The Winning Authors and their Stories + Ticket Information for 9 November 2025 ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY

HUGE THANKS to the 78 writers who submitted 112 stories on the theme of Beauty for our 9 November event All This Useless Beauty.

My co-judge this time, Ali Bacon, and I have now announced the ten authors and their stories for the event. Here they are -

Hannah Glickstein - I Make Him Sick

Rod Gowers - 2050: A Conversation on Beauty

Simon Gowers - The Camberwell Beauty

Christine Griffin - The Rag-Rug Boy

Laura Kinnear - Mary

Rebecca Klassen - Egg

Poppy Lomax - I'll Keep all of my Useless Beauty to Myself

Ruth Pilston - Shrinkflation

Nikki Vivian - Lamello Zeta P2

Steve Wheeler - The Beautiful Couple

Sincere congratulations to these authors and thanks to them for submitting their brilliant stories to SSS. The stories range from the hilarious to the sad and poignant. There will be a sea voyage, a magnificent DIY tool, angels, a designer baby and, of course, an egg. It's going to be a great evening.

FIVE of the writers are new to SSS so will be the 137th, 138th, 139th, 140th and 141st writers to read at one of our events. Rod and Simon Gowers are brothers!

At the other end of things, Steve is reading for the ninth time and each of Hannah, Laura and Rebecca for the fourth time. It will be Ruth's second reading.

TICKETS, priced at £12, will be on sale from the Lansdown Hall website from Friday 3 October here-

https://lansdownhall.org/stroud-short-stories-all-this-useless-beauty/

The event, part of the 2025 Stroud Book Festival, is on Sunday 9 November at the Lansdown Hall, Lansdown, Stroud, GL5 1BB. It starts at 7.30 (doors 7.30) and ends 9.45-10.00. There will be an interval and a bar selling alcoholic and non-alcohlic drinks including tea and coffee before the event and during the interval. When you book you can choose exactly where you sit.

Best to park in the Church Street Car Park and walk down the High Street to Lansdown.

This event will not be recorded.

See you there!

John

We are Closed for Submissions for our 9 November 2025 event ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY. Here are the Important Selection Dates + Ticket Information

HUGE THANKS to everyone who submitted stories for our special 30th Event on the theme of beauty. 98 stories were submitted by 78 writers.

Here are the Important Selection Dates -

*Long List announced - Thursday 25 September

*Short List announced - Sunday 28 September

FINAL TEN announced - Wednesday 1 October

*Please note that only those writers who have submitted stories for this event will receive the Long and Short Lists

TICKETS go on sale from the Lansdown Hall website from Friday 3 October. ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY is part of the 2025 Stroud Book Festival and takes place on Sunday 9 November at the Lansdown Hall at 7.30 (doors 7.00).

Seats are reservable so you can choose exactly where you sit. There will be an interval and a bar serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, coffee and tea before the event and during the interval.

Street parking is limited so the best bet is the Church Street car park then walk down the High Street or through Bank Gardens.

See you there!

John

We remain open for your submissions for our Special 30th Event ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY at the Lansdown Hall on Sunday 9 November 2025. We close for submissions on Sunday 21 September at 23.59.

The theme is BEAUTY/BEAUTIFUL

It can be the beauty of anything - nature, landscape, people, children, love, writing, an object, a work of art or craft, architecture, the beauty of the accidental, a score or move in sports and games, day, a deity, the sky, a city or village, music, clothes, cosmetics, cosmetic surgery, beauty treatments/grooming, beautician, vanity, tattoos, health & beauty, animals, pets, inner beauty, hidden beauty, a beautiful friendship...you name it, you can use it in your story. 

NB Please remember that we are looking for STORIES, something with a 'narrative arc' to read to a live audience.

The title of the event is All This Useless Beauty based on the 1996 Elvis Costello song and the 1926 Maupassant short story.

As always it's free to submit.

OUR NEW VENUE is the Lansdown Hall in Stroud and the event will be part of the 2025 Stroud Book Festival. The Cotswold Playhouse was unable to offer us any dates that would allow us to be part of the Book Festival. Like the Playhouse, the Lansdown Hall has a seating capacity of 150.

KEY DATES - Submissions are now open but close on Sunday 21 September. The results will be publicly announced on Wednesday 1 October and tickets will go on sale on Friday 3 October from the Lansdown Hall website. If you're interested, please make a note of these dates.

We choose ten stories to be read/performed by their authors. We take both new and previously published stories of 500 to 1500 words. Under our legendary Rule 11 (now 12!), the authors who read at the Keep on Movin' event back in May are unable to submit to this event.

I am co-judging this time with short story author and novelist Ali Bacon who has read a number of times at SSS and won awards for her short fiction. Ali's novel The Absent Heart was published in March this year.

Link to info about the JUDGES is here.

Link to the Rules and How to Submit is here.

Link to Tips on Writing for SSS is here. This is essential reading!

John 

 

Pix of the Authors who read at KEEP ON MOVIN' on Sunday 11 May 2025

Thank you to everyone who bought tickets and came along to our event, Keep on Movin' on Sunday 11 May at the Cotswold Playhouse. Here are the authors who performed their brilliant stories at our 29th event. They are in the order in which they read.

Photography by Angela Fitch. Thank you, Angela!

Robin Booth - Paulie

Joel Levy - Remora

Stella Waller - Three Sisters

Steph Smith - Sea Shanty

David Goodland - Elvis and Billy and that Old Crab

Val Ockwell - Taking a Leap

Sophie Holland - Next of Kin

Sean W. Quigley - Making the Most of it

Jacob Parker - Neon Pizza

Jess Blatchley - The Year of Mud and Liquids

TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE to see/hear these Authors and their Winning Stories at our 11 May SSS event KEEP ON MOVIN' on the theme of Journeys

Tickets, priced at £12, are now on sale on the Cotswold Playhouse website -

https://www.cotswoldplayhouse.co.uk/whats-on

The event is on Sunday 11 May at the Cotswold Playhouse and starts at 7.30 (doors 7.00). There will be a bar and an interval. The seating is raked so you can see from wherever you sit, and we use a microphone. When you book your tickets you can choose your exact seat.

We often sell out so best not to leave it too late.

The event will NOT be recorded. 

It's going to be a great night. I hope to see you there.

HUGE THANKS to the 78 writers who submitted 112 stories on the theme of Journeys for our 11 May event Keep on Movin'.

My co-judge this time, Chloe Turner, and I have now announced the ten authors and their stories for our 11 May event.

Huge congratulations to these authors and thanks to them for submitting their brilliant stories to SSS. The stories range from the dystopian to the tender, from the hallucinatory to the witty and humourous. It's going to be a great evening.

Jess Blatchley (Bishops Cleeve) – The Year of Mud and Liquids

Robin Booth (Brimscombe, Stroud) – Paulie

David Goodland (Nailsworth) – Elvis and Billy and that Old Crab

Sophie Holland (no relation) (Stoke Gifford, S.Gloucs) – Next of Kin

Joel Levy (Stroud) – Remora

Val Ockwell (Somerford Keynes) – Taking a Leap

Jacob Parker (Wotton-under-Edge) – Neon Pizza

Sean W. Quigley (Gloucester) – Making the Most of it

Stephanie Smith (Newnham-on-Severn) – Sea Shanty

Stella Waller (Longwell Green, S.Gloucs) – Three Sisters

Sophie and Stella are new to SSS and will be the 135th and 136th writers to read at one of our events. Everyone else has read/performed at SSS before - with Robin Booth reading for the 7th time. Steph Smith returns to us after an eleven year hiatus.

John 

We are closed for submissions for our 11 May event Keep on Movin' (on the theme of journeys). Here are the Important Selection Dates + Ticket Info

HUGE THANKS to everyone who has submitted stories for our Journeys event. We are now closed for submissions.

Here are the Important Selection Dates -

*Long List announced - Thursday 3 April

*Short List announced - Sunday 6 April

Final Ten announced - Wednesday 9 April

*Please note that only those writers who have submitted stories for this event will receive the Long and Short Lists

TICKETS go on sale from the Cotswold Playhouse website from Friday 11 April. Keep on Movin' takes place on Sunday 11 May at the Cotswold Playhouse 7.30 (doors 7.00)

This event will not be recorded.

My Tips for writing for SSS are here

The Rules and How to Submit are here

Please see my earlier post (below) for more information about the theme and the judges

John