The Hillingdon Literary festival – a free weekend of author sessions, debates, masterclasses, signings and much fun – returns to Brunel University London for its third year from Friday 6th October – Sunday 8th October 2017.

Creative writers over the age of 18 are invited to submit short stories and poems to this year’s competition, an annual celebration of our Borough’s diverse voices. Entrants must have a local connection, either through studying, living or working, in Hillingdon.

A longlist will be announced on the first evening of the festival, a shortlist the next day and the overall winner declared on the final day, during a celebratory event hosted by poet and Brunel lecturer Benjamin Zephaniah.

The winner will take home a cash prize of £250. Their writing and other shortlisted entries will also be published in an anthology, which will be freely available at the festival and distributed to all Hillingdon libraries.

This year’s competition theme is ‘Ordinary People - Exceptional Lives’. Writers may submit two anonymised entries per person: the first, a short story of up to 5000 words or two poems of up to 60 lines; the second up to three poems of no more than 90 lines total, or another story of up to 1000 words.

Entry to the competition closes on Monday 28th August 2017.

For more details on how to submit your writing, visit www.hillingdonliteraryfestival.com/anthology