And the second bit of news I’d like to mention is that Tom Bagshaw has an exhibition in Bristol at the moment. It’s called Yokai Dreams and the incredible digitally painted works are all his visions of various spirit forms from Japanese folklore. If you can make it into Bristol, go and see them at the Knifesmith Gallery.

Joe chose to write about how his uncle Tony was lost to cancer, and touches on themes of loss and guilt. I think it’s really touching because it explores that sensation of guilt you get when you realise you’re starting to forget little things about the person you’ve lost. Or how you feel bad when you begin to miss them a little less. That brings on a whole new kind of sadness, I guess.

Joe’s poem is called Otherside, and was one of a number of submissions we evaluated. Jacob Denno of Popshot magazine was our guest judge for the open submissions text that we received, and he said: “The best one by far. Really feels like it touches on the loss and some beautiful use of language. Loved the ‘Life hung upon your bones like a feather’ line and many other strong images within it.”

We don’t want to spoil it too much for you, though, so you’ll have to wait until the book is out to read it. I’d like to congratulate Joe and say that you can check out his stuff here. I would also like to thank all the other people who submitted work. Each story or poem was special in its own way, and we really appreciate the efforts people tmade to take part. Where possible, we’ll be posting some of the other entries here on the blog for everyone to read.

We’re sending out our thanks to Jacob Denno at Popshot Magazine. Popshot fuses fantastic creative writing through the poetry it publishes with amazing imagery from the illustrators who illuminate the poems.

Jacob has contacted Popshot’s network of writers via email and the Popshot blog to let them know that we are now open to submissions by writers who’d like their work published in Memories. He’ll also be  helping us judge the entries – his experience with creative writing and poetry will be an asset.

To find out how to submit your own story about cancer, click here. Thanks again to Popshot.

The Memories project is welcoming written submissions to fill two of the positions we’ve planned for stories within the book. Here are the ins and outs of it:

We’re looking for a great piece of writing that captures a memory you have that relates to cancer. Inside the book, there will be two kinds of stories. One section is going to be by people who have lost a friend or relative to the disease, and their recollection of a day or moments they spent with their loved one. The other is about people who have survived, and their reflections on the effects the disease had on them. We’re looking for one story for each section of the book that will come via this open submissions process. (For more on the overall idea of Memories see http://memories.subism.co.uk/about-the-project/)

It’s not a competition and there are no prizes as such. The reward if your story is selected for print will be to see your story in the book, alongside 12 amazing illustrations. However, stories that don’t run in the book will be posted here on our blog so your writing will still get an audience. (Barring any that contain inappropriate material, though that seems highly unlikely!) Either way, submitting something will be a massive boost to our project.

Judging of the entries will be done by the Memories team (Antony Kitson, Rishi Sodha, Stuart Boyd and Garrick Webster) with the help of guest judge Jacob Denno. Jacob is the editor of Popshot magazine, which is a fantastic and beautifully printed forum for both poetry and illustration. See www.popshotpopshot.com

Your story needs to be 450-550 words in length. Most of the book’s content at the moment is written in prose, though we do have one poem already, and if you want to write poetry just let us know. The closing date for written submissions will be 31 December 2009. Email writers@memories.subism.co.uk and I’ll send you our full writers brief.