Our theme for Telltales in July 2025 is Communication

For this event, we will be Falmouth Princess Pavilion in the Garden Room.

Here are some possible ideas, to get you thinking about a submission:

* A letter out-of-the-blue
* Whispers in the shadows
* Lost in translation
* Earworms – the songs that won’t go away
* A message in a bottle
* Blurred boundaries
* Emojis – are we returning to hieroglyphics?
* Amusing “autocorrected” text messages
* Long-distance relationships
* Smoke signals – “habemus papam” ?
* A crossed line or misdirected SMS
* Rosetta Stone(s)
* The family meeting
* Nuclear semiotics – how to send a hazard warning into the future
* Curious customs and eccentric etiquette
* An antique postcard – “wish you were still here” ?
* Misinterpreted song lyrics
* . . . – – – . . .
* Signs and unsigns
* Wrong numbers and unexpected results
* Long-lost relatives

With such a wide-reaching theme, how will you respond?

We’re looking forward to seeing your creative input, whether in poetry, prose, short story 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 26 July to info@telltales.org.uk

Telltales takes place on Tuesday 29 July, 6pm at Falmouth Princess Pavilion, 41 Melvill Road, Falmouth, TR11 4AR

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Art Gallery with a great selection of readers, bringing you our theme of Where are We?, in poetry, prose and short stories.

Our Telltales event takes place on Tuesday 27 May, starting at 6pm.

We’ll have a small bookstall and a bar.

We hope to see you there.

Thank you!

Our theme for Telltales in May 2025 is Where Are We?

For this event, we’ll be at Falmouth Art Gallery, alongside the wonderful Where Are We? exhibition. We are looking forward to receiving your submissions on the theme, from any perspective.

Here are some possible ideas, to get you thinking about a submission:

• “Lost”
• My home town – then and now
• Inaccessible places
• A favourite travelogue
• Found objects
• Psychogeographical ponderings
• A fork in the road
• Missing people
• Towns and Villages lost to the Sea
• Writing about people and place
• Utopian dreams
• Dystopian nightmares
• Out-of-Place Artifacts
• Virtual and Real Worlds
• An imaginary map
• On the border or between worlds
• Off-grid adventures

How will you respond to this broad and intriguing theme?

We’re looking forward to seeing your creative input, whether in poetry, prose, short story 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 May to info@telltales.org.uk

Telltales takes place on Tuesday 27 May, 6pm at Falmouth Art Gallery, The Moor, Falmouth, TR11 2RT

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Princess Pavilion with a great line-up, reading on our theme of Smiles and Laughter, in poetry, prose and short stories.

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

We’ll have a small bookstall and the Pavilion bar will be open for tea, coffee and other drinks.

We hope to see you there.

Thank you!

Our theme for Telltales in March 2025 is Smiles and Laughter.

For this event, we’re looking forward to receiving your submissions on the theme, from any angle.

Here are some possible ideas, to get you thinking about a submission:

• Limericks?
• Reflections on what humour is, or is not?
• Funny flash fiction
• Wry humour?
• Preposterous prose?
• Poetry as a joke or a joke as poetry?
• Enigmatic ‘Mona Lisa’ smiles?
• Silly sonnets?
• “Funny Ha Ha” or “Funny Peculiar”?
• Does humour translate to other languages?
• Sardonic smiles?
• Dark humour?
• Farcical fiction?
• “Are you trying to be funny with me?”
• Humorous Haiku?
• Funny bones?
• Surreal humour?

How might you respond to our theme?

We’re keen to see your creative input, whether in poetry, prose, short story 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 March to info@telltales.org.uk

Telltales takes place on Tuesday 25 March, 6pm at Falmouth Princess Pavilion

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Library with a fabulous line-up of readers for our theme “The Fact Is….”, bringing us a fine selection of non-fiction and “faction” writings.

Our Telltales event takes place on Tuesday 28 January, starting at 6pm.

We’ll have a small bookstall and a free bar.

We hope to see you there and are grateful to library staff for the opportunity to hold Telltales at Falmouth Library.

Thank you!

Our theme for Telltales in January 2025 is The Fact Is …..

Our previous event was Imagine, dwelling on the worlds of the imaginary and fictional.

For our next event, we’re looking at the facts of the matter, focussing on the areas of non-fiction and “faction”, which blends non-fiction and fiction. We look forward to receive your submissions on The Fact Is …., interpreting the subject in any way.

Here are some possible ideas, to get you thinking about a submission on this theme…

• A life story – your own or someone whom you admire?
• News reports – real or semi-real?
• A diary entry?
• A walk in nature?
• Poems about world events?
• Real life stranger than fiction?
• Meeting another version of you – real or dream?
• What do people do all day?
• Historical events – filling in the details?
• Tell us about a favourite book, fiction or non-fiction?
• A real-life fairy story?

How might you respond to our theme?

We’re keen to see your creative input, whether in poetry, prose, short story 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 25 January to info@telltales.org.uk

Telltales takes place on Tuesday 28 January, 6pm at Falmouth Library on the Moor, surrounded by books!

Thank you!

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Art Gallery with a marvellous line-up for our Imagine theme, in poetry, prose and short stories, amidst the amazing Imagine Falmouth art exhibition.

Our Telltales event takes place on Tuesday 26 November, starting at 6pm.

We’ll have a small bookstall and a free bar.

We hope to see you there and are grateful to Falmouth Art Gallery for this opportunity to hold Telltales at the gallery.

Thank you!

Our theme for Telltales in November 2024 is Imagine.

Falmouth Art Gallery have kindly invited us to hold the Telltales event at the gallery, in conjunction with the current “Imagine Falmouth” exhibition.

We look forward to receive your submissions on this topic, interpreting the subject in any way.

Here are some possible thoughts on the theme:

• How do you imagine the world in 100 years time? And 1000 years?
• How do you imagine yourself a decade from now?
• What literary works are entirely imaginary, without any reference to the real world?
• What is imagination? How does it function?
• Have you seen a favourite artwork at the “Imagine Falmouth” exhibition? Can you describe it and your personal connection to the work?
• In an ideal world, can you imagine the role of the arts?

How might you respond to our theme?

We’re keen to see your creative input, whether in poetry, prose, short story 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 23 November to info@telltales.org.uk

Telltales takes place on Tuesday 26 November, 6pm at Falmouth Art Gallery, above the Library on the Moor, Falmouth.

Thank you!

And here is the date for the next Telltales event, in 2025: Tuesday 28 January

The “Imagine Falmouth” exhibition runs from 12th October 2024 to 18th January 2025 at Falmouth Art Gallery

Please join us for Telltales at Falmouth Princess Pavilion with a marvellous group of readers on our theme of Someone Told Me… in poetry, prose and short stories.

Our Telltales event takes place on Tuesday 24 September, starting at 6pm.

We’ll have a small bookstall and the Pavilion bar will be open for tea, coffee and other drinks.

We hope to see you there.

Thank you!