Dr Ursula Hurley wrote the foreword to North West Writers; worth repeating it in full as it says it all:

In 2012, with my colleagues at the University of Salford, we decided it was high time that the wealth of small, independent presses to be found thriving in our region should be celebrated. Not just by academics, but by publishers, writers and readers. So we held a ‘Writing and the Small Press’ conference in March of that year. This proved to be a well-attended, stimulating day, which did indeed bring together critical papers, talks from publishers, practical workshops and creative readings. Another, very important event, was also part of that day’s programme – an event that began in the deep midwinter of that year, with a call for writers to submit work to this competition.

What are small presses without writers to publish? Keen to discover and celebrate the writing talent of our region, I set up the Write Northwest competition. Entries could be memoir, fiction or poetry. The only other rules were that entries were 1500 words or less, and embodied a ‘flavour’ of the Northwest. We charged a very small administration fee to help meet our costs, and thanks to our friends at the Manchester Evening News, the competition was publicised widely. Not sure what would happen next, I crossed my fingers and waited.

We always knew the the Northwest was full of creative talent. But the sheer diversity and quality of the work submitted to this competition was truly exhilarating. I was very fortunate in being able to call upon local author Zahid Hussain, author of The Curry Mile, to help us in judging the entries. An initial judging panel of creative writing lecturers sifted the huge pile of entries. Once our short-list was selected, Zahid and I each took away copies of the work, and judged independently. People often wonder how writing competitions are judged, and ask about things like subjectivity and personal preference. On this occasion, Zahid and I reached almost identical decisions, with the top three entries having been picked out independently by both of us. This shows that great writing will always out – it has a vibrancy and distinctiveness to which we all respond. You can see more detail on the judges’ decisions in a short preface to each of the winning entries. The results were announced to a packed room, with many of the competition entrants attending in person. This was a lovely opportunity to meet and get to know so many talented people. Many of the writers you see published here are in print for the first time, while others with more experience can add this publication to a growing list of credits. We find memoir that takes us back to wartime childhoods, as well as engaging accounts of more recent experiences and the cosmopolitan present. Some writers have projected their imaginations back, far beyond living memory, into the ancient history of the area. Others have captured emotional responses to the moods and landscapes of our region in poems of all shapes and sizes. We see the traditional and the innovative, carefully crafted short stories, and experiments in dialect and point of view. What binds all of these authors together is their passionate response to the Northwest of England; through good times and hard, we see the humour, spirit and liveliness of expression that makes each of these pieces so memorable and engaging. 

Finally, there are several people and institutions I need to thank for making the whole thing possible: colleagues at the University of Salford; the University itself for supporting the competition and for awarding a grant from the Higher Education Innovation Fund to enable publication of this anthology; the Manchester Evening News for helping to publicise the competition; Zahid Hussain for his unfailing enthusiasm and good humour in the judging process; Alan Corkish and Andrew Taylor of erbacce-press for going above and beyond the call of duty in producing this anthology; the competition entrants for their hard work and creative endeavour; and you, the reader, for taking the time to read their work.

Ursula Hurley

Write Northwest organiser, judge and anthology editor. 

Salford, 2013.

Write North West is 144 pages and perfect-bound, it contains essays, stories and poetry from the best of the North West...

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OH; and I have to add that Ursula is a brilliant poet herself and we are delighted to have published a small but beautiful collection of hers; Trees... she is an intelligent and passionate poet and in this perfect collection, just 40 pages, she displays an honesty and sincerity that is enhanced in every carefully chosen word she places on a paper. Treat yourself; click on the 'Buy Now' button above her cover and fall in love with the best words words in the best order...

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AND there's more; Ursula also created and edited a collection of poetry and prose inspired by the life and music of Prince; Purple Reign... it's a mix of creative and academic examinations of this unique individual and you can purchase a copy by clicking on the 'Buy Now' button above the cover.