Early blossoms and the return of bees indicate that spring is on the way, though the chill of winter lingers. August was a busy month at Minds Shine Bright with our first appearance at a writer’s festival, an in depth interview with poet in focus Suzanna Fitzpatrick, and posting ten copies of Light and Shadow anthology to readers in three countries as part of LibraryThing August early reviewers giveaway. This month we will be on the road to Bendigo for our third workshop with Bendigo Writers Council and preparing all of the Places entries for judging.
One of the most rewarding aspects of blind judging the Minds Shine Bright writing competition is matching the selected pieces back to the writers and hearing their stories. Suzanna Fitzpatrick is an accomplished English poet who writes widely on a range of subjects blending strong technique and visual writing with an impassioned commitment to telling the truth—no matter how harsh that truth is. Two of Suzanna’s poems, ‘The Shed’ and ‘Bushfires’, were published in Minds Shine Bright’s Light and Shadow anthology and her first full poetry collection Crippled was recently published by Red Squirrel Press. Discover part of Suzanna’s remarkable writing journey on our new Writers in Focus page.
It was exciting for Minds Shine Bright to participate in our first literary festival. The Words in Winter Festival takes place in Daylesford and surrrounding central Victorian towns each winter. The Festival team were supportive and we enjoyed visiting Daylesford, experiencing the warm hospitality of the locals and wandering through the Sunday market. The Writing Light and Shadow Workshop focused on creating ‘ moments of illumination’ – inspired by both the sublimely dark and light readings from Light and Shadow anthology, by photographs and by the festival theme: a light in the dark. We were joined at Radius Art space by writers Alexandra O’Sullivan, Tim Loveday, Poppy White and Kate Foulds who all read extracts of their Minds Shine Bright pieces. Before the workshop we heard Kate read from her new children’s book Grumps and the Green Fishing Rod at the library and then we broke the ice by participating in a poetry open mike at the local pub hosted by local poet Izzy Roberts-Orr which we enjoyed very much. After the workshop we attended the Festival Gala, which continued until late in the evening, and we were dazzled by literary and musical talent. It’s so good to see regional communities supporting the arts, and providing opportunities for writers of all ages and at all stages of their careers, to flourish, develop their craft and to enjoy the celebrations.
The joy sudden beauty can bring to a regular commute, a midnight meeting with a bad breathed whiskered seal on a starry winter’s night, the haunting power of trees, the currents of a tangled mind drifting through currents in an underground seascape, Christmas Eve far from home in a squat with a junky and a ruby murray, danger drawing ever closer on the moon. Discover these moments and many more in Light and Shadow Minds Shine Bright International Creative Writing Anthology, Seasons 2 2025.
You can purchase the Minds Shine Bright anthologies at the Minds Shine Bright bookshop or order a copy in from your favourite bookshop. Enjoy the experience, discover talented writers and poets and help us to keep our writing competitions, anthologies and generous prize pools going.
The Light and Shadow writing competition was blind judged jointly by Jennifer Harrison and Amanda Scotney. You can find the Judges Report by Jennifer Harrison on our new Judges Report page
The Judges Report Page was created to share the Judge’s words more widely and to build some legacy around Minds Shine Bright, given the ephemeral nature of things. This is in addition to the List of Winners.
For past Minds Shine Bright writing competitions a few words from the judge were included in celebratory events such as the Online Announcement of the Winners, at the anthology launches, and in the monthly posts describing these events.
If you love packing meaning into just a few words join Amanda Scotney for Short Form Fiction Frolics with the Bendigo Writer’s Council on Wednesday 24th September, at the Bendigo Library, 7:00 – 9:00pm. Bring a pen.
The timeline for the Places Writing Competition has been adjusted to include additional time for judging the Young Writers entries and the English as an additional language prize.
The current timeline for judging Places Writing Competition is:
Judging for Places anthology – all rounds completed by the end of the 2025
Judging for Young Writers’ Places Anthology – all rounds completed by the end of January 2026
Announcement of Winners Celebration – February – March 2026
Publishing Places Anthology and Young Writers Places Anthology – September – October 2026
Places Launches and Literary Events September 2026 – August 2027
We will provide updated information on expected times for contacting longlisted and shortlisted writers in future updates.
Calling for Advanced copy reviewers and early reviewers. If you are interested in being part of our advance copy review team for Places anthology or Young Writers Places anthology please contact us.
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
