 a welcome from the editor read the first issue here it s a real pleasure to announce that the first issue of the puffin review is now alive and kicking or should that be squawking at any rate it s been hard work launching the magazine and we re glad we can sit back and relax at least for a day or two after which work on next month s issue will begin in earnest we ve started from scratch with the puffin review as a writer i know how important the first few publications are so we created the magazine to give new writers a chance at seeing their name in lights or rather in print we have no pretence no artifice no delusions of grandeur and no money our idea is simple send us your writing if it s good we publish it we don t care whether your publication record is yards long or nonexistent we don t bother if you re a student or a pensioner we don t mind where you live what you eat who you love what you do we just want good writing and to provide a place for emerging talent to publish thanks are obviously due to our writers and you can find out more about them in the contributors section in the menu we ve included links to their various blogs and their twitter names as we want to publicise our writers and spread the word about them so if you like what you see check their details and read more from them we want to hear from more writers so check our submission guidelines and send us your work we ll be publishing monthly and are already looking ahead to our next issue also take a look at our poetry contest where you could win a weekend for four in the south of france we also welcome feedback so feel free to get in touch with the editorial team or leave comments at the foot of each article i hope you enjoy our first edition julie mcdowall editor arielmcdowall introduction 