⏳ Weekly Writing Contest | May 11: Untranslatable
Submit your entry to this week’s guest judge Ben Keene, Co-Founder of Rebel Book Club, by Friday, May 16 at 12pm ET/5pm BST
Welcome to the Weekly Writers' Hour Contest!
This week's challenge invites you to explore the edges of language, where meaning flickers just beyond translation.
PROMPT
Untranslatable: Write about an untranslatable word—real or imagined.
Maybe it’s a term from another language that resonates deeply with you. Maybe it’s a word you wish existed to name a specific feeling, moment, or experience in your life.
Unpublished pieces of 500 words or less in any genre are eligible.
Submissions are due by Friday, May 16th, at 5pm BST / 12pm ET.
Keep reading for more information on prizes and FAQs – plus an introduction to this week’s guest judge,
, Co-Founder of .Happy writing!
The Writers’ Hour Magazine Team
Meet Our Guest Judge:
Ben K is the Co-Founder of Rebel Book Club. He started Rebel Book Club with his wingman, Ben Saul-Garner, whilst in Bali back in 2015.
Ben now credits rhythm, community + accountability with jumping from 4 books a year to between 35-50 since starting RBC.
A Note from Ben
Did you know that Rebel Book Club was inspired by an untranslatable word?
Neither did we, at first.
What we did know in 2015 was that we were struggling to get past chapter 3 or 30% of the non-fiction books we were downloading to our kindles.
So we took the radical act of starting a book club to try and feed a little more of our hungry minds with better reading and learning habits.
The 'rebel' in Rebel Book Club was both an attempt to try and push through the 'valley of reading death' that often occupies in the middle chapters and actually finish the occasional book, and to try and turn one or two of our reading insights into positive action in our work or lives in general.
We later learned that the Japanese have a word for this great human suffering: Tsundoku.
Tsundoku (積ん読) is the phenomenon of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them. The term is also used to refer to unread books on a bookshelf meant for reading later.
Tsundoku is the (good) problem. Rebel Book Club is our attempt to answer it.
The reality? We've grown our club and read a book every month together for 10 years. Our reading and learning habits have improved significantly. Many positive actions have been taken and friendships have been made.
Our reading piles? Higher than they've ever been!
It seems that the more you read, the more you want to read...
Tsundoku has taught us that untranslatable words are magical because they remind us that human vocabularies are built on the diversity of our cultural histories and that there's always a new way of looking at our lives and world.
A Note from Our Editorial Team
This week’s prompt invites you to explore a word—real or imagined—that expresses a feeling or experience we don’t readily have language for. Maybe it’s a term that captures a feeling you’ve found difficult to express. Or maybe it’s a word you wish existed, one that puts language to a fleeting moment, a strange joy, or a personal ache.
Use this prompt as a chance to dive into specificity. What’s the texture of the moment you’re describing? What images or memories are tied to it? And above all: what happens when you try to name the unnameable?
How to Submit:
Submissions should be made through our online submission platform, Submittable, and formatted as a Word Doc.
For more details, please read the full Contest Guidelines.
The winning entries will receive:
First Prize:
$65 USD (£50 GBP)
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
3-months of London Writers’ Salon Silver Membership (£79 value)
Commemorative Writers’ Hour trophy mug
Second Prize:
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
1-month of London Writers’ Salon Silver Membership (£29 value)
Third Prize:
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
FAQs:
What genres can I write in?
All genres - fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc - are welcome.Is there a word limit?
Your piece must be 500 words or less. Pieces that exceed this will not be considered. There is no minimum word limit.Do I need to submit in a specific format?
Please follow the instructions outlined in the Contest Guidelines.When is the deadline to submit?
Submissions are due by Friday, May 16 at 5pm BST / 12pm ET / 9am PT. Submissions received outside this window will not be considered.When will the winner be announced?
The winner will be contacted via Submittable, and the winning entries will be published in Writers’ Hour Magazine by Saturday, May 30th.Can I submit a piece I’ve already published?
Only previously unpublished pieces are eligible for this contest. (Published means anything that has already been made publicly available in print or online.)Can I use AI tools (like ChatGPT) to help write my contest submission?
No. We do not accept any AI-assisted writing for contest entries. All submissions must be the author’s original work and human-generated. Use of AI will disqualify you from this and any future contests.
Is there a fee to submit?
No, there is no fee to submit. However you must be subscribed to Writers’ Hour Magazine in order for your submission to be considered.
Congratulations to the winners of The Shoes!
We are thrilled to share the contest results for the week of April 20. Writers were invited to write about a pair of shoes. Special thanks once again to our guest judge, Faiza S Khan.
First Place: Portrait Of My Lover As A Cowboy Boot by
Second Place: Red Shoes at Marilyn's Grave by
Third Place: Shoe Polish by
Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who participated. It’s a pleasure to share these pieces with you, and we can’t wait to see what you create this week.
PS - Write with us at Writers’ Hour
Come work on your submission at Writers' Hour—our daily silent writing sprints—where writers from around the world come together to work on their projects. It’s the perfect environment to focus, share space with other writers, and make progress on your contest entry.
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|