With well over 70 prose pieces submitted this year (a record number) we are very sorry not to have space to publish more of them. The range and diversity of the work submitted was impressive, with writers tackling everything from the domestic to the fantastical, from the local to the international, and in all kinds of styles. We were particularly pleased to receive submissions from young writers and we have published some of them in our "Youth Section". Our only disappointment was that very little prose in Doric was submitted, and that which was confined itself to anecdotal and nostalgic subjects; we believe there's more to Doric than couthiness. We're already looking forward to next year's submissions.

It was a great pleasure to read over 250 poems submitted, all attempting to recapture an experience, an emotion, a moment, a mood. Some managed to do this superbly, making words sing to words. We hope you will enjoy our selection which starts in Annagassan, 'stitched to an inner curve of Ireland', takes in Gaza, Beslan, Lochnagar and Johnny Hallyday, and ends in Crivie's fishy where 'even the washin wallops like the waves'.

Visual arts play an important role in POtB, providing engaging breaks between pages of text and offering their own stories or textures for interpretation and delight. The mixture of media and techniques included here is a small representation of the talent in evidence in the North-East and we are pleased to be able to offer these samples to a wide audience.

The POtB Committee

Cover:
Sailscape, 2005
(watercolour)
David Pettigrew