The fourth Landfall Essay Competition has been launched, and submissions will be accepted from 1 May to 30 June 2004. You’ve got seven months to knock that essay into shape, and the winning entry will be published in the November 2004 issue. The prize is a healthy $2,500 plus a year's subscription to … guess … yes, Landfall.

Essays should be fully developed, independent works on subjects of general interest, and no longer than 6,000 words. The competition is open to writers resident in New Zealand. For more information, write to: Landfall Essay Competition, University of Otago Press, PO Box 56, Dunedin. Or email university.press@otago.ac.nz.

(This spring’s Landfall features conjuror’s tricks, uncanny scenes and practical magic from some of New Zealand’s best artists and writers. Poets James Norcliffe, Shannon Welch and Janet Charman focus on some very different kinds of disappearing acts. Bill Manhire provides ‘performance tips’ for aspiring illusionists. And Alison Glenny opens the fascinating history of the Surrealist Cookbook.)