❛ A lot of poems start in Oz. I like going to Oz but I want to be taken there. From Issue 19, our interview with poet Billy Collins.

Calling all writers! This year's Moth Nature Writing Prize is now open – we're looking for original submissions of poetry and prose from around the world. Closing 30 September: themothmagazine.com/directory/mo... 🌿 Painting by Victor Man from #MothArchives

❛ I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself. Sculptor Claes Oldenberg, who died #OTD in 2022.

#ThrowbackThursday 🔪 From the Moth Archives, 'Salome' by American artist Hope Gangloff.

❛ The sun seeps above the kitchen sink, / folding out on the blinds like a Swedish flat-pack sunset. 'Redwood // Pacific' by George Neame - originally from Issue 36. 🍊 #MothArchives

❛ I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me... it’s true I'm here, and I’m just as strange as you. Frida Kahlo, who died #OTD in 1954.

Weekend plans... 🎨 Belgian painter Rik Wouters, died #OTD in 1916

❛ Slender, neat and unpretentious in design... The interviews read often like craft-packed mini-memoirs. The poems and stories are consistently gripping, pertinent, stirring. – Dan O'Brien Past Moths from just €5 💚 themothmagazine.com/moth-shop

❛ I think I was just always extremely naively optimistic about what I could personally achieve... probably better that I didn’t understand how the industry was structured. I didn’t know enough to be intimidated by it. From our interview with Sally Rooney. #MothArchives

Too warm outside for anything else... Elisa Filomena's 'Ragazzo che fuma', from the cover of Issue 43 🌇 #MothArchives

❛ Novels teach you that actions have consequences. They help you grow up. Dame Hilary Mantel, born #OTD in 1952. 📸 by Dudley Reed

In case you missed it... The Moth Nature Writing Prize is now open! ✨️ 1st prize €1,000 and a week at The Moth Retreat ✨️ 2nd prize €500 ✨️ 3rd prize €250 Open worldwide to anyone over 16. Visit our website for more details... themothmagazine.com/directory/mo...

❛ The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors, and invisible guests come in and out at will. Czesław Miłosz, born #OTD in 1911.

❛ Despite the tides very much turning on the total supremacy of the white male author, there is still obviously a lingering sense that a man’s novel can have its own existence, whereas the biographical traits of the woman are so notable. –– Interview with Megan Nolan, Issue 45.

❛ It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent—lose your invaluable curiosity and you let yourself die. It's as simple as that. Advice from Tove Jansson, who died #OTD in 2001.

Weather-appropriate attire... Geraldine Swayne's 'Beach Hat', originally from Issue 37. #MothArchives

❛All good poems are victories over something. Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn, who died #OTD in 2021.

The last challenge until September! The theme of this week's Moth Studios Challenge is heat. Complete your artwork within two hours and submit to The Moth Studios (by private message on FB) from 9-11pm on Tuesday evening. 🎨 Flirine Stettheimer

❛ It is the task of a lifetime. You can never know enough, never work enough, never use the infinitives and participles oddly enough, never impede the movement harshly enough, never leave the mind quickly enough. Happy birthday to poet Anne Carson, born #OTD in 1950. 🎈

The Moth Nature Writing Prize 2026 is now OPEN! 🌿✨🍃 Awarded annually to unpublished pieces of prose or poetry, the prize celebrates work which best combines exceptional literary merit with an exploration of the writers’ relationship with the natural world.

We're delighted to see two poems from The Moth Poetry Prize line up on the longlist for this year's Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. And in brilliant company alongside many other friends of The Moth in all categories... Special congratulations to Andrew Krivák and Naoise Gale!

With Friday in touching distance... Paul Archer, from Issue 47 🐊 #MothArchives

The theme of this week's Moth Studios Challenge is David Hockney. The painting / drawing must be completed within two hours on Tuesday between 9-11pm and submitted to The Moth Studios (by private message on FB). Open to everyone. Please share and good luck! 🎨 David Hockney

'Between Rooms of Leaf-patterned Wallpaper', by Naomi Okubo (Issue 16) 🌷 #MothArchives

🚨 FINAL CHANCE TO ENTER 🚨 This year's Moth Short Story Prize closes for entries midnight, your time, on the 15 June – don't miss the chance to submit. There's up to €3,000 up for grabs, if Wendy Erskine chooses your story... themothmagazine.com/directory/th...

❛ Even if what you're working on doesn't go anywhere, it will help you with the next thing you're doing. Make yourself available for something to happen. Give it a shot. Cormac McCarthy, who died #OTD in 2023.

❛ What an artist is trying to do for people is bring them closer to something, because of course art is about sharing. You wouldn't be an artist unless you wanted to share an experience, a thought. We were very sad to hearing about the passing of art legend David Hockney. #RIP

❛ imagining that if she stood / still for long enough the day would take her with it into the shadows / or wherever it is that days go at the end of summer... From the #MothArchives, a Cheryl Moskowitz poem from Issue 32. 🐕

Less than a week to go! 🚨 Tag a writer friend who needs to know about The Moth Short Story Prize. 🌟 Judged by Wendy Erskine 🌟 Open worldwide, to anyone over 16 🌟 Up to €3000 up for grabs 🌟 Closing 15 June themothmagazine.com/directory/th...

The theme of this week's Moth Studios Challenge is maps The painting / drawing must be completed within two hours and submitted from 9-11pm on Tuesday evening to The Moth Studios (by private message on FB). Open to everyone. Please share and good luck! 🎨 Jasper Johns