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

Independent Bookshops that stock The Space Between

My book is currently available in these lovely independent bookshops:

Maynooth bookshop

The Winding Stair Dublin

Kennys Galway

Blackbird Books Navan

Alan Hanna's, Rathmines Dublin

Any others? Please get in touch

Please give these lovely bookshops your support. And if your favourite bookshop is not on the list, please go in and ask for it. I need you all to create a demand so they order more.

It's hard to sell poetry books.But bookshops have to make a living too so buy your poetry in bookshops (or direct from the publisher or poet) If my books are not in bookshops, the only people who ever see them to buy are people who come to readings. Or give in to my badgering them online to click and buy one.

It's super easy to order any Doire Press book online  too P&P included worldwide. Do it now!

Reading at Staccato

Staccato is a new music and word evening in Dublin, in Toner's on Baggot St. The first evening was well received reported as a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere and more importantly, fun.

I'm reading next Wednesday 27th January along with some great names. Jack Harte, Orfhlaith Foyle, Iggy McGovern, Maire T Robinson, Philip Lynch and me, Kate Dempsey. With music by Mark Flynn. A multi layered feast. Something for everyone.

Please come along. It should be great. 

Cúirt New Writing Prize

The Cúirt New Writing Prize, in memory of Lena Maguire, is now open for submissions. Entries should be sent via email to: info@cuirt.ie

Submissions are welcome in poetry and fiction.

There is a €500 cash prize for the winner in each category and an opportunity to read at the Cúirt/Over the Edge Showcase event at Cúirt 2016.

The judges are Elaine Feeney (poetry) and Declan Meade (fiction).

Young Cúirt:

Young Cúirt is for ages 12-17. Entries are welcome in poetry and fiction. The winner will receive €100 cash prize and they will have the opportunity to read at the 2015 Cúirt labs event in April.

Submission Guidelines

Poetry entries must consist of 3 poems under 50 lines each. 

Fiction pieces may be up to 2000 words. 
Entries in both English and Irish are welcome.
Entrants must not have had a collection published in the category in which they enter. 

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 A €10 entry fee applies for each separate entry which can be paid via the Paypal button. Link and details here

The closing date for submissions is Thursday 28 January 2015 at 5pm.

Festival 

Cúirt International Festival of Literature is April 19th - 25th 2016 in Galway

Strokestown Poetry Competition deadline is approaching. This doesn't seem to be so well advertised this year so perhaps there will be a lower number of entries.

Deadline: 29th January

Fee as follows:

€5 for each entry from the euro zone
£5 for each entry from the sterling zone
$5 for each entry from USA
€6 all others

The poems must not exceed 70 lines, which is fairly long by competition standards.

The judges’ shortlists will be announced at the end of March, and the prizes will be announced and awarded during the Strokestown International Poetry Festival, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, which will take place on 29 April – 1 May 2016. 

Short-listed poets will be invited to read a selection of their work at the festival.

Link here

There's also

Duais Filíochta Dhúbhglas de hÍde -The Douglas Hyde Irish Language Poetry Prize.

1st Prize – €500
5 shortlisted prizes of €100 each.

Roscommon Prize:

A poem in Irish or English of not more than 70 lines submitted by a resident of County Roscommon or a member of a County Roscommon Writers Group

Prizes: 1^st. €200, 2^nd. €100 & 3^rd. €75

The Percy French Award for Comic Verse.

1st. Prize – €300
2nd Prize – €200
5 shortlisted prizes of €100 each.

and a Schools Prize for students in Roscommon with a later deadline 18th March. Link here

Yvonne Cullen's writing courses

Details on Yvonne Cullen's writing courses are up on her blog here www.yvonnecullen.wordpress.com

Book early for discounts.

Meantime: There is a free class this Saturday morning in the National Library Cafe Joly
Saturday 23rd January 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

They are for anyone who thinks they have a writing itch to scratch and that this year might be the time to get scratching it.

Weekly Saturday classes in the same lovely cafe will follow from Jan 30, as will FROM HISTORY TO STORY writing from research course starting Feb 12.

yvonnesworkshops@gmail.com if you'd like to email to book a place in the free sessions or the (reasonably priced) paying ones

Cork Literary Review Poetry Manuscript Competition

Bradshaw Books, the Cork based published run this competition annually. 

• The purpose of this competition is to publish a full collection of poetry by an emerging poet. In the event that the winning poet is not able to provide the competition with a complete collection, the runner-up will be awarded the prize of a first poetry collection publication.
• The prize includes the publication of a first poetry collection by the winning author and twenty free copies of the book. The overall competition winner and two runners-up will also be featured in the next edition of the Cork Literary Review.
• The judge is Poet Joseph Woods.
• Deadline: 7 Mar 2016
• Initial submission of 5-10 of their best poems.No more than 40 lines per page and no more than 10 pages in total.
• €20.00 registration fee. 

Link here

Colm Tóibín International Short Story Competition

This is a new annual international short story competition – the Colm Tóibín International Short Story Award, dedicated to one of Wexford’s most accomplished and beloved writers – Colm Tóibín.

The competition has a prize fund of €1,800 and is sponsored by Wexford County Council.
1st Prize is €1,000, 2nd Prize €500, 3rd Prize €350.

The judging panel consists of:
• Lisa Coen, a founder of Tramp Press
• Nuala O’Connor, esteemed writer and poet
• Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, founder of The Inkwell Group and the online national writing resource magazine www.writing.ie.
They will also be assisted by local Wexford writers Carmel Harrington, Paul O’Reilly, Catherina Hogan and Caroline Busher.

Deadline: 1 April 2016.

The long list will be announced on 1 May 2016 and the short list on 31 May 2016.
The winners will be announced during the Focal Wexford Literary Festival in summer 2016.

Entries must be between 1,800 and 2,000 words in length.

The winning authors should be available to attend the awards ceremony to be held at the Focal Wexford Literary Festival, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford in June/July 2016.  

Entry fee 10 Euro

For more information on the 2016 Festival check out http://www.focalliteraryfestival.com/

To enter go to http://www.focalliteraryfestival.com/the-colm-toibin-international-short-story-award/

British Haiku Awards 2015

Annual haiku and tanka contest.

The entry fee for up to 3 haiku is £5 (or US$ 8) and £1 (US$ 1) per haiku thereafter. Separate category for tanka are separate categories (ie. no mixing for one fee). No limit on the number of submissions per competitor. 

Cheques and money orders payable to: British Haiku Society (N.B. not 'BHS'.)

For haiku and tanka send each poem on three separate 5 x 3 inch. (125 x 75mm) cards (or paper cut to size). On one of the copies write your name and address on the back. [+ Phone no. & email]

Prizes: 

For haiku, prizes of £125 will be awarded to each of the two best and £50 to each of two runners-up. 

For tanka, prizes of £125 will be awarded to each of the two best and £50 to each of two runners-up.

Deadline: 31 Jan 2016
Link here

Connemara Mussel Festival Poetry Competition

Building upon the diversity of arts and culture already catered for at the festival, the Connemara Mussel Festival is delighted to announce the launch of  a  poetry competition for 2016.  The competition was the brainchild of John Coyle of Renvyle House who suggested at the festival launch in March of this year that there weren’t many poems about the humble mussel and to rectify that situation he would be delighted to sponsor a competition to be run by the Connemara Mussel Festival. 

The competition was launched at Renvyle House Hotel on 18th November by poet and Professor of Literature at Vassar University, New York, Eamonn Grennan, who will also judge the entries.

Theme: Mussels. While the poem does not have to be about mussels, it must contain some reference to the mussel.

Maximum length:  51 lines.

The two best poems in the opinion of the judge will be awarded €250 and €100 respectively.

Deadline: 13th  March 2016.

Link here. It appears to be free to enter. Email your poems.

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

Artist Residency The Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris

Deadline: 11 Jan 2016

Artist Residencies

Residencies of up to 3 months between September 2016 and June 2017, open to practitioners in all art forms with a record of professional achievement. Travel from Ireland, accommodation and a monthly stipend of €700 per month included.

Applicants must be Irish citizens or normally resident in Ireland, with professional involvement in creative practice.

 Link here
There are also some partnerships particularly with Words Ireland and Wicklow and the 4 Midlands Counties. I wish my county signed up to such partnerships.

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

Galway Rape Crisis Centre Poetry Competition

 

This competition closes this Thursday 7th January but it's a very good cause so please consider entering and donating.

There will be three categories poetry, flash fiction and short stories.

Winners in each category will receive €100 cash prize, publication in SIN magazine and a chance to read at the prize- giving event at NUIG in February.

Entry fees are €7 each and €5 concession for students.

Multiple entries are allowed. Maximum lines for any one poem is 50. Maximum for flash entries 500 words and short stories 1800.

Entry fees can be paid by idonate links here.

 Entries can then be sent by email or post quoting the transaction reference.

Email your entry to writinggrcc@gmail.com

Judges: Alan McMonagle, Sarah Clancy and Celeste Augé

Poetry Ireland Introductions Series

I did this eons ago and it was very enjoyable and educational and you get to meet a lot of people and talk about poetry a lot which is a treat. And paid too. Another treat. You do have to have a publishing history behind you first.

The Poetry Ireland Introductions Series offers a paid public reading to poets working towards a first collection or with a début collection already published, and who have a track record of publication in journals and 'little' magazines. Writing may be in Irish or English. 

In 2016 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, with one participant flown to New York to read as part of Salon Éire 100, an evening of Irish poetry at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts at the Lincoln Center.

To apply for an Introductions in 2016, send a maximum of 10 pages of poems and a short biographical note emphasising publication credits to:

Introductions, Poetry Ireland, 32 Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Deadline: Friday 29 January 2016

Poetry Salzburg

Another English speaking journal looking for submissions.

Poetry Salzburg Review publishes poems, translations, interviews, essays and reviews of recent collections of poetry. Our intention is to publish the best available writing from a variety of writers.
All submissions should be typed and on one side of the paper only. Make sure that your name is on each page of the manuscript. Please include a bio/biographical note (up to 100 words).

 As Poetry Salzburg Review is a bi-annual magazine, authors are requested to send us only one submission (4-6 poems) per issue.

Due to the amount and high quality of work we receive, potential contributors are strongly encouraged to read the magazine prior to submitting their work.

All contributors are going to receive a complimentary copy of the issue that contains their work.

However, we would like to point out that Poetry Salzburg Review lost its small grant from the Austrian government at the end of 2011. This is why we would also ask our contributors to support the magazine by either taking out a subscription or by ordering a gift subscription for one of their friends.

Link here

Poetry Salzburg also publish poetry pamphlets. Link here for submissions