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Our Autumn Voices are getting louder...

We have some exciting news to share this month! We've been awarded substantial funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to support the creative endeavours of the over-90s. It's often been said that 90 is the new 70 now that people are living longer and remaining more active as they age, and our new initiative will aim to encourage people in that age group in every way we can.

And as if that wasn't enough, we're also delighted to announce that we've been awarded funding by D&G Unlimited, supported by Dumfries and Galloway Council. This will allow us to deliver four practical workshops on writing and getting published as part of the Together Again Festival. We'll be working with local community partners, Lockerbie Old School, Eskdalemuir Expressive Arts and The Bakehouse in Gatehouse of Fleet, There will be two workshops in mid September and two more in early December.

More details on both these new initiatives will follow soon!

Since we sent out our last newsletter, several more victims have been made to answer our Quick And Quirky Questions! Each month, we ask a member of the Autumn Voices community – and maybe one or two well-known names and faces – to step up to the plate, There are five regular questions that we’ll ask everyone, and sometimes we might throw in one or two extra.

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Nick Nairn (pictured here in lockdown mode!) writer and Doric Board Makar Sheena Blackhall, Highland crofter and cookery demonstrator Alasdair Wright and most recently, retired scientist Mike Smith have all shared memories, insights and a few surprises.

We're looking forward to reading your CLANGERS on July's theme of R for Relax. The first guest blog in our series is from retired academic Mike Smith, who finds that a change is as good as a rest when he's playing his sax or working in his garden. Read his blog HERE and then log in to tell us where and how you find rest and relaxation.

Meanwhile, you can catch up with June's collection of CLANGERS entries on E for Eat Well - they're HERE to read on our website. This month there's everything from lockdown diet guilt to the beauty of a free-range egg!

Do you have an unpublished novel sitting in a drawer? Even if it's still a work in progress, you can enter your extract plus synopsis for the Caledonian Novel Award judged by Alice Lutyens of Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency.

You could win a £1,500 prize plus a week at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre.

Closing date is 1 November 2021, and longlisted entries will be required to submit the full manuscript by 6 December. All the details are HERE.

Are you following us on social media yet? We use Facebook and Twitter to bring you daily news and content you won't necessarily find on our website - and the more you participate with your comments, "likes" and retweets, the more we grow and the more people we reach. Join the social conversation!

And finally... we're almost ready to announce the winners of our Spring Short Story Competition judged by writer Leela Soma! We were delighted to see how differently those who entered reacted to our two themes, and we'll shortly be sharing some of their stories with you via our website and social media channels.