Find your inner Agatha, discover your totemic Tolkien, or in this case your creative Spark! – It’s competition time again, and time to take part in our annual competition.

This year the theme is The Prime of Life

Is it all that it is cracked up to be? Does this pinnacle overdose on expectations, turn out to be nothing more than an over-used cliché or does it spark a turning point from which there is no turning back?

In recognition of the 15^th anniversary of the death of Muriel Spark (author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), TAL Festival invites you to create an original story on the subject, The Prime of Life. Your story may be interpreted in any way you wish and written in any genre up to a maximum of 500 words.

Our judge will once again be Freelance Writer and journalist, Sandra Smith,

(www.TheCurrentMrsSmith.co.uk).

Three prizes will be awarded: 1^st Prize £200 book tokens, 2^nd Prize £100 book tokens), and 3^rd Prize £50 book tokens)

All accepted entries will be published (anonymously) on the Flash Fiction Forum page of the website, after the closing date, to give everyone a chance to read all the entries.

The winners’ names will be announced at TAL on Sunday, 17 October, via an online presentation, time to be confirmed.

CLOSING DATE: Midnight Saturday 25^th September 2021

(Rules for Entry and Application form can be download and printed here)

Please note: entrants must be over the age of 16 on 1^st September 2021