January 9, 2014

Interview with Alex Preston

Alex Preston has been commissioned by Birkbeck for a short story in our annual anthology, The Mechanics’ Institute Review (MIR). Here he discusses his short story and writing life with Kieran Falconer.
December 9, 2014

Paul McVeigh Comes to Hubbub

Hubbub will take place at The Harrison on February 29th and we are delighted to be joined by Paul McVeigh and Toby Litt. This will be the final Hubbub before we change over to MIRLive!
December 2, 2015

MIR13 Call For Submissions

    Once again we’re looking for high-quality writing to publish in The Mechanics’ Institute Review (MIR), Birkbeck’s critically acclaimed literary anthology.
February 29, 2016

James Mitchell Wins Newcomer Prize

Birkbeck Alumnus, James Mitchell, has been awarded The Fiction Desk’s Newcomer Prize.
February 29, 2016

Kit de Waal Scholarship at Birkbeck

A fully funded scholarship opportunity for a budding writer to hone their skills has been created at Birkbeck, University of London.
March 13, 2016

Birkbeck Poets

Birkbeck Poets join the events for Arts Week 2016.
March 18, 2016

The Writers’ Hub becomes MIR Online

Melanie Jones talks through the features of our brand-new website.
April 1, 2016

Stefanie Seddon Shortlisted For Prize

Stefanie’s short story, Eel, has been shortlisted for the 2016 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, she tells us a about the inspiration behind the story.
April 13, 2016

Courttia Newland to read at MIRLive

Our first MIRLive will take place on May 13th 2016 and we are looking for readers to join Benjamin Wood and Courttia Newland.
May 2, 2016

MIRLive May 13th

Our first MIRLive will take place on May 13th 2016 and we are joined by Benjamin Wood, Nadim Safdar, Courttia Newland, Gilli Fryzer and Anne Rabbit.
May 3, 2016

Birkbeck Arts Week

Birkbeck Arts Week, 2016 runs from Monday 16 to Saturday 21 May and the Creative Writing department will be hosting two events during Arts Week. These events will be complimented by MIRLive on May 13th and Birkbeck Poets on May 22nd.
May 21, 2016

Being Dad Interviews

Melanie Jones speaks to authors Dan Powell, Toby Litt, Nikesh Shukla, and Courttia Newland  about Being Dad and the effects fatherhood has had on their writing
September 29, 2016

Elizabeth Fremantle to read at MIRLive

MIRLive returns  on October 24th 2016 for an anthology special. We are joined by Elizabeth Freemantle, Melanie Jones, Aliyah Keshani, Melody Razak, Chris Lilly, John Forde and Claire Montell.
October 3, 2016

Pretty in Pink: MIR13 Launch Party

On Tuesday we celebrated the launch of our thirteenth anthology in the Keynes Library at Birkbeck.
October 20, 2016

Stefanie Seddon wins the 2016 Bristol Short Story Prize

The 2016 Bristol Short Story Prize has been won by Stefanie Seddon, who has just completed an M.A. in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London. The Prize is a prestigious international writing competition open to writers worldwide which is now in its 9th year, and received 2,160 entries this year. […]
October 24, 2016

Writers Wanted

Nomads writing group recruiting for new members.
October 25, 2016

MIRLive December 5th

Our next MIRLive takes place on December 5th at the Harrison, 28 Harrison Street, King’s Cross, WC1H 8JF. This will be a Christmas Special and we are looking for work inspired by folk tales, fairy tales and magic. The deadline for Submissions is November 18th.
November 1, 2016

Recommended Reads November

The first of our monthly book recommendations. The MIROnline team have chosen the books they are most enjoying this month.
November 2, 2016

Stephen Morrison-Burke Feature

Stephen Morrison-Burke shares High Dust and Donkeys, an extract from his novel in progress. He also talks to Alison Hitchock about winning the Kit De Waal Scholarship and his plans for the future
December 1, 2016

MIR14 Call For Submissions