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East Midlands Pamphlet Prize launched by Bad Betty, in partnership with Writing East Midlands and Nottingham Poetry Festival

Notts based independent publisher Bad Betty Press has announced the launch of the East Midlands Pamphlet Prize, a new initiative designed to support and platform poets living, working and studying across our region.

Bulwell Academy Student Wins University of Cambridge Prize

Diego A. Fernandes, a Year 10 student at The Bulwell Academy, Nottingham, has been announced as the winner of the University of Cambridge/First Story creative writing competition...

Perfect Pawtraits: Dog Life Drawing at Blend Cafe

Dog Life Drawing is much like any regular life drawing class except for one key difference; the models all have four legs! Kathy Giddins went along to the latest session at Blend Cafe...

Aurora Prize for Writing 2025 Award Ceremony

Emma Oldham Wins Oxford Flash Fiction Prize

In recent years there’s been more recognition that a short story’s impact isn’t limited by its brevity. Flash Fiction has blossomed into its own discrete art form - and we’re now pleased to say that we have a champion of the form among us...

Cinematic Life Drawing

Debut Fiction Prize Shortlist Panel

Cinematic Lie Drawing

Cinematic Lie Drawing

Cinematic Life Drawing

Artworks: Kelly Brown on the process of pencil drawing

For Artworks this month we spoke to local pencil artist Kelly Brown.

Life Drawing With Jane Stockley

Cartoon Drawing Workshop

Drawing and Painting With Ink With Elaine Winter

Stanley Middleton's Booker Prize finds a new home in Nottingham

Fifty years after he became the first ever joint winner of the Booker prize, we join a celebration of Stanley Middleton at Nottingham Central Library.

Life Drawing - Celebrate the Female Form With Bloom & Flow

Drawing On Photo Slides Workshop

LeftLion Contributor Scott Oliver Wins Prestigious Cricket Literary Prize

Former LeftLion sports editor, Scott Oliver, has won one of cricket’s most prestigious literary prizes, the Wisden Book of the Year, for his debut book Sticky Dogs & Stardust. The book is a collection of essays detailing the exploits of some of the sport’s bona fide legends – among them the former Notts players Garfield Sobers, Kevin Pietersen, Andre Russell and Imran Tahir - when they turned out in league cricket alongside enthusiastic amateurs who they were expected to dominate. Oliver himself also played at Wollaton CC for a time. To celebrate Scott's success we are delighted to present this extract from the book – covering Pietersen’s troubled stint at Cannock – along with an exclusive discount code.

Sketchy Shrooms - Fungi Drawing Workshop

Drawing It Out

Floral Arranging and Mindful Drawing

From Zombie Life Drawing to a Poetry Festival, Here’s What’s on in Nottingham This Week

With three different festivals to choose from, you'll have to make a tough decision this week...

We Hear From 2022 Mercury Prize nominee Fergus McCreadie Ahead of His Appearance at Peggy's Skylight

We catch up with one of the most exciting young talents out of Glasgow and the new UK jazz scene before he visits Peggy’s Skylight this month...

Join the Hunt for Gilby's Gold and Win Notts Prizes Worth Over £700

Nottingham's most notorious criminal, Al 'Gator' Gilby, has made off with a chest full of Notts prizes worth over £700. We need you to help track him down and recover the goods...

We Chat to Notts Artist Angelo Murphy About His Fascinating Oil Paintings and Winning an Amateur Jackson’s Prize

Nottingham-based artist Angelo Murphy has a special way of capturing the mundane and making it beautiful. His still life pieces are reminiscent of Baroque paintings from the seventeenth century, only he’ll throw in a tin of golden syrup to remind us that this is, in fact, the 21st. The soft colours in his oil paints draw your eyes in, giving you a hazy sense of serenity, and his stunning piece Citrus with Blue Paper has just won the Amateur Jackson’s Painting Prize. We caught up with him to hear about his creative journey so far…