Greetings!

Our theme for Telltales in May 2026 is Reflecting.

Possible ideas for consideration could include, for example:

* Mirrors and mirroring
* Still pools and seas
* A Rorschach test – and its results?
* Reflecting, Deflecting, Inflecting
* A calm meditition
* Can a biography or portrait truly reflect the subject?
* Modern Narcissus – a myth for today?
* Twins, triplets and quadruplets
* Another self?
* Mental gymnastics
* Conscious, subconscious and in between
* Sound and its echoes
* Clones and drones – a modern dystopia?
* Reflections on the past
* Ekphrastic poetry or prose – a piece inspired by the exhibition?

We’re very much looking forward to seeing and hearing your creations in poetry, short story, prose or an excerpt from a longer work. Please think in terms of a maximum of 10 minutes of reading or around 1500 words.

Please submit your writing to to info@telltales.org.uk by Saturday 23 May.

Telltales will take place on Tuesday 26 May 2026, starting at 6pm, at Falmouth Art Gallery, in the context of the exhibition Mirrors: Reflecting on Identity (16 May – 26 September 2026)

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Princess Pavilion, with a wonderful group of readers on the theme of Foolish Things.

Telltales takes place on Tuesday 31 March, starting at 6pm.

The Pavilion bar will be open and we’ll have a small bookstall.

We hope to see you there.

Thank you!

Hello!

Our theme for Telltales in March 2026 is Foolish Things.

Possible ideas could include, for example:

* The joys of silliness
* An embarrassing moment
* The April Fool tradition
* Games with playing cards or Tarot
* A jazz music classic from 1936
* The charm of naivety
* Limericks and odes
* Imprudent life choices
* Foolish leaders and foolish followers
* A favourite dessert?
* Frippery, frivolity and triviality
* Life in the Medieval royal court
* Wordgames and tonguetwisters
* The inner child
* Foolery and nonsense

We’re very much looking forward to seeing and hearing your creations in poetry, short story, prose or an excerpt from a longer work. Please think in terms of a maximum of 10 minutes of reading or around 1500 words.

Please submit your writing to to info@telltales.org.uk by Saturday 28 March.

Telltales will take place on Tuesday 31 March 2026, starting at 6pm, at Falmouth Princess Pavilion.

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Princess Pavilion, with an exciting group of readers on the theme of New.

Telltales takes place on Tuesday 27 January, starting at 6pm.

The Pavilion bar will be open and we’ll have a small bookstall.

We hope to see you there.

Thank you!

Our theme for Telltales in January 2026 is simply New, in honour of the New Year…

Here is an A to Z of possible ideas for the New theme which might inspire you:

New Alphabets or new Angles?
New Books or Boots or Beginnings?
New Chapters or a new Challenge?
New Day dawns?
New Events – happenings in your world or globally?
New Friends – or old?
New Generation (X, Y, Z or Alpha)?
New Homes and new Hopes?
New Ideas or new Impetus?
New Jokes and new Jokers? 🙂
New Kid on the block?
New Life or turning a new Leaf?
New Modernity or a new Me?
New New – what is truly novel under the Sun?
New Openings and Opportunities?
New Pastures – for sheep or for humans?
New Question – an unexpected or uninvited query?
New Remains – modern archaeology?
New Style – innovative or recycled?
New Take on a traditional fairy story?
New Uses for old words?
New Ventures and adVentures
New Wave – on the sea, in cinema or in music?
New Xrays – looking beyond the surface?
New Year – here’s to 2026!
New Zines – going to print?

We’re looking forward to seeing your creative input in poetry, short story, prose or an excerpt from a longer work. Please think in terms of a maximum of 10 minutes of reading or around 1500 words.

Please submit by Saturday 24 January 2026 to info@telltales.org.uk

Telltales will take place on Tuesday 27 January 2026, starting at 6pm, at Falmouth Princess Pavilion.

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Art Gallery, with a wonderful group of readers on the theme of Body.

Our Telltales event takes place on Tuesday 25 November, starting at 6pm.

We’ll have a bar and a small bookstall.

We hope to see you there.

Thank you!

Our theme for Telltales in November 2025 is Body, a word that suggests a multitude of possibilities…

Might it be, for example:

* The human Body – in all its evolved complexity and rich diversity?
* Body parts – limbs, organs and senses
* A Body of water – seas, lakes, rivers and puddles
* Body decoration – tattoos, makeup, facepaint or jewellery?
* A Body of knowledge or a Body of evidence – the story behind the story?
* A fruiting Body – our theme image
* A Body of work – in literature, art or science?
* A vehicle Body – car, ship or aircraft?
* Body colour – in a painting, print or photograph
* A heavenly Body – comet, planet or angel?
* The Body of a tree – roots, trunk, branches and beyond
* Out-of-Body experience – astral projection?
* An official Body – interaction with government or bureaucracy
* An independent Body – standing distinct from others
* Body and Soul – our physical and spiritual makeup
* Nobody, Somebody, Anybody…

Which Body or Bodies will you choose?

We’re looking forward to seeing your creative input in poetry, short story, prose or an excerpt from a longer work. Please think in terms of a maximum of 10 minutes of reading or around 1500 words.

Please submit by Saturday 22 November to info@telltales.org.uk

Telltales will take place on Tuesday 25 November, starting at 6pm, at Falmouth Art Gallery.

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Library, with a panoply of poets on our theme of Poetic Forms, around National Poetry Day.

Our Telltales event takes place on Tuesday 30 September, starting at 6pm.

We’ll have a bar and a small bookstall.

We hope to see you there.

Thank you!

Our theme for Telltales in September 2025 is Poetic Forms, in celebration of National Poetry Day. We will be at Falmouth Library.

For this event we’re thinking about the many different forms in which poetry can be written.

The poster shows just some of these forms.

In what form(s) will you respond?

Might you write a poem that combines multiple forms?

Can you write poems about the same theme using different forms?

Can you devise new poetic forms, based on one or more of the existing ones?

We’re looking forward to seeing your creative input, in whichever form(s) you choose. Please think in terms of a maximum of 10 minutes of reading or around 1500 words.

Please submit by Saturday 27 September to info@telltales.org.uk

Telltales takes place on Tuesday 30 September, 6pm at Falmouth Library, The Moor, Falmouth, TR11 3QA

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Princess Pavilion, with a great selection of readers on our theme of Communication, in poetry, prose and short stories.

Our Telltales event takes place on Tuesday 29 July, starting at 6pm.

The Pavilion Bar will be open and we’ll have a small bookstall.

We hope to see you there.

Thank you!