Organisers of Fishguard’s Ar Ymyl y Tir 2026/On Land’s Edge Festival are inviting writers and poets to pay their own tributes to Moby Dick.

This year’s festival (September 25-27) will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the cinematic release of John Huston’s classic movie on the great white whale which was largely filmed in Fishguard Bay.

Details of an adults’ short story writing competition as well as a young persons’ poetry competition have now been announced.

Writers are invited to submit their own pieces of fictional prose – up to 3,000 words – that respond in some way to Moby Dick: the novel or the film.

They may choose a reworking of one of the characters or one of the incidents in the narrative; or alternately explore the same themes the novel raises or about a character’s own experience relating to reading the novel or seeing the film.

The competition will be judged by Robert Harries, the fiction editor of Folding Rock, Wales’ leading magazine of creative prose (foldingrock.com).

A prize of £100 will be awarded for the best entry. There will be an entry fee of £5, with all proceeds going towards literary events at Ar Ymyl y Tir 2026/On Land’s Edge.

The winners will be announced at the festival’s final event on Sunday, September 27.

Young people are also invited to write poems on the theme of sea creatures based on their own expe-riences and observations.

These do not have to be epic adventures like Captain Ahab’s, but ordinary encounters with crusta-ceans, cetaceans, fish, seabirds and other sea life which can provide experiences that work well in poetry.

The judges will be looking for truthfulness and clarity in these poems about sea creatures.

There is a £30 prize for the best entries in English and in Welsh and runner-up prizes of £20.

The winners will be announced at the festival’s final event on Sunday, September 27.

The closing date for entries in both competitions is 5pm on Friday, July 17.

To enter please visit: onlandsedge.co.uk/short-story-2026 or onlandsedge.co.uk/poetry-2026