I'm Comfy At Christmas!

The first "I'm Comfy at Christmas" short story competition is now open!!

Stuck for something to do this half term? Then get creative and write us a story!

The competition is open to all young writers in the UK and has two categories: 12 -17 years and up to 11 years old.

The theme this year is 'Christmas!' so let your imagination run wild! We're looking for imagination and the ability to take the reader on a journey. Your Christmas themed short story can be up to 2000 words maximum and must be written in English. There is no minimum word limit! Your story can be dramatic or hilarious, we don't mind! It can even be a bit odd!

Entry is free although we will accept just one entry per person, so make it a gud'un! All entries should be original and your own work. The stories should not have won a writing competition previously or been published before.
The competition will be judged by our selected judging panel: Michael McEntee (owner of The Big Comfy Bookshop), Tara Behan, author of children's book The Legend of Everwinter, and a third secret judge. Their decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. Unfortunately, we cannot provide feedback on all the stories entered.

The winner in each category will have their story published on The Big Comfy Bookshop website, receive a special edition winners bookmark, £20 to spend in store and a TBCB T-shirt. Their story will be read at our special awards event in The Big Comfy Bookshop on the 7th of December, 2014.

How to Enter

Email your story to contact@thebigcomfybookshop.co.uk with the subject heading "I'm Comfy at Christmas!" Write at the top of the email your name, address, phone number and the title of
your story. Then either paste your story into the body of the email or attach as a word doc. Our judges will only receive your story and not any personal details to ensure judging is fair.

Deadline: 15th November 2014

Good luck!

What a week! We are now open!!

On September 27th we finally FINALLY opened! The day and whole weekend was a complete success with nearly 10k passing through Fargo, and I think 99% of them visited The Big Comfy Bookshop too! On Saturday Rosie Goodwin kicked things off for us with a signing, then at 2pm Debbie Greenaway did a brilliant story time with loads of kids. At 6pm Paul Le Keux spun the vinyl of classic R&B and Blues tunes til around 9.30. The place was rammed from 12 til about 6 then it was a constant stream of people.
On Sunday it was more of the same as we had a big queue at one point going out the door! Wes Finch and Matt Lakey took to the stage at 6pm to perform for an hour to a lovely cosy crowd.
The week following was a mixture of book pricing, alphabetising and coffee making with it all to start again on Saturday. But first in between that, on Thursday, we hosted the first poetry night entitled Fire and Dust ran by Silhouette press. We anticipated 20 people but had just shy of 50 and it was rammed! Such a fantastic night, with others now requesting details of the next (Oct 22nd!).
The weekend just gone was much busier than I thought and it was steady throughout.
I finally took a day off yesterday to recharge. A massive thanks to Rob and Marta, Jenny and Simon and my wife Heidi for being there so much and helping serve and balloon. Love you all!

Here are some pictures taken on the opening day by my best buddy Jonathan of J S Coates photography.