prizewinners Louise Stern and Clare Wigfall, and our summer events listings, courtesy of Alex James. The print magazine will be out very soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

The deadline for the Litro and IGGY International Young Person’s Short Story Award also closed a couple of weeks back.  A big thank you to all the young people that voted – we’ve very pleased at the number of entries that have been sent in and the overall standard of work that has been produced. The entries are now with the judges and so far their feedback has been very positive as well. It may prove to be a tough choice, but the judges’ shortlists will be published on the 16th August, with the announcement of the overall winner on the 30th September. Good luck to all those who entered and keep your eyes out for that shortlist announcement on the 16th!

Additionally, if you’ve been considering becoming a Friend of Litro but haven’t made up your mind yet, our prize draw for new Friends ends on Friday 6th August – less than a week away. The prize? We’re giving away five pairs of tickets to one of the mainstays of the artist calender, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, to new Friends. All you have to do is sign up and then you will be entered into the prize draw to win tickets. You’ll also get the magazine delivered direct to you (so you’ll never miss an issue), discounted Litro Live! tickets and other offers, all of which are good things indeed for lovers of short stories and live performance.

Issue 97: Cover Art

Issue contents can be found here. Click on the links to be taken to the individual stories, or scroll down to read the issue online here.

The cover for Litro no.97 features author portraits of three of the writer featured in the August 2010 issue: Louise Stern, Clare Wigfall and Jackson Martin. Louise is a prizewinning winner who opens the issue with her contribution, ‘Rio’; Clare wrote ‘The Party’s Just Getting Started’ (page 29 – print issue) and was the recipient of the 2008 National Short Story Award; and we are pleased to feature an extract from a novel by Jackson, a promising new writer, this month as well.

The photographer for the cover was Jon Cartwright (www.joncartwright.com) and it shot on location at The Dalston Boys Club, London – highly appropriate for our East London-themed issue.

Contents

Rio, by Louise Stern

Old, by Sammy Wright

Treat them like your own, by Siân Melangell Dafydd

Novel extract: This is a Canvas, by Jackson Martin

The Party’s Just Getting Started, by Clare Wigfall

LITRO Events Listings, by Alex James