December 2020
Dear Creators,
As the end of 2020 approaches, many of us find ourselves torn between looking forward and looking back. Ruminating on the lost potential of the last year, and the possibilities of the next. As we near the end of a difficult year, as the days get shorter, the weather colder, and we chafe at the new restrictions that continue to keep us at home, we would like to invite you to focus on the positives. Draw your awareness to all of the things you have to look forward to. Focus on the present and the potential it represents.
This month’s creative theme is hope. Hope can come in many forms. To you, maybe hope means returning home for the holidays, a long-awaited vaccine, or that Christmas gift you have been eagerly anticipating. Perhaps it means setting your New Years’ resolutions and sticking to them, finishing that big assignment and praying for a decent grade, or waiting for the first dusting of snow to settle on the rooftops. Whatever hope means to you, we want to read it.
“Hope is the thing with feathers-
That perches in the soul-
And sings the tune without the words-
And never stops – at all-“.
What is it that stays with you? What keeps you going through the dark days and the cold? What drives you forward, and pushes you? What perches in your soul, and what tune does it sing? Write it. Send it in. Share your hope with others.
We are accepting works of prose, poetry, flash fiction and art on the theme of hope. All submissions should be a maximum of 1,500 words. To send us your submission, please email a word document or PDF to aAh.Editor@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Creative submission’.
The closing date for submissions is 20th December.
Keep on creating,
Ryann Overbay on behalf of
The Creative Editors, aAh! Magazine.
Check out previous creative works on the aAh! Magazine Creative Section website.
Following the passing of iconic Stone Roses and Primal Scream Bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mountfield, there have been growing calls for him to be immortalised in a way that reflects both his cultural impact and the deep affection shared between the musician and his home city. GRIT Studios has answered the calls from fans, announcing plans…
Featured image: Evie Peattie Often overshadowed in popular narratives by the heritage houses of Paris or Milan, London’s fashion ecosystem has long traded on creative freedom. As London Fashion Week prepares for its 42nd year, running from the 19 to 23 February, the British capital is poised to reaffirm its reputation not simply as a…
Featured image: Sebastian Garraway Beats vibrate through a polished floor. Bodies move with a swinging grace, surrendering to the rhythm without hesitation. An instinctual sliding jig sways wide-legged jeans cut just above the ankle. Sweat drips from sharp scissor-cut hairstyles onto porous Fred Perry polos. You’ve guessed it: Northern Soul. The late 1960s phenomenon is…
Featured image: Evangeline Causton Local lad Harry Styles will take to the stage at Manchester’s Co-op Live for the city’s first-ever Brit Awards, before returning for his one-night-only show on March 6 to celebrate the arrival of his fourth album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. When cryptic billboards bearing the words “WE BELONG TOGETHER” appeared across Manchester city…
Leave a reply