iota submission call

In the next issue, IOTA will explore work and play. 

Send your take on this theme. Be as oblique as you like (and they like oblique...) 

They are looking for short stories, poems, life writing, memoir, travel writing, food writing and more. These forms can be combined, played with, deconstructed and all can be completely fictive - they only ask that your writing is bold and original. To quote Emily Dickinson, "tell us all the truth, but tell it slant."

Features and essays - Email us your work

Stories - Email your short stories to us we’ll read and respond to submissions as they come in 

Poems - Email up to four poems

We will read all submissions and get back with our decisions within four weeks. Please send your work to: info@iotamagazine.co.uk

• Fiction/non-fiction submissions may range between 500 and 2000 words 

• Poems - we will consider submissions of up to four poems 

• We can’t accept work that has previously been published in print or online

• Please include your full contact details on a separate cover sheet with each submission

• The closing date for submissions is July 1st 2018

Iron Mountain Literature Festival - John McGahern Award

As part of the Iron Mountain Literature Festival, Leitrim County Council and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre have developed the John McGahern Award to encourage the development of emerging Irish writers and to pay tribute to the exceptional contribution of John McGahern to literature, and to Leitrim.

The recipient of the Award will receive a two-week fully resourced residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and a stipend of €500. 

This is an open call to emerging writers of fiction resident in the Republic of Ireland. Applicants must have had some fiction or short stories published in a recognised journal or anthology selected by an established publisher or editor.

Deadline: 5pm, 31 July, 2017.

The recipient of the award will be publicly announced on Saturday 7th October 2017 during the Iron Mountain Literature Festival at The Dock, Carrick on Shannon.

Link here

The Ogham Stone 2018

The Ogham Stone is a Journal of Literature and Arts produced by the MA Students of English & Creative Writing at University of Limerick.
The 2018 issue is now accepting submissions of unpublished work from both Irish and international writers and artists. They consider fiction, poetry,  creative non-fiction, and memoir, as well as visual arts/photography.

Deadline: 5pm on Thursday 31st August 2017.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• All submissions must be emailed to oghamstoneul@gmail.com. Submissions should be attached to your email.
• All written work should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (set in Times New Roman, 12 point). The file name should be your surname and initial(s) (e.g.  Smith J).
• Please indicate in the subject line of the email what category your submission falls into (poetry, fiction, CNF etc).
• Include a 150-word biography in the body of the email, along with a contact email address. 
• Authors and artists are asked to submit pieces of work separately for each category (i.e. one email containing a poem, another for prose).
• Individuals may submit up to 4 pieces in total but may submit across all categories.
• Prose must not exceed 2,000 words in length.
• Poetry should be submitted in the format in which you wish it to appear on the page; individual poems should not exceed 50 lines.
• We cannot accept work that has been previously published (including on personal blogs) and prefer not to receive work currently being reviewed elsewhere

Link here

Fiction at the Friary

Fiction at the Friary is a new monthly fiction event in The Friary, North Mall, Cork. This event, run by Danielle McLaughlin and Madeleine D'Arcy, will feature readings by guest authors throughout 2017, along with open mic, optional writing exercises, occasional book reviews and plenty of conversation.

So far they've had Danny Denton, Eimear Ryan and William Wall.

Sunday 30th April  3-6 pm the reader is Susan Lanigan, whose excellent novel, White Feathers, set in WW1, was shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year 2015.

Cúirt New Writing Prize 2017

The Cúirt New Writing Prize, in memory of Lena Maguire, is now open for  submissions.


The categories are poetry and fiction.


There is a €500 cash prize for the winner of each category and the opportunity to read at the Cúirt/Over the Edge Showcase event at Cúirt 2017.


The entry fee for each submission is €10, this can be paid via the Paypal button.


This year’s judges are poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa and writer Sarah Maria Griffin.


The youth strand of the prize ‘Young Cúirt’ is for ages 12-17. The winner will receive €100 cash prize and will read at the Cúirt Labs in April.


The closing date for submissions is Tuesday 31st  January 2017 at 5pm.


More information here

Dublin Book Festival

Dublin Book Festival is one of Ireland’s most successful and vibrant book festivals.  This annual public Festival showcases, supports and develops Irish Publishing by programming, publicising and selling Irish published books, their authors, editors and contributors all in an entertaining, festive, friendly and accessible environment that reflect the creativity and personality of the Irish Publishing sector and its authors.

What's on link here

A delicious menu includes:
Friday, 11 November 1:10 pm - 2:00 pm
Boys' School, Smock Alley Theatre
Slake Your Thirst – The Future Always Makes Me So Thirsty: New Poets from the North of Ireland

Saturday, 12 November 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Dublin City Public Libraries Reader’s Day
With Mia Gallagher, Diarmuid Gavin, Mike McCormack, Deirdre Purcell and Donal Ryan in conversation with Dave Kenny

Saturday, 12 November 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Boys' School, Smock Alley Theatre
Poetry Ireland: The Rising Generation
With Jane Clarke, Christodoulos Makris, Julie Morrissy and Ciaran O’Rourke with music from Sive

Date/Time
Date(s) - Saturday, 12 November 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Boys' School, Smock Alley Theatre
Salmon Poetry Anniversary Event. Even The Daybreak: 35 Years of Salmon Poetry
With many of Salmon’s outstanding poets taking part, including Seamus Cashman, Mary Dorcey, Jean O’Brien, Mark Granier, Colm Keegan, Mary O’Donnell, Maurice Harmon, Alvy Carragher, Anne Hartigan, Phil Lynch, Alan Jude Moore, Patrick Chapman and more!

Saturday, 12 November 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Looking at the Stars
With Colin Barrett, Tara Flynn, Joseph O’Connor and Mary O’Donnell in conversation with Rick O’Shea

Sunday, 13 November 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Magazines and their Makers with Brendan Barrington, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Tony O’Dwyer, Olivia Smith and Susan Tomaselli in conversation with Paula Shields

Sunday, 13 November 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
The Workmans Club
The Magazine Social with Angela Carr, Oisín Fagan, Caelainn Hogan, Pat O’Connor, Deirdre Sullivan and Dimitra Xidous

I could go on.

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.

Iron Mountain Literature Festival - John McGahern Award

As part of the Iron Mountain Literature Festival, Leitrim County Council and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre have developed the John McGahern Award to encourage the development of emerging Irish writers and to pay tribute to the exceptional contribution of John McGahern to literature, and to Leitrim.

The recipient of the Award will receive a two-week fully resourced residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and a stipend of €500. 

This is an open call to emerging writers of fiction resident in the Republic of Ireland. Applicants must have had some fiction or short stories published in a recognised journal or anthology selected by an established publisher or editor.

Deadline: 5pm, 31 July, 2016.

The recipient of the award will be publicly announced on Saturday 8th October 2016 during the Iron Mountain Literature Festival at The Dock, Carrick on Shannon.

Link here

Carlow Writers Creative Writing Workshops

Poetry 5th March
Fiction 9th April

What evocative object would inspire you to write a poem? What thing lies about the house that has special meaning for you, that could be a key to unlock a story you want to tell? 

'We find it familiar to consider objects as useful or aesthetic, as necessities or vain indulgences. We are on less familiar ground when we consider objects as companions to our emotional lives or as provocations to thought. The notion of evocative objects brings together these two less familiar ideas, underscoring the inseparability of thought and feeling in our relationship to things. We think with the objects we love; we love the objects we think with.'

Sherry Turkle, Evocative Objects: Things We Think With

Derek Coyle will lead a creative writing session that will explore the evocative object and we will produce work based on some treasured 'thing' that sits silently in the midst of our lives.

Join Derek Coyle and Simon Lewis for the first half of the day in Carlow's Teach Dolmain for a Creative Writing session with a concrete edge. 

Rozz Lewis and Edel Horan cover Fiction in April.

The Penny Dreadful at Salon Nights

DLR Lexicon are hosting regular Salon Nights showcasing various Irish magazines and presses. This time it's the turn of Penny Dreadful.

Wednesday March 2, 8.00pm 

Studio (beside the Café), Ground Floor, dlr LexIcon

This month’s Salon Night hosted by dlr writer in residence Selina Guinness features The Penny Dreadful, a biannual, literary magazine, based in Cork, publishing poetry, fiction and reviews. It recently launched its own imprint, The Dreadful Press, and hosts The Penny Dreadful Novella Prize each summer. Editors John Keating and Mark O’Connell will be joined on the night by writers Dean Browne and Jessica Traynor.

Link here 

Deborah Rogers Foundation Award

A literary agent all her professional life, Deborah Rogers (1938-2014) set up her own agency in 1967, and twenty years later formed Rogers Coleridge & White with Gill Coleridge and Pat White. One of the most influential literary agents of her generation, Deborah was renowned for her taste, her loyalty and her immense generosity in the support she gave to authors. Her sudden death sent a shockwave through the world of publishing and the many writers, publishers and agents whose lives she had touched. At the 2014 London Book Fair, Deborah was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing, the first agent to have received the honour. She accepted this with characteristic modesty:

“It hardly seems fair to be given an award for what has been a lifetime of such pleasure… Those who have entrusted their work to us over the years will never know the intense pride that they have brought, and the anticipation and excitement that greets each new manuscript never palls. I have them to thank most of all.”

Deborah’s particular genius lay in identifying and supporting talented young people. The Deborah Rogers Foundation (DRF) has therefore been set up in her memory to continue to seek out and nurture that talent. The Board chaired by Lord Berkeley of Knighton, Deborah’s widower, comprises people who knew and loved Deborah, including RCW colleagues and writers Ian McEwan and William Fiennes.

An award of £10,000 will be presented to a first-time writer whose submission demonstrates literary talent and who needs financial support to complete their work:

• Submissions should take the form of 20-30,000 words of a work in progress, fiction or non-fiction, which is not under option or contract
• Applications are only open to writers who have not previously published a full length book
• Entrants must write in the English language and reside within the British Commonwealth and Eire
• Submissions should be accompanied with a brief synopsis and a short biographical note

Deadline: 31st January 2016.

The winner of the Award will be announced by Ian McEwan at the 2016 Hay Festival.

Free to enter

Apply using the form here. http://www.deborahrogersfoundation.org/submissions

The Bogmans Cannon Fiction Disco

This sounds innovative:

An evening combining contemporary live fiction with a bring-your-own-tunes disco controlled by the audience. 

The Bogmans Cannon will be hosting the World’s First first FICTION DISCO in Toners of Baggot Street, Dublin on Friday November 13th. 

Reading on the night will be June Caldwell, Alan McMonagle and Kevin Curran, all three of them central to the up-ending new wave of vernacular and experimental Irish writing.

The readings will be followed by a bring-your-own-tune disco (yes bring your own tune on your device and we’ll play it. Anything goes.)

Mc’ed by Dave Lordan and Karl Parkinson, with sound support by Peter Sheekey.

Tickets are available for 10 euro at Eventbrite or 12 euro on the door.

The night will also include a books swap table, and a collaboration pitch space whereby anyone who has a project that needs others' involvement to work can make their pitch.

Interview with writer, Roisin Meaney

Hi Roisin and welcome to writing.ie. How did you first get into writing?

Short answer: I entered a competition when I was 18. Part of the entry involved finishing a sentence in 10 words or less. The first part of the sentence was "I would like to win a Ford Fiesta because.....' I ended it with '....my father won't let me drive his.' I won a Ford Fiesta.

Long answer: When I left school I went to Training College (just after winning the car) and in due course I qualified as a primary teacher. After 9 years of teaching I felt like taking a break but didn't know what to do. A cousin suggested I try to get a job in advertising 'because you're good with words.' He was referring to all the other sentences I'd finished after winning the Ford Fiesta, which had resulted in my winning a lot more: two holidays, a hotel break, a bicycle, a watch, a sweater, a dairy foods hamper, a set of crockery and enough air miles to fly to San Francisco and back. I took my cousin's advice and wangled a job as advertising copywriter in an agency in London. I worked there happily for three years and then returned to the classroom. While I was in London I began to think about writing a book, but it was to be another decade before I took another career break and flew - yes, to San Francisco (remember the air miles?) where a brother of mine lived. There I wrote my first book, not having much of a clue about what I was doing, just telling a story and hoping for the best. It ended up winning a 'Write a Bestseller' competition and was published by Tivoli Books in 2004 as The Daisy Picker.

What a great story in itself!  How does writing full time compare to teaching?

Impossible to compare, although I did love teaching, almost as much as I love writing. But being a full time writer brings so much flexibility that teaching couldn't offer, like being able to work in my pjs - even to bring the laptop to bed for the day if I feel like it, or relocating to wherever I want to write - anywhere the sun is shining, or setting my own working hours - my insomniac tendencies often have me awake before 5.00am, so my working day could start then and finish by lunchtime.

One thing full time writing doesn't deliver is the company of children, which of course I had in spades during my teaching days, so to compensate I tell stories once a month to 'smallies' in my local library, and I also visit schools and libraries and chat to kiddies about life as a writer. Teaching had a lot to recommend it; every day I experienced the joy of having a gang of little ones to nurture and look after, but on balance, I'm happier as a writer, and feel very blessed to be making my living doing what I love most.

Where do you do your writing?

Here's where I write: the kitchen table, in all its higgledy-piggledy glory. (The book on the table was pure chance - I'm sending it off to someone today.)

I know you sometimes head off with your laptop. Does that help your writing, do you think? Or just your headspace?

I think it helps with both, Kate. It’s good to be away from distractions of family and friends - and a bonus if wherever I'm heading doesn't have wi-fi! - and I always feel the writing is turned up a notch when the surroundings are unfamiliar, and my routine as a result somewhat changed. I love going somewhere sunny, not because I'll be lying out in it, but even looking out at a blue sky does me good, and I feel perks up the writing too.

Do you have a writing group or a reader?

No writing group, no reader. I'm a bit precious in that respect, hate showing it to anyone until I surrender the completed first draft to my editor and agent simultaneously. I'd be iffy about letting a group read it, in case they all came back with different verdicts - and I'm not sure that I'd trust the judgement of a single reader either.... As it is, my editor and agent each give me feedback, so I have two sets of notes to work on for draft two, which I feel is plenty.

I guess your editor and your agent are your readers then! How did you get this agent?

My agent, Sallyanne Sweeney of Mulcahy Associates in London, was recommended to me by Vanessa McLoughlin, the brains behind www.writing.ie which is a wonderful go-to for all things writerly.

Didn’t you have an agent before her? I'm interested in how you got your first agent.

My first agent came on board after I got the publication deal, so I'm not sure that'll be of any use to any writers out there! I won the two-book deal and then I thought 'I'd better get an agent' and I emailed Faith O'Grady, who had recently taken on Judi Curtin, a friend of mine who'd finished her first novel a few months before mine. Faith took me on, and handled my first six or seven books, after which I felt it was time to ring the changes - I wanted a London-based agent because I thought it might put me in a better position with the UK market, and Sallyanne is actually Irish so knows the Irish market well too, which is ideal.

What tips would you have for writers with a novel in progress?

Best tip I think I could give is KEEP AT IT. If I had a cent for everyone I've met since I started writing who said 'I'd love to write a book if I had the time' I'd be rich. If anyone REALLY wants to write a book, they'll find the time, and they'll keep on finding the time every day until the book is written. Roddy Doyle wrote Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha when he had a full time teaching job AND a toddler or two on the scene. I have to discipline myself all the time to keep writing when a book is in progress. Mind you, having a deadline from a publisher definitely helps!

Another tip would be to read. I firmly believe you can't be a writer unless you're an avid reader - genre immaterial - but amazingly, I meet people who don't read but who want to write. Can't understand it.

What have you read recently that you'd recommend?

I enjoyed Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey, and A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, and The Green Road by Ann Enright - shades of the wonderful Let the Great World Spin, I thought.

I enjoyed Elizabeth is missing too. Kate Atkinson is on my list. I've read everything she's written.

I'm a huge fan of Kate Atkinson, and did enjoy A God in Ruins, but I'd have to say I preferred Life After Life, which I thought was stupendously good.

All women. Do you find yourself discriminated against much or pigeonholed as a woman writer?

Discriminated/pigeonholed.....hmmmm, probably pigeonholed more as a chick lit author than a female author, thanks in no small part to the book covers, which are NOT of my doing! In fairness I'm not writing literary fiction, but I'd love if there was a middle ground between the two.... My readers are predominantly female, of course, but the odd male crops up from time to time in my inbox! Can't say I've experienced discrimination, no. (Although I sometimes suspect I'd have better luck getting publicity if I lived in Dublin and was around for all the bookish events that take place there.)

Yes, there’s a definite flavour of book covers that scream chick lit. Can you give us one or two pieces of advice you wish you'd known when you were starting out?

1. If you get a publishing deal, your publishers will choose your book covers, not you. The sooner you realise this, the happier you'll be. They also write the blurbs. I've learned to accept this. It took a while.
2. You need to put almost as much energy into marketing your books as you do in writing them, even if there is a dedicated marketing person working on your behalf too. Someone who has not written a book will NEVER be as invested in it as the person who wrote it. You need to become a publicity slut, and befriend journalists, booksellers, librarians and anyone else who can help to sell copies, or spread the word about your books. You also need to shout about the books (in a nice way) on social media.

I think you do a great job on social media.

Social media - the bane of my life, spend far too much time on it! But it is good to get the word out.....

Do you also write short stories? What about poetry? Plays? ever dabbled?

Never tried short stories, wouldn't know where to start! Poetry ditto - a mystery to me! I have thought about writing a play or a screenplay, have done a few courses/workshops, wrote an episode a few years ago of a TV drama I was planning, an adaptation of one of my novels.....but my agent showed it to one or two who weren't interested, and the momentum was lost. Might resurrect it sometime.

You have a good ear for dialogue. Maybe a radio play would suit you? With a new novel, how do you start? Do you start with a plan? Know where you are going from the start? Or only a rough destination and strong characters?

I start with a plan, but the actual plot would be fairly sketchy - deliberately, so I have leeway. I'd also write bios for the main characters, and a bit of background for the story.

How much of the next book would you like have done before  your current book is launched?

My new book, I’ll be Home for Christmas, is launched in mid October by which time I hope to have made some inroads - 20K words or so - into the next, but it varies. First draft takes between six and eight months generally, depending on how much research I need to do.

Anyway, if you had to choose one book out of your twelve (wow, prolific!) to represent you, which would it be and why?

Oooh, tough question, like asking a mammy to choose her favourite child - but if I was tortured to within an inch of my life and made to pick one it would probably be Something in Common (2014). It was the one that caused me the most grief in the making, and the one I was most proud of in the end - and maybe that's how mammies feel about the child they secretly favour!

Thanks very much, Roisin. Roisin Meaney’s new book I’ll be Home for Christmas is due out from Hachette on 15th October. Look out for some early festivities.

I'll be Home for Christmas

Hodderscape Speculative of Fantastic Fiction open submissions

From Paul McVeigh's blog

They are looking for novels (50,000 words or more) that contain some element of the speculative or fantastic. Simply put, they’re looking for awesome science fiction, fantasy and horror novels.

This open submissions period is a chance for unagented authors only.

The submissions period opened at 12 am GMT on 3 August, 2015, and will close on 16 August, 2015, at 11.59 pm, GMT.

Details on what to include here. Read the guidelines and adhere to them!

They are looking for the first 3 chapters or the first 15,000 words of your novel, whichever you prefer and synopsis.

They say:

We will read through every submission that we receive. We will make every effort to get back in touch with you by 30 September, 2015, to let you know our decision.Please do not email us to ask whether we’ve read your submission yet. 

• They are open to submissions from anywhere in the world, not just the UK.
• If you would like to submit a previously self-published novel, let them know

Mslexia Women’s Novel Competition

From Nuala Ni Chonchuir's blog
The Mslexia Women’s Novel Competition is back. They are looking for novels of at least 50,000 words written for adults (and young adults) in any genre by previously unpublished women novelists.

The first prize is £5,000, and judging panel is made up of novelist Marina Lewycka, literary agent Juliet Mushens and Books Editor at BBC Radio & Music Di Speirs.

Mslexia has joined forces with The Literary Consultancy, who will provide free professional feedback for the winner and four other finalists – who will also be invited to meet literary agents and editors at a specialnetworking event in London.

The competition closes 21st September.

Click here for full competition details.

Luke Bitmead Bursary for Writers

The prize was set up in honour of Luke Bitmead. His debut novel was the first novel Legend Press published but he sadly died shortly after the novel was published. The award has been set up by his mother in partnership with us to support and encourage the work of struggling writers, and is the UK’s biggest prize for unpublished authors. 

Submissions must be adult fiction, and only completed novels will be considered. Full guidelines can be found on our website.

Closing: Submissions open 1st May until 1st August.

Prizes: A publishing contract with Legend Press and a £2,500 cash bursary.

Entry Fee: £10 per entry to support the prize.

Competition Page: http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/legend-press/365-luke-bitmead-bursary   

The Runt - Open for Submissions

i haven't seen a copy of the Runt but check them out on Youtube. Refreshing. And you can't go wrong with this kind of of artwork I think.

Our 8th issue will focus on the dual themes of historical fiction & alternate history. We welcome submissions on either theme in any artistic or literary medium your creative brains can concoct.

Historical fiction constitutes any piece of work (be it poem, story, essay or whatever) focused on a historical setting. A heartbreaking romance written from the point of view of the horse Caligula made a senator? A rumination on the personal life of Genghis Kahn? An account of the life of some poor Joe Schmo 6 caught up in the crossfire of the 1916 Rising? It's entirely up to you!

Alternate history is a genre which is based on those tantalising 'what ifs.' A story set in a 21st century America still under British control? A poem about JFK's disgrace after he survived assassination but was exposed as an adulterer? A neat bit of photoshop showing Attila the Hun firing off a text on his Android? These are but a few options available to you!

Fiction Guidelines:
Maximum wordcount: 2,500

Art Guidelines:
B&W
Portrait dimensions

Deadline: May 8th

Send your submissions to theruntzine@gmail.com

Literary Agents in and around Ireland

I have posted about Irish agents before. It is consistently my most popular post. So I thought I'd do it again. I'm updating it with some names you may not have heard, agents not necessarily based in Ireland but who are or have been looking in Ireland for Irish-based writers, including one who asked to be included so she's actively looking. It's worth doing your homework and seeing who else they represent to see if you fit in with their interests.

The Lisa Richards Agency
108 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4
e-mail: info@lisarichards.ie
Contact: Faith O’Grady
Website here

For fiction, looking for exciting new writing – distinctive voices, original, strong storylines, and intriguing characters. For quality non-fiction, memoir, history, narrative, biography, lifestyle, sports, self-help, quirky humour and pop culture. 

If sending fiction, please limit your submission to the first three or four chapters, and include a covering letter and an SAE. If sending non-fiction, please send a detailed proposal about your book, a sample chapter and a cover letter. Every effort will be made to respond to submissions within 3 months of receipt.

Authors include June Considine, Roisin Meaney, Laura Cassidy, Martin Malone, Pauline McLynn, David Maybury, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Denise Deegan, Paul Howard (Ross O’Carroll-Kelly,) Roisin Ingle and Hector.
Faith participated at the Novel Fair 2015.

The most high profile one (but Jonathan is a bit grumpy when I've met him.)
Jonathan Williams Literary Agency
Rosney Mews, Upper Glenageary Road, Glenageary, Co Dublin

Literary Agency, evaluating, editing, rewriting, proof reading, consultancy; General fiction and non-fiction, preferably by Irish authors (home 10%) Will suggest revision;
Jonathan participated at the Novel Fair 2015.

The Book Bureau
7 Duncairn Avenue, Bray, Co Wicklow
email: thebookbureau@oceanfree.net
Contact: Geraldine Nichol

Preferences are commercial womens fiction, crime/thrillers and literary fiction. Full-length MSS (home 10%, USA 15%,translation 20%) Fiction preferred -thrillers, Irish novels, Literary fiction, women’s and general commercial fiction. No horror, science fiction, children’s or Poetry. Strong editorial support. Send a preliminary letter, synopsis and 3 sample chapters.
The Book Bureau participated at the Novel Fair 2015.

Marianne Gunne-O’Connor Literary Agency
Suite 17 Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin 2
email: mgoclitagency@eircom.net

Commercial and literary fiction, non-fiction, biography, children's fiction (UK 15%, overseas 20%, film/TV 20%). Send preliminary letter plus half-page synopsis and first 50pp.
Authors: Cecelia Ahern, Chris Binchy, Ken Bruen, Claudia Carroll, Julie Dam, Noelle Harrison, Patrick McCabe, Mike McCormack, Paddy McMahon, Morag Prunty, Niall Williams. Founded 1996.
Mariane Gunne-O'Connor participated at the Novel Fair 2015.

The Feldstein Agency
54 Abbey Street Bangor BT20 4JB N. Ireland
General enquiries: paul@thefeldsteinagency.co.uk

Email a 1-2 page synopsis of your work and a brief biography. They are currently only accepting submissions of adult fiction (excluding romance, science fiction and fantasy) and adult non-fiction, so no children's or young adult books, poetry or short stories.
Website here 
The Feldstein Agency participated at the Novel Fair 2015.

Sally Anne Sweeney wrote to me so they are definitely looking. She's moved to

Mulcahy Associates
First Floor 7 Meard Street London
After a career with Reuters, the Dubliner, Ivan Mulcahy set up his own literary agency in London. Interesting article in the Irish Times here. Recently the agency had three bestsellers in the UK book charts at the same time: Vivienne Westwood’s own story written with historian Ian Kelly, comic David Mitchell’s collection of essays and broadcaster Clare Balding’s second volume of memoir.

They accept email submissions only. Send a covering letter, synopsis, and the first three chapters to: submissions@ma-agency.com

Curtis Brown
5th Floor, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4SP
Website here.
Literary Agent Sheila Crowley began her career in publishing at Poolbeg in Dublin before moving to the UK in 1991, and went on to hold several key positions and most recently at Curtis Brown.
She focuses primarily on women’s commercial fiction, thrillers, mind, body, spirit, sport and celebrity books, young adult and children's fiction and general mass-market non-fiction.

Most of Sheila's authors have moved with her. They include: Tasmina Perry, Jojo Moyes, Santa Montefiore, Melissa Hill, Rachel Hore, Alison Kervin, Shari Low, Kitty Sewell

Gregory & Company
3 Barb Mews, Hammersmith, London W6 7PA
tel: +44 (0) 20 7610 4676
website here
Jane Gregory specialises in crime fiction and up-market commercial fiction. Among the many authors Jane represents are: Adele Geras, Mo Hayder, Val McDermid, Chris Simms, Martyn Waites and Minette Walters. At the moment the agency is particularly looking for burgeoning new talent in the fields of excellent crime fiction, epic family sagas, historical novels and upmarket commercial fiction. No children’s books, young adult fiction, SF/fantasy/horror/paranormal, poetry, short stories or plays/screenplays. At the moment we are not actively looking for any non-fiction titles, and we are especially not interested in spiritual or New Age philosophy, or business books.

Interview here at Mslexia. Send a one-page synopsis (not a glorified jacket blurb) that gives a full explanation of the plot, and the first ten pages (double spaced for ease of reading). Please include a brief letter telling us about yourself, why you have written this book, and about your past work and future writing plans.