This episode is a bit of a special one - featuring new work exclusively from young aspiring writers around the world. We've got eight original poems and stories to share with you this time around - submissions from China, South Korea, Scotland & even nearby Huddersfield(!). We've also got a special guest Louis Jaffa (@louis_jaffa) in the studio with us, as he helps us explore the challenges young people face when working in the arts One thing we wanted to add: This episode was recorded prior to the attack that took place in Israel on 7th October. Since then we've been heartbroken as we've followed the suffering taking place in Israel & Gaza. Our hearts go out to all who've suffered in that conflict to date- both Palestinian and Israeli and to anyone living afraid/isolated here in the UK as the war progresses. We're acutely aware of the increase in antisemitism, intolerance & violent rhetoric in the UK over the past fortnight and we hope desperately for a peaceful solution to the current conflict. With such terrible news coming in all of the time this episode has reminded us how valuable stories and poetry can be - how fortunate we are to get to listen to each other and how important it is to remember the things we have in common. Thanks so much to these young people for submitting work. If you'd like to submit work for our final episode 'How Fast Do You Want To Go?' please send audio or text files of your writing to Words@WriteClubOpenMic.com Timestamps of submissions in this episode: Suah: 8.22 Haerim: 12.58 Ji: 17.26 Shingil: 12.40 Curtis Lowe: 22.58 Cara Slavin: 30.10 Jocelyn: 34.48 Eva Woods: 39.07