Mslexia Short Story Competition

Yes, you have to be a girl.

Mslexia’s 2011 Short Story Competition is now open for entries.

Deadline: January 24th 2011.

Shortlisted entries will be judged by short story writer, poet and author Jackie Kay.

First prize is £2,000 plus a week’s writing retreat at Chawton House Library and a day with a Virago editor.

Second Prize is £500, third prize is £250 and three other finalists will receive £100 each.

All the winning stories will be published in the April 2011 edition of Mslexia magazine.

Entries cost £10. Your story or stories should be a maximum of 2,200 words and can be on any topic or theme.

You can submit your entry at online or by post.

For more information www.mslexia.co.uk

Versal Submissions

This Amsterdam based English magazine is looking for submissions. They only read between 15 September and 15 January so get your work in. They also take simultaneous submissions as long as you tell them straight away if it's accepted elsewhere.

Submit online here on wordsinhere. Poetry and Prose and artwork.

Deadline: 15 January

We look for work that is urgent, involved, and unexpected. Well-crafted traditional, non-traditional and innovative forms, hybrids and translations are encouraged.

They pay in contributors copies.

Prairie Schooner

Prairie Schooner, the literary journal of the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, is seeking submissions for an issue dedicated to contemporary poetry and fiction from Ireland.

"Ireland has always occupied a special place in both the literary and the cultural heritage of the United States, and the special issue of Prairie Schooner is intended further to cultivate the depth and breadth of
that relationship."

"Submissions from Irish poets will receive uncommon attention, and final decisions about acceptances will be made by Stephen Behrendt (poetry) and Timothy Schaffert (short fiction)."

Deadline for submissions is 1 May 2011 

via email or post - and should be clearly marked "lrish issue".


The Editors, Prairie Schooner, 123 Andrews Hall,
University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE 68588-0334 USA

Short Film - the black hole

Listowel Writers Week

The 40th Listowel Writers Week Festival in 2011 is 1st to 5th June.

They have launched the Literary Workshops and Competitions - check out their website www.writersweek.ie for full details.

Literary Workshops - limited to 15 in each workshop.
Directors include:- Aifric Campbell, Sean O'Reilly, Irene Graham, Adrian Frazier, David Park, John Hartley Williams, Harry Clifton, John MacKenna, Jeremy Sheldon, Mark O'Halloran, Sarah Webb, Mick Hanly, Terry Prone, Marina Carr and Robert Lacey.
They will be directing workshops in Novel, Memoir, Creative Writing, Poetry, Short Fiction, Writing Funny, Writing for Screen, Theatre and Journalism, Popular Fiction. A new addition for 2011 is a History Writing workshop.

The Closing Date for receipt of competition entries is Friday 25th February 2011.

Guests writers include Robert McCrum, Thomas Lynch, John Lynch, David Sedaris, Alice Sebold, Blake Morrison, Michael Holroyd, Joel Hynes, Kevin Barry, Rita Ann Higgins, Cathy Kelly, Judi Curtin, John Boyne, Dr Robyn Rowland, Mary Swander, Denis Sexton, Ali Sparks and Joe Craig.

Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art

From Emily Firetog:

Their Publication Contest is on!

$1,500 in prizes and publication in Columbia: Issue 49.

Top ten finalists judged by Robert Olen Butler - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner - Fiction
Joanna Klink - Raptus - Poetry
Jo Ann Beard - The Boys of My Youth - Nonfiction

First-place winners in each genre will receive a $500 prize, and their work will be published in Issue 49 of the Journal (Spring 2011). Runners-up will be considered for publication on the journal's website.

Visit their website for submission guidelines.

Entry fee : $12.

Deadline : January 18, 2011.

UpStart

This sounds like a wonderful idea. Wouldn't you love to see your words along the Liffey?

UpStart is a non-profit arts collective which aims to put creativity at the centre of public consciousness during the Irish General Election Campaign in 2011. They plan to do this by reinterpreting the spaces commonly used for displaying election campaign posters in Dublin City and are calling on all artists to submit work for this exhibition.

The objectives of UpStart are to encourage a debate on the role of the arts in this state. We hope to highlight the importance of creativity and ingenuity when society is in need of direction and solutions, and to emphasize the value of the arts to public life. We believe that the future development of the country requires a healthy cultivation of the Arts.

Submission details here

Their aim is to receive 500 submissions from writers and visual artists, photographers, painters and graphic designers. These works will be duplicated and 1000 pieces will be printed as election size posters and be erected throughout Dublin city.

Bear in mind the words will be read by all ages...

Upstart is open for submissions from the 15th of December and closes on the 15th of January.