Local publisher Flax, which is back by Lancaster Litfest, is gearing up for new series of digital anthologies to be published throughout 2009, and they’re hoping they’ll build on the success of past anthologies and cement our recent experiments.

Flax 017 will showcase the best new fiction from the North West of England and is now looking for submissions from North West-based writers (click here for their definition of a ‘North West-based writer’ and submission guidelines) Submissions can be up to 1200 words which can comprise of several short fictions, a complete short story, or an extract of a longer work. There is no criteria for theme or genre.

Submissions are welcome between 14 December 2008 and 14 January 2009. It is essential you read their guidelines, available from the Lancaster LitFest web site, before sending anything.

Previous Flax anthologies are available as free downloads from the same website, if you’d like to get a feel of what we have published in the past.

Flax is committed to the professional development of the writers it publishes and offers a bespoke service to support the needs of each individual writer.

• For more information visit www.litfest.org/flax