Poems For Patience

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is seeking entries again for its annual poetry competition. The poetry competition is run in conjunction with the Poems For Patience series as part of Cúirt International Festival of Literature which runs from April 8th – 14th in Galway. 

Deadline: Friday February 22nd. 

The prize as part of the annual poetry competition includes: the winner will have his/her poem published and displayed on the Arts Corridor of University Hospital Galway as part of the 2019 Poems For Patience series. 

The poems, after exhibition on the Arts Corridor, are then displayed in waiting areas throughout Galway University Hospitals. 

The winner will also be invited to read his or her winning poem at the launch of the 2019 Poems For Patience at Cúirt International Festival of Literature in April 2019;  given a copy of their poem printed and framed as a Poem for Patience poster and invited to submit six poems for consideration to be a Featured Reader at the Over The Edge: Open Reading series in Galway City Library.

The aim of Poems for Patience is to provide access to poetry for patients, their families, staff, visitors and the wider hospital community. Waiting areas are used by patients and their loved ones on a daily basis, in outpatient clinics, going for scans, x-rays and other tests as inpatients.

The competition judge is Kevin Higgins. 

Poems entered in the competition should be no more than 32 lines long.

ENTRY FEE


To enter one poem the fee is €10. If you enter two or more poems the entry fee is €7.50 per poem i.e. to enter two poems it costs €15, to enter three poems €22.50 and so on.

Details here

Poetry Ireland Introductions

Applications are now open for Poetry Ireland Introductions 2018, which will offer poets in the early stages of their careers, writing in Irish or English, the opportunity to showcase their work through workshops and performance. 

The poets selected for Introductions 2018 will participate in a workshop focused on poetic form and craft, as well as a masterclass on the art of reading and performing poetry in public. A third workshop will be provided on marketing and self-promotion for poets. 

Poetry Ireland Introductions 2018 will culminate in a number of public readings during the International Literature Festival Dublin.

Poetry Ireland is delighted to announce that poet Sinead Morrissey will select this year’s participants and will also lead the form and craft workshop. Theo Dorgan will lead the poetry reading and performance workshop.

How to apply: 
Interested poets should submit their work to be considered for selection for Introductions 2018. Applicants are required to submit:
A short biography and covering letter.
A selection of published or unpublished poems (no more than 10 pages in total).

Note:
Submitting poets should ideally have had work published in established journals and magazines.
Only poets resident on the island of Ireland or Irish poets living abroad may apply.
Applications are facilitated by an independent, established assessor.
Selected applicants are usually informed within four weeks of the deadline and, depending on the number of submissions, approximately 12 poets are selected each year.

Applications should be sent to:  
Introductions 2018, Poetry Ireland, 11 Parnell Square East, Dublin 1

Application Deadline: 
Friday 16 February 2018

20 years of Strokestown

To celebrate 20 years of the Strokestown Poetry festival, they have a new competition.

To mark 20 years, there is a new competition for 20 lines of poetry, based on any of 20 picture prompts - with 20 prizes. The winning entries will be displayed alongside the images during the Festival, from May 3rd - 7th 2018.  

The poetry competition is available on-line, costs just €3 per poem, and will be judged by poet Noelle Lynskey, who will read all entries.

The first prize is €100, with 19 runners-up each receiving €20. 

Deadline: February 9th 

Entries can be less than, but no more than, 20 lines.

So let's be brief

More details – and 20 picture prompts- are available on https://www.strokestownpoetry.org/competitions-2018/2020-competition/ 

2018 York Literature Festival / YorkMix Poetry Competition

The prestigious competition, now in its sixth year, is established as a major national literary event.

The closing date for entries is February 25, 2018.

This year’s judge is acclaimed poet Andrew McMillan. There are some interesting comments on what he is looking for in a poem here.

The first prize rises to £600, with a runner-up award of £150, a third prize of £75 and a new, fourth prize of £50.
At the judge’s discretion, up to ten Highly Commended and 15 Commended poems will each win their writer a certificate.

The minimum entry fee is £6 for a single poem; £15 for up to two or three; £17.50 for four; £20 for five. There is no limit to the number of poems that can be submitted.
The award ceremony will be on a boat.

Link here

Submissions to Skylight issue 10

The lovely people at Skylight are looking for submissions.

Deadline 1 February 2018 (midnight).

Please send up to three poems, along with a short biographical note (max 60 words), to skylightpoets47@gmail.com. Work should be unpublished.
Poems to be no longer than 40 lines.

Please send your poems both as an attachment (.doc, .docx, .txt or .rtf) and in the body of the email.

The editors are also looking for original artwork. We will be featuring one artist in each issue, publishing four or five pieces. If you would like to be this artist, please email your work during the submission window.

Contributors will receive one copy of the magazine.

Unesco’s World Poetry Day - Poetry on the Lake

CALL: Crossing Lines, poems for immigrants and refugees

During March 2017, in the ambit of the celebrations of Unesco’s World Poetry Day, Poetry on the Lake will dedicate a webpage of http://www.poetryonthelake.org/ to poems for immigrants and refugees.

Send poems (published or unpublished) to poetryonthelake@yahoo.co.uk subject: Crossing Lines.

N.b. There is no fee and no payment.

The York Literature Festival / YorkMix Poetry Competition 2017

Poems must be in English, run to no longer than 40 lines, and fit on a single A4 page.

They must be original and not previously published .

Entrants must be over 18 and live or study in the British Isles.

Full rules and to enter here.

Winning and commended poets will be invited to read their entries at a gala evening prize-giving at Friargate Theatre, York, on March 26, 2017.

The prize-giving event will also feature a reading by Antony Dunn who is the sole judge of the competition and will read every entry.

Poets may enter as many poems as they wish. The minimum entry fee is £5 for a single poem. For an entry fee of £10, poets may submit two or three poems.

Deadline: February 28, 2017

Stories for Homes Volume 2

As a writer, you have to be selective when submitting to charity anthologies. Some are real pie in the sky with only token payments ending up at the charities. So do your homework.

This one is one of the good ones.

Stories for Homes is a project to raise funds for the UK housing charity Shelter and to raise awareness about the housing crisis in London and beyond. The Stories for Homes anthology was published in 2013. A second volume is planned for 2017.

In 2013, known and emerging writers were invited to submit stories of up to 3,000 words on the theme of Home. An amazing team came together to produce Stories for Homes, a world class anthology of short stories e-published 29th July 2013 with the paperback published December 2013.

The book is available from selected bookshops, Amazon and Create Space store.

Within days of publication Stories for Homes Anthology became a best-selling anthology. To date the project has raised money for Shelter and raised the profile of the problem of homelessness across the UK. Read the fantastic reviews for Stories for Homes Anthology here!

The idea of ‘Home’ has been on our minds a lot recently. More than ever, with millions of people driven from their homes all over the world, ‘shelter’ often equates to ‘safety’. Closer to home, at least 120,000 children in the UK were homeless for Christmas 2016. Shelter, the charity that helps the homeless and those in poor housing, needs our help more than ever, and what better way to do that than by bringing our creative minds to consider all that home means?

We are now open for submissions for Stories for Homes Volume 2. The plan is to launch the e-book in September 2017 and a paperback version in November 2017. As before, all profits will go directly to Shelter.

Here are the submission guidelines:

• Stories should be between 100 and 3000 words long (not including the title).
• The theme is HOME.
• Please send your story as a Word document in an attachment to sforh2@gmail.com AND copy in debi.alper@gmail.com. It’s important to send it to both email addresses.
• DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME ON THE ATTACHMENT. Submissions will be considered anonymously. All writers are welcome to submit – unpublished, previously published and those who were included in Stories for Homes Volume One. Anonymous submissions will give a level playing field to all those submitting.
• The deadline is midnight (UK time) 14th February 2017.

Listowel Writers Week Creative Writing Competitions

Listowel Writers’ Week is an internationally acclaimed literary festival devoted to bringing together writers and audiences at unique and innovative events in the historic and intimate surroundings of Listowel County Kerry. 

31st May to 4th of June 2017

The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year is generously sponsored by Kerry Group Plc, and with a prize of €15,000 it remains the largest monetary prize for fiction available solely to Irish authors. Novels must be published between 1st February 2016 and 1st February 2017. The 2016 Prize was won by Anne Enright for The Green Road.

The Pigott Poetry Prize, now in its fourth year, is generously sponsored by Mark Pigott KBE and the Pigott Family. The €5,000 Prize is awarded for a published collection of Poetry by an Irish poet. Collection entries must be published between 1st February 2016 and 1st February 2017. The 2016 Prize was won by Eamon Grennan for There Now.

The closing date for entries for the above two awards is 3rd February 2017 and submissions now being accepted for both awards.

All other Creative Writing Competitions are open to entries that are previously unpublished and include: The Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award, The Eamon Keane Full-Length Play in association with Siamsa Tíre, the Single Poem and the Poetry Collection, Listowel Writers’ Week Originals, the Con Houlihan Young Sports Journalist Award and Kerry County Council Creative Writing Competitions for Youth. All of the above include a generous prize fund and many can be entered online through our website.  Closing date for receipt of entries is 3rd March 2017.

Prize-winners of ALL our competitions will receive their awards on the Opening Night of Listowel Writers Week on Wednesday 31st May 2017.

Some are free to enter, some are around €10. Full details and criteria for ALL our Creative Writing Competitions are available here Competitions

Poetry Ireland’s Introductions

Poetry Ireland’s Introductions Series aims to encourage excellence in the craft of poetry, while raising the profile of talented, emerging poets. 

Applications are now open for the 2017 Introductions Series, which will offer poets in the early stages of their careers, writing in Irish or English, the opportunity to showcase theirwork through workshops and performance.

In 2017 the poets selected for the Introductions Series will participate in two workshops/master classes. The first workshop is focused on form and craft, the second on the art of reading/performing poetry in public.

These workshops will culminate in a number of public readings during the International Literature Festival Dublin.

Veterans of the Introductions Series include: Caoilinn Hughes, Andrew Jamison, Eleanor Hooker, Martin Dyar, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Kerrie O’Brien, Jane Clarke, Victoria Kennefick, Erin Fornoff, Alvy Carragher, Kate Dempsey, Stephen Connolly, and Stephen Sexton. Introductions poets have subsequently been published by Dedalus Press, the Gallery Press, Salmon Poetry, Doire Press and Carcanet Press, and their work has gone on to win numerous awards, including the Rooney Prize, the Michael Hartnett Award, and acknowledgement at the Irish Book Awards. 

Interested poets should submit their work to be considered for selection for the 2017 Introduction Series. Applicants are required to submit:

• A short biography and covering letter. 
• A selection of published or unpublished poems (no more than 10 pages in total).

Note:
Submitting poets should ideally have had work published in established journals and magazines.
Applications are facilitated by an independent, established assessor. 
Selected applicants are usually informed within four weeks and, depending on the number of submissions, approximately 12 poets are selected each year.

Applications should be sent to: 
Introduction Series, Poetry Ireland, 11 Parnell Square East, Dublin 1

Application Deadline:
Friday 17 February 2017      

Link here

Maria Edgeworth Literary Poetry Competition 2017

Poetry Competition

€250 - First Prize

€75 -  Second prize

€50 - Third Prize

Deadline: 24 Feb 2017

The Maria Edgeworth's festival will be starting 5th May 2017 in Edgeworthtown.

Rules:
1. Entry Fee must accompany all entries. Each submission is €5.
2. All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not have been published, accepted for publication, broadcast or honoured by the closing dates for entries.
3. Name and address to go on a separate attached sheet.
4. Poems limited to 40 lines.

Judge: Professor Iggy McGovern

Cheques made payable to: Edgeworth Literary Society or Payment can be made online through PAYPAL at www.edgeworthstown.net/festival

Entries to be sent to: Competition Secretary, Edgeworth Literary Society, Old School House, Ballymahon Road, Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford

Picaroon Poetry call for Submissions - Troubadour

Troubadour will be an anthology of poetry inspired by music and musicians.

Call for Picaroon anthology submissions! 

Here at Picaroon, we get so many poetry submissions paying tribute to genres such as jazz, country, and the blues, or specific singer-songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and David Bowie. Either way, and whatever your view, it’s clear: music means the world to many poets, and in many cases the two art forms are closely entwined.

Hence our title: “troubadour” was originally a word used to describe a certain type of medieval poet, but has, over the centuries, come to mean a singer. A troubadour seamlessly blends words and music.

This anthology will be edited by Kate Garrett and Robert de Born (poet, songwriter & musician), and published in Spring 2017.

The deadline for submissions is Sunday 5 February 2017.

Guidelines:

• Submit up to 4 unpublished poems about music, inspired by music, as tributes to music – the interpretation of the theme is up to you.
• Submit all of your poems in a single Word document (not one poem per document – this gets very confusing), or in the body of your email. Please do not send PDFs.
• Send your poems to picaroonpoetry@gmail.com with the subject line “Troubadour Submission”.
• Unfortunately we cannot accept found poetry for this book, due to stringent copyright laws around song lyrics, so please don’t send any.
• If you are sending a simultaneous submission, please let us know as soon as possible if it’s accepted elsewhere.
• Payment for the anthology will be one contributor copy of the paperback.
• Once again, the d, and the book will be published in Spring 2017 (probably April).
  We look forward to reading your

Deadline 5 February 2017

Link here

Mercier Press Fiction Competition

Ireland's oldest independent publishing house, Mercier Press, has launched a competition to find a first-time fiction author with the potential to become a best-selling writer.


Deadline:1 February 2016.


Prize:
In addition to a publishing deal, the winner will receive a 1000 euro cash prize.

Aspiring authors must submit 10,000 to 12,000 words of original fiction aimed at young adults or adults, as well as a 1,000 word synopsis of the full novel.


Mercier Press Managing Director Mary Feehan commented:

‘Mercier Press has a history of nurturing new talent.  In an ideal world we will find our next John B. Keane, but, our main reason for running this competition is to encourage creative writing.  For both authors and publishers fiction is a hugely competitive genre and we are keen to publish the best fiction Ireland has to offer.’

Entrants must be resident in Ireland and are only eligible to enter if they have not had a novel published or released into the public domain in any format, including but not limited to the Internet. The competition is looking for new work.


Full details can be found on http://www.mercierpress.ie/


Entry form available here.

Michael Hartnett Poetry Award 2016

Applications are currently being invited for the Michael Hartnett Poetry Award 2016, an annual scheme marking Newcastle West native Michael Hartnett’s contribution to literature in English and Irish. The 15th annual award is jointly funded by the Arts Office of Limerick City and County Council and The Arts Council.

Each year the award alternates between Irish and English and this year the €4,000 annual prize will be presented to the author of a third book of English language poetry, or subsequent book of poetry, published during 2014 or 2015.

This year’s adjudicators are poet Rita Ann Higgins and Gerard Smyth, Poetry Editor with the Irish Times.

The winning poet will be presented with the Michael Hartnett Annual Poetry Award on the opening night, Thursday April 14^th 2016 of Éigse Michael Hartnett Literary & Arts Festival, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick.

Deadline: Friday 19 February 2016.

Click to Download:
Michael Hartnett Poetry Award 2016 - Application Form 
Michael Hartnett Poetry Award 2016 - Conditions

The  Cork International Poetry Festival is a fantastic poetry festival we should all be proud of. I'm gutted that I'm going to have to miss it this year but if you have a chance, get yourself to Cork for at least part of 10th to 13th February and gorge yourself on all things poetry from soup to amuse bouche through meat and two veg to exotic fruits.

And if you book before 7th Feb online here it's only €70 for the whole lot. Bargain!

So who could you see?

• the Itinerant Poetry Librarian,
• various showcases with a mix of readers
• Paul Casey & Doireann Ní Ghríofa (recommended)
• Thomas Lynch & Aidan Murphy
• Joseph Horgan & Afric McGlinchey
• Sarah Hayden & Rachel Warriner
• Ailbhe Darcy & Caitríona O'Reilly
• Gerry Murphy & Tom Pickard
• David O'Meara & Matthew Sweeney
• John Fitzgerald & John Mee
• Michael Coady & John McAuliffe
• Tomica Bajsić & Gerard Smyth
• Vona Groarke & Paisley Rekdal
• Kyle Dargan & Deryn Rees-Jones
• Moya Cannon & Bronwyn Lea (recommended)

and many more. Info and all that here

There are also a few places still available on the week long workshop, if you are able to make that kind of time commitment.

Stinging Fly Submissions - Fear & Fantasy

Winter 2016 issue - Fear & Fantasy

The Winter 2016 issue has a special theme and it will be guest-edited by Mia Gallagher.

Submissions for this issue are now being accepted. The last day to post your submission is Friday, February 5th 2016. All submissions that are postmarked on or before this date will be considered.

Link to a note from the ‘Fear & Fantasy’ issue guest editor:

As well as fiction, they are looking for poems and essays – any piece of text that resonates with the theme. They welcome essays from people working outside literature or lit criticism – history, psychology, biochemistry, philosophy, geophysics, forensics etc.

The postal address for submissions is: The Stinging Fly, PO Box 6016, Dublin 1, Ireland.
More details on the link above.

In each issue they also do a Featured Poet, publishing a number of poems by a poet who is working towards a first collection. To be considered, send 6-10 previously unpublished poems. If they want to see more, they will get back to you. If submitting for this slot, do not make a separate poetry submission.

Publisher: Declan Meade
Editor: Thomas Morris
Poetry Editor: Eabhan Ní Shúileabháin
Eagarthóir filíochta Gaeilge: Aifric Mac Aodha
Contributing Editors: Emily Firetog, Dave Lordan, and Sean O'Reilly

I Am Dublin Flash Fiction Competition

Deadline: Monday 15 February 2016, 5pm

Entry fee: €5

This flash fiction competition encourages you to channel your inner Anna Livia Plurabelle and to seek inspiration in the charm of our fair city – cracks and all. Pieces should be 400 words in length (in English or Irish) and should be submitted by 15 February 2016. Four winners will be invited to take part in a showcase event on Tuesday 15 March alongside four well-known names on the Dublin literary scene.

Details: 

- There is no limit to the amount of entries you submit.

- Entries should be sent via Word Doc or PDF (anonymously; including story title) to events@writerscentre.ie with the subject line: I Am Dublin competition

Prize: €60 in book vouchers from independent bookshops

Link here

Reclaim the Vision of 1916 – a Citizens’ Initiative

International Poetry Competition 2016

THEME: The Vision of 1916: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Inspired by the strong connections between poetry and the Easter Rising, the International Poetry Competition 2016 is now open for submissions.

Many of the Rising’s leaders were accomplished poets, including Pádraic Pearse, Joseph Mary Plunkett, James Connolly – and the eminent Thomas MacDonagh. Also acclaimed for his talents as a teacher, playwright, Irish language scholar, and literary theorist, it is in MacDonagh’s honour that we have chosen for the competition’s first prize the Robert Ballagh-designed Thomas MacDonagh Medal (along with a cash award of €1,000).


In its aftermath, the Rising motivated a generation of poets of national and international renown – including George Russell (AE), Francis Ledwidge, Padraic Colum, James Stephens, Sean O’Casey, Eva Gore-Booth and William Butler Yeats – to reflect upon its ideals, events, men and women, and consequences. Alongside these can be placed a succession of Irish language poets that includes Liam S Gógan, Máirtín Ó Direáin, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Eoghan Ó Tuairisc and Seán Ó Tuama.


Likewise, we are now inviting the present generations of writers of poetry, young and older, established and emerging, to reflect upon the competition’s theme and submit up to three entries for our judges’ consideration.


The competition is open to persons over the age of sixteen years living on the island of Ireland or abroad.


Entries may be in English, Irish, or any of the languages in common use in Ireland today (with either English or Irish translations).

JUDGES
Catherine Ann Cullen, Louis de Paor and Ciaran Carty. Professor Michael Cronin will act as the competition’s Languages’ Advisor.


PRIZES
First: Thomas MacDonagh Medal, plus €1,000
Second: €500
Third: €250


ENTRY FEES
€10 for first poem
€5 for second poem
€5 for third poem

See: http://www.reclaim1916.ie/international-poetry-competition/


Deadline: 29 February 2016

Doolin Writers Competition 2016

Entries are now being invited for short stories and poems for the Doolin Writers Competition.

Deadline: February 5^th 2016.

Dave Lordan will judge the poetry competition and Anthony Glavin will judge the Short Story

Prizes: €1000 and publication in Banshee Literary Journal are up for grabs for the overall winner of each category.

Meanwhile, Hotel Doolin has confirmed the weekend of the 4^th-6^th March for the 4^th annual Doolin Writers’ Weekend, which will again play host to some of the country’s leading writers. Joseph O’Connor will launch this year’s Writers’ Weekend with the final line-up of participating poets and writers will to be announced in early January.

Visit www.doolinwritersweekend.com for further information or to enter the Doolin Writers Competition 2016.

Hungry Hill Writing Competition

Hungry Hill Writing invites entries for our annual poetry competition: Poets meet politics 2016

• Two first prizes of €500: 

• One for a poem about any political subject

• One which focuses on the 1916 Irish Easter Rising
• Second prize of a week’s retreat in the Creativity Cabin in Kilcatherine Point on the Beara Peninsula. 
• Third prize of €100.

This year’s judge is Afric McGlinchey

Deadline: February 1st 2016

Winning and shortlisted poems will be featured at the Poets meet Politics Award Event in Castletownbere, County Cork, on the 16th April 2016, and published in a printed anthology and/or on the Hungry Hill Writing website.

Fee of €10 per entry of up to three poems

More details here