The 24th edition of Spark Young Writers Magazine is out now. Published online in April 2022, the magazine features some of the best writing produced by children and young people aged 8 to 20 who live in the West Midlands region and across Europe. Editor’s pick this issue is a piece by Fanni Polar called Dear Writing.
To read Issue 24, click here. To access it as a pdf, click here.
If you’re interested in submitting to the next issue, find out how here.
Letter from our Editor
Sometimes, just for speed, I won’t ask a large group of writers to actually introduce themselves, I’ll ask them to write something. It will be related to whatever work we’re all doing, whatever topic, but it also invariably tells you more about the writer than their reciting their name and hobbies.
We can’t help but be in our own writing, there will always and invariably be something of our tone, our view of the world, our interests and obsessions. It is that way, it has to be that way, and writing would be very dull if it were solely about the words on the page.
Editing this 24th edition of Spark Young Writers’ Magazine, though, I kept seeing just how much the outside world presses in on us. It wasn’t in every piece and it might range from overt to very subtle, but the situation in the world and especially Ukraine, seeped into so many of the submissions we received.
It makes for an issue that is sombre, though with flashes of delighted good humour, and I think it makes for a particularly absorbing read. You’ll go to the piece you wrote or where you know the writer, or just because the title grabs you – good luck resisting Petra Rihan’s “I always say sorry before I kill them” – but do then read them all.
There are dark subjects in this issue, but the minds of the writers and how they examine those topics have left me with hope.
William Gallagher, editor