Notes from the Edge

Dialect's 2025 anthology

It’s here - the DIALECT ANTHOLOGY 2025 - featuring stunning writing by the emerging and established writers we’ve been privileged to work with this past year.

Anyone who has been out walking the fields and lanes this autumn could hardly have missed the fact that 2025 has been a ‘mast year’ - a once-a-decade period of abundance that has seen all of our harvest tables heaving as the days draw in.

In bringing together this year’s Dialect Anthology, bursting at the seams with the extraordinary work of rural and edgeland writers here in the UK, it’s been hard not to see some parallels with the land around us.

In 2025, the climate hasn’t always been calm or kind, and attempts to sow division have rained down steadily. But the resistance to this, and the surge of connection, creativity and nurturing in response, right across our creative landscape, has been undeniable.

Here at Dialect, it’s been a time of wild fruitfulness. From poetry walks to reading groups, from imaginary meals to power hours, from midsummer music to our weekly ‘Crow Fridays’ (celebrating each other’s writing wins both big and small), there have been so many bold new collaborations and moments of real magic this year. It’s been a joy to watch the Dialect Writer’s Collective go from strength to strength, and to spotlight just some of the incredible, high quality work bubbling up right now from our rural spaces. Too long overlooked, but now leading the way into our imagined future. So, a deep thank you to our Dialect family for this feast of words, especially to our dear friend Philip Rush for typesetting - see you all in 2026 for even more.

Every year our anthology is an essential fundraiser that helps us keep the lights on at Dialect. Head to our Bookshop to order your copies now! www.dialect.org.uk/bookshop

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