Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award 2016

Deadline: 29 July 2016

Prize: €10,000


Details: The award is for an unpublished collection of poems in English and is open to poets, born in the island of Ireland, or of Irish nationality, or long term resident in Ireland. 

The collection of poems in English must be original and consist of 20 poems. Individual poems should not be more than 40 lines

The only works eligible are unpublished or magazine published work. Entrants should not list the magazines where poems have been published or the prizes they have won as this might allow an entrant to be identified.

(interesting! Hard to stay anonymous)

The adjudicator is Brian Lynch again. Time for fresh blood? 

The entry fee is €25/£25

Link here

Reading at O'Bheal, Cork

This Bank Holiday Monday evening, 6th June, you will find me reading some poems from my book, The Space Between from Doire Press, in Cork city at the long running, highly regarded O Bheal run by the poet Paul Casey.

The Long Valley, Winthrop St, Cork. [here’s a map]

Starts at 9:30pm

Please come along and spread the word, it would be great to see lots of friendly faces and to catch up with my Cork buddies. Entrance is free and there is a bar. What better way to round off a bank holiday weekend?

Link here

iYeats Poetry Competition 2016

The competition is an annual online international poetry competition which has won a prestigious reputation for the calibre of both entrants and judges. 

Open to all those 16 years of age and upwards. 

Files with entries must be in Word format and attached to the online entry form. Word Limit of 40 lines.

Prizes: 

• General category: First Prize €500
  Emerging category: €300 (aged 16 – 25 years)
  Deadline: Friday 1 July
  • Winners will be notified by Monday 18 July
  • Results Publicly Announced: Wednesday 27th July

Judges for 2016 are Colin Dardis and Moya Cannon.

Link here

The RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition

Want to get published in Ireland’s biggest selling magazine?

Deadline: 6pm 10 June 2016

All entries for the RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition 2016 should be original, unpublished and previously not broadcast short stories in English.

• 2,000 words or fewer 
• Entrant's name and contact details (address, phone and/or email) should be on a separate page. 
• No fee 
• One entry per person.

Paper manuscripts must be typed and cannot be returned. 
Send your entries to: RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition 2016, PO Box 1480, RTÉ, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 

or 

email to: rtegpenguinss16@gmail.com, 

Subject: RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition 2016

Wild Words Children's Literature Festival

There's a competition for young writers,   ages 14-18.

Wild Words Children's Literature Festival - Calling All Young Writershttp://wildwords.ie/

Deadline: 3 June 2016

Prizes: Publication and a free two-day writing master class at the festival in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim on Sat 13 & Sun 14 August 2016.

Email your short story or poem to books@wildwords.ie. There is no entry fee or limit to the number of entries. 

Festival programme is still pending on the website here

Cill Rialaig residency

Cill Rialaig arts centre in Co Kerry is more aimed at visual artists but some writers do visit. There is a call currently from the Irish Writers Centre but I do believe you can apply separately, for instance if the dates don't suit. It's very beautiful, by all accounts, but pretty remote.

The Irish Writers residencies are now open for applications to seven writers for a ten-day period from 21–31 October. The seven residencies are offered all-inclusively free of charge (the IWC will cover the utility charge for each of the seven houses). Expenses incurred by the selected writers will be food and travel. In addition, the writers are requested to put aside approximately 2 hours at the start and the end of the residency to come together in the Seannachai's house to meet and discuss a programming or development idea that the IWC might undertake in the future. Details to be finalised in due course.

To see the beautiful and inspiring landscape of Cill Rialaig click here 

At present, this residency is open only to professional members of the Irish Writers Centre which costs €50.

Deadline Wednesday 1 June at 5pm.

Link here

Residency in Florence

The Irish Writers Centre is continuing to develop its links with Italy and are offering the chance for a one-week residency with St Mark's English Church in Florence this autumn from 1–8 October.

While the successful applicant must cover their own transport and living expenses, they will have the chance to reside in a beautiful apartment adjoining St Mark's English Church in the heart of Florence. During their stay they will be expected take part in a public reading, as well as meeting with the local writing community. 

At present, this residency is open only to professional members of the Irish Writers Centre which costs €50. 

Deadline Wednesday 1 June at 5pm. 

Link here

Note: You may be able to apply for a Arts Council travel grant to cover some of the costs.

Boyle Arts Festival Poetry Competition

The Boyle Arts Festival is holding a poetry competition which will take place as part of its summer 2016 programme.

Fee: €5 per poem
Deadline; 30th June

You can find entry forms for the competition and more information about the competition at http://boylearts.com/poetry-competition-details/

It's snail mail currently so may have fewer entries (and subsequently a higher chance of winning...just saying)

Prizes: €250 first prize plus 2 x €50 highly commended

Poems will be judged by Ross Donlon

Wexford Literary Festival: 27-29 May

Wexford Festival tickets are on sale now.

FESTIVAL TICKET €50.00, EARLY BIRD €40.00, OAP/STUDENT €25.00

Following each talk or panel discussion, there will be a chance to meet the speakers, with a book signing, hosted by Byrnes Bookstores.

Friday 27th May 

Open Mic Night
8pm, Presentation Arts Centre, Enniscorthy
An evening of song, prose, poetry & drama from some of Wexford’s best loved artists.
Tickets €5 at door

Saturday 28th May
CHURCH INSTITUTE
Registration 9.00 – 10.00
Author Talk, Historical Fiction With Hazel Gaynor
One Foot In The Past: The challenges and joys of writing historical fiction set in the 19th and 20th centuries.

10.15 – 11.30
Industry Experts Q&A – Demystifying the Publishing World With Carmel Harrington, Madeleine Keane, Margaret Madden, Mary McCauley, Claire Hennessy
Our panel of experts include authors, a literary editor, publisher, editor, proofreader and book reviewer! Between them, they will take you on a journey, on what to expect from writing a novel to publication.

11.30 – 12.45
Author Panel Discussion – The Debut Novelists With Cat Hogan, Joan Brady, Frankie Gaffney, Catherine Ryan Howard, Caroline Busher
Meet the new faces of fiction as they give us the inside scoop on what it’s like to publish their debut novel. Cat Hogan is an author with Poolbeg Press and is represented by Trace Literary Agency.

12.45 – 2.00
Lunch

2.00 – 3.00
Author Panel Discussion – YA/Children’s Fiction With Claire Hennessy, E. R. Murray, Ruth Frances Long
Children’s and YA fiction has never been more popular. Our panel will answer your questions about what it’s like to write in this genre and also discuss their own work.

3.15 – 4.15
Author Panel Discussion – Crime Fiction With Jax Miller, Ava McCarthy, Andrea Carter
Join our all-star panel where they will share insights into the dark world of Irish crime fiction writing.

4.30 – 5.30
Author Panel Discussion – Self Publishing With Carolann Copland, Pat Fitzpatrick, Siobhan Davis, Karen Power
Two of the biggest challenges for self-publishing authors are marketing and distribution. Our panel of experts have successfully navigated their way through self publishing and are here to answer to share their considerable knowledge.

ENNISCORTHY LIBRARY
10.30 – 11.30
Children’s Workshop – Time Travel Through Ireland aimed at ages 9 years old + With author E. R. Murray Go on a journey through Ireland’s history visiting the Celt, Viking, Victorian, Georgian eras. Find out some gruesome & shocking facts and learn how these eras shaped modern Ireland. Then, help the authors create a time machine to return to present day: the authors will also read from their books and leave time for questions.
This event is FREE. Book your place early to avoid disappointment, directly with Enniscorthy Library.

Sunday 29th May
3pm,
The Athenaeum, Enniscorthy Colm Tóibin International Short Story Award
and
1916 Poem for Enniscorthy Award
All shortlisted entries to both awards are invited to afternoon tea at the historic Athenaeum, where the winners will be announced.

Skylight 47 submissions

Skylight 47 is seeking submissions of poems and original artwork from Ireland and abroad for its next issue. Skylight 47 is a poetry magazine in newspaper format, and is published twice a year. Issue 7 will be launched in Autumn 2016.

Deadline: 1st June 2016

Please send up to four poems, both as a single attachment (.doc, .docx, .txt or .rtf) and in the body of the email, along with a short biographical note (max 60 words), to skylightpoets47@gmail.com. 

Works should be previously unpublished.  Poems to be no longer than 40 lines.

Contributors will receive one copy of the magazine and an invitation to read at the launch. The editors are Bernie Crawford, Ruth Quinlan, Marie Cadden and Nicki Griffin.

More about the magazine can be found at skylight47poetry.wordpress.com.

Wigtown Poetry Competition

Scotland’s international poetry prize in association with The Scottish Poetry Library

The 2016 Wigtown Poetry Competition is now open for entries.  You can enter online here

Deadline for entries is 27th May 2016

Established in 2005, the Wigtown Poetry Competition offers a first prize of £2,000. 
Entry is open to writers from the UK and abroad writing in English, while there are also dedicated categories for Scots Language and Gaelic.

This year’s judges are John Glenday (Main Prize), Catriona Lexy Campbell (Gaelic) and Sheila Templeton (Scots).

The competition event, which will include the announcement of the winners, readings of the victorious poems and contributions from the judges will take place during Wigtown Book Festival (23rd September to 2 October 2016).

Entry Fees: £6.50 for first poem
Multiple entries: the first three poems cost a total of £17.00.
For more entries and full rules, see the Festival website 

Sonnet Writing Competition

2016 marks 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, and to celebrate this important year Writers & Artists together with The Arden Shakespeare and the Royal Society of Literature have a competition, open to published and aspiring poets alike. Free to enter

Take inspiration from Shakespeare, and pen your very own sonnet in response to a Shakespeare sonnet of your choice.

Please email your entry to competition@bloomsbury.com. The subject line of your email must be “Sonnets competition” and please mention the name of the sonnet you have been inspired by within the body of your email.

All entrants must register on www.writersandartists.co.uk before submitting your entry.

Deadline: midnight on Monday 31st May, 2016.

Prizes

The first, second and third-placed sonnets will all be published on writersandartists.co.uk alongside feedback from the judge, Ruth Padel. The winner will receive a leather-bound edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works (RRP £99.99) and free membership to the Royal Society of Literature for a year, entitling them to:

• Attend RSL events – over 20 each year – free of charge
• Bring guests to events at a discount
• Enjoy priority booking to RSL/Man Booker masterclasses with a 50% discount
• Subscribe free to the bi-annual RSL Review
• Attend the RSL summer party and AGM
• Receive the RSL monthly e-newsletter

The winning entry will also be published in the Royal Society of Literature Review.

N.B. If the poet of the winning entry does not live in the UK and is unable to take advantage of the benefits of a Royal Society of Literature membership then an alternative prize of £50-worth of Bloomsbury titles will be offered. 

Second and third prize entries will receive a copy of On Shakespeare’s Sonnets: A Poets’ Celebration, and a gift edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

All entries must be original unpublished poetry.

Writers may submit one entry only.

Please include your email address and other contact details in the body of the email. Your entry can appear in the body of the email or as a Word/PDF attachment.