Things certainly have been developing apace at the network, with a packed spring programme which has included visits by american writers richard bausch and Loren Niemi, masterclasses in scriptwriting and writing for radio, and a new regular poetry evening at bookfinders café in partnership with Poetry ireland. we have acquired new production equipment which will allow us to produce our own novel sized books for the first time and the system which allows us to print this magazine ourselves is being developed into a short run production facility.

Coming up in the next few weeks we have a new community writing anthology being produced as part of our development and outreach programme. after that, it’s straight into the creation of ulla 5, so try to send your submissions to us by the end of June to reach the autumn issue.

In this issue, we feature a selection of writing from the Queen’s writers group, a new short story by James meredith, some features on the highlights of the cwn spring programme and the usual round of reviews and notices about literary life in Ulster you’ve come to expect. we hope you enjoy this compendium of what’s new in Northern Ireland writing.

Click Here to Download: Ulla’s Nib #4

We also have an interview by Derek Landy, whose new skulduggery pleasant series is tipped to be the new harry potter, with a million pound advance and film rights already snapped up by Warners. Derek appeared at our spooky stories showcase of children’s writing at Belfast central Library on october 30th.

We also have an interview with the BBc Queens Writer in Residence, Ian Sansom and reviews written by kids of popular horror fiction. Our halloween theme is reflected in some of the poems and stories published in this issue. A big thank you to all our contributors, and keep ‘em coming.

Congratulations to holywood writer Ian McDonald, who has won a hugo Award for best novelette for The Djinn’s Wife, at a recent awards ceremony in Japan. Congratulations also to cWN member Frances Thompson, whose poetry has just been published in the new oxford poet’s Anthology. Thanks and congratulations also to our first star prize contributor, Anna Marshall, who receives fifty pounds for her short story The Pendant.

Click Here to Download: Ulla’s Nib Issue 3

We welcome all submissions from Northern Irish writers, resident or born, and it is your work that will ultimately create most of the magazine. From now on, we will have a fifty pound prize for the best submission
we use in each issue, whatever its nature or genre. The closing date for submissions to the third issue is September 18th, but please send in your work as soon as possible to help our production schedule. It also helps a lot if we can get your submissions electronically; we can use hard copy, but cannot accept hand written work. The next issue will come out around Halloween,
and we would particularly welcome submissions which have a seasonal flavour or something of the night about them. Thanks to everyone who helped make Ulla’s Nib what it is, and to those who spoke kindly of issue one.

Mark Madden - Editor

Click here to download Ulla’s Nib #2

Please send your submissions, comments and suggestions to:

The Creative Writers Network,
109-113 Royal Avenue,
Belfast
BT1 1FF

email: info@creativewritersnetwork.org

The creative Writers Network website can be found at: www.creativewritersnetwork.org

We are looking for submissions for the next issue, so please send your poems, stories, articles and reviews to:

The Creative Writers Network,
109-113 Royal Avenue,
Belfast
BT1 1FF

email: info@creativewritersnetwork.com

We will also provide news, reviews and articles on Northern Ireland’s literary landscape. Northern Ireland has a vibrant and growing literary community, with new writers’ groups, internet groups, the burgeoning performance scene and better support and training opportunities for writers. Through this magazine and our website and information service, combined with our events, workshops, training and mentoring programmes, CWN is providing a new level of infrastructure to the local
writing community.

Ulla is the ancient name for Ulster, which derives from its Viking name, Ulla Stadr - the country of the Ulla. Ulla is the name of the feminine form of the North European yew deity, the name surviving in Scandinavian place names, and also in Ullswater, Ullapool and others. The cult appears to date from the Bronze Age, when Ulla and Uller were a brother-sister pair, whose evergreen yew nature gave them dominion over the midwinter festival.

In Ireland, the ancient books give special place to the yew in Ulster. The Iron Age culture of mid-Ireland venerated the oak, and was distinguished from the older cultures of the far North and South-west, which still adhered to a Bronze Age outlook, by referring to Ulster and Munster as ‘brothers of the yew’. It is quite possible that our greatest folk hero Cuchullain was originally The Hound of Ulla, rather than the story given in the Tain Bò Cuilgne which bears the hallmarks of a literary gloss. There’s quite a history in the name the Vikings gave this land.

Mark Madden - Creative Writers Network