Poem of the Week Radio show

I'm delighted to be kicking off this radio series on Near FM, a community radio station known for its initiative and support of the arts and local community.

Listen out!

Starting Monday April 3^rd @ 12.00 noon and running for an entire year Near FM presents a new radio series dedicated to poetry.

Poem of the Week invites you to listen to contributors recite some of their favorite poems and talk about what these poems mean to them. Featuring some of Ireland’s most exciting new voices such as Stephen James Smith, Jessica Traynor, Kate Dempsey, and Alan Jude Moore alongside local people and community activists from the North Dublin area, this series offers a unique and diverse range of contributors.  

Each week the featured poem will also commemorate a significant date in the calender year fostering new and challenging perspectives into poems you thought you knew. The poems have been selected with the advice and support of Irelands outgoing Professor of Poetry Paula Meehan.

“It is a terrific idea - ambitious & perfect for radio” – Paula Meehan, Poet

Join us each Monday at noon when Poem of the Week will bring you back to poems you remember and enjoy, as well as introducing you to new poets and capturing the reasons people love them.

For more information on the poems and contributors featured please see www.nearfm.ie/poem-of-the-week/

Poem of the Week is made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the television licence fee.

                                                                

Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition

Deadline: 19 June

Poems of up to 60 lines on any theme are invited. The Competition attracts entries from all over the world. 

1^st prize £200, 2^nd and 3^rd prizes of £100 and £50, with prizes for ‘People’s Choice’ and best read poem. 

Longlisted entries are published in an anthology and shortlisted poets are invited to read at the Adjudication event at the time of National Poetry Day. 

The judges are last year's winner, Jen Syrkiewicz, Nancy Gaffield from the University of Kent and prize-winning poet Derek Sellen (SaveAs Writers)

Entry fee: £5 per poem

Contact: For more details and online or postal entry go to: 

http://canterburyfestival.co.uk/learning-and-participation/poet-of-the-year.aspx

Wexford Literary Festival Competition

Wexford Literary Festival 2017 runs from Friday, May 19 to Sunday, May 21 in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, the heart of Ireland’s South-East. The Festival is holding three writing competitions: The Colm Tóibín International Short Story Award, The Wexford Literary Festival International Poetry Award, and The Wexford Literary Festival One-Act Play Competition.


Colm Tóibín International Short Story Award
Wexford Literary Festival welcomes entries to its annual international Colm Tóibín Short Story Award.
1st Prize is €1,000, 2nd Prize €500, 3rd Prize €300
Entries must be between 1,800 and 2,000 words in length.


Wexford Literary Festival International Poetry Award
Poets are invited to submit up to three poems, up to a maximum of 40 lines, for consideration.
1st Prize is €250 plus the Wexford Literary Festival International Poetry crystal award, 2nd €200 and 3rd €100
Entries can be up to and including 40 lines in length


Wexford Literary Festival One-Act Play Competition
Playwrights are invited to submit plays of up to 15 minutes in length and four finalists will have their pieces performed by Enniscorthy Drama Group at this year’s festival.
The play should require no more than four actors.
Four finalists will have their pieces performed by Enniscorthy Drama Group at this year’s festival, with a prize of €300 euro going to the overall winner.


Entry fee: €10
Deadline: 1st April 2017
Shortlisted writers will be invited to attend the award ceremony on Sunday, May 21, 2017, however all expenses incurred will be the writer’s own
Link here

Call for dlr Writer in Residence

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council invites applications for a writer in residence for the period June 2017 to May 2018.  This writer in residence is managed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office and is grant-aided by the Arts Council.


The residency is open to writers working in script-writing in any form (e.g. writing for stage, TV or film).  The theme this year is Ireland: The Future. The writer’s work may draw inspiration from this theme in a variety of ways.  The residency is envisaged as a part-time residency which will allow time for the writer’s own work in addition to engagement and interaction with both the general public and, more specifically, with those with an interest in writing themselves.


The writer in residence will focus on working in the dlr LexIcon in Dún Laoghaire and the writer in residence will have access to a room on the top floor of the new Central Library and Cultural Centre.
Applicants must live in, work in, be originally from or have studied a relevant discipline in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.


More information and full details of how to apply go to http://www.dlrcoco.ie/en/arts/funding-opportunities/residencies/writer-residence


Closing Date: 13^th of April at 12 noon

North West Words Submissions

North West Words is OPEN for submissions and is published in May and November.
Deadline: April 1st 2017


Please submit no more than 3 poems or 1 short story (max 2000 words), non-fiction piece (max 800 words) or flash fiction (max 500 words) or jpegs of photography/art , as an attachment to editornww@yahoo.com with ‘Submission’ and whatever category you are submitting to, as the subject of the email.
Include a short biography in the third person and a photo along with any links to your website/blog/twitter/etc.
All work must be the original work of the writer/artist and previously unpublished.
Email Submissions to: editornww@yahoo.com    Please use ‘NWW magazine submission’ in the subject line.


Iarratas á lorg ó scríbhneoirí Gaeilge.
Foilsíonn an baicle scríbhneoireachta ‘North West Words’ irisleabhar dha uair sa bhliain; i mí na Bealtaine agus i mí na Samhna. Fáiltíonn an grúpa roimh saothar liteartha i nGaeilge. Is é an chéad lá de mhí Lunasa an chéad spriocdháta.
Ní ghlacfar le níos mó ná trí dhán nó gearrscéal amháin (uasmhéid 2000 focal); nó píosa neamh-fhicsin (uasmhéid 800 focal); nó ficsean ‘flash’ (uasmhéid 500 focal); nó jpeg de ghrianghraf nó píosa físealaíne (curtha mar cheangaltán ar ríomhphost).
Seol d’iarratas mar ríomhphost chuig editornww@yahoo.com  Bíodh an focal ‘Submission’ mar ábhar an ríomhphoist agus luaigh an catagóir liteartha cuí freisin.
Ní mór beathaisnéis ghearr a chur leis an iarratas, mar aon leis naisc, (más ábharach), go dtí do shuíomh idirlín /blag /suíomh facebook agus araile.
Ní foláir gach iarracht a bheith ina saothar úrnua de chuid an iarratasóir agus ní foláir nár fhoilsíodh cheana é ach oiread.
Seol an saothar chuig: editornww@yahoo.com

Call for Audio Poems

Poetry Day Ireland is on Thursday 27 April this year, with the theme of ‘Poetry Connects’. Spearheaded by Poetry Ireland, they are inviting everyone to join-in, link-up, and connect through the power of poetry.


To mark the occasion, Lagan Online is teaming up with Poetry NI, seeking your audio poems to feature on our special ‘Mix Tape’, which will be made available to download for free on the day. We will be selecting the best tracks to showcase, so get recording and send us your work!


On this year’s theme, Poetry Ireland website says: “Words matter: they can build bridges or burn them down. Poetry’s ‘delicate dance between the said and the unsaid’ (Ruth Padel) has the power to connect friends, lovers and family. It has the power to help us look inward and understand ourselves, and the power to transport us across borders and through frontiers. It connects us with our memories and springboards us to our future. We need the power of words now more than ever.”

Submission Guidelines:

Submission are open to anyone currently living in, or originally from, the island of Ireland.
All sound files must be in MP3, MP4 or WAV format.
Please submit each poem as a separate file, up to a maximum of three poems.
Poems may have musical accompaniment or backing tracks, but please make sure the poem is clearly audible.
Each poem must be no more that four minutes in duration.
Previously published poems are acceptable, as long as you have retained the copyright.



Deadline: Monday 10th April.


Please find your poems as attachments along with a brief biog (third person, 75 words max) to laganonline@theverbal.co

Caterpillar Poetry Prize

Deadline: 31st March 2017


Judge: John Hegley.


The Prize is €1,000 and publication in the summer issue of The Caterpillar for a single unpublished poem written by an adult for children aged 7–11.


No line limit.


Details: www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com


Entry fee is €12 per poem


All entrants to the competition will be notified by email by 30 April 2017, including those who have not been successful.


Enter ONLINE.

Call for Submissions for Issue #5 of Banshee

I'm happy to have a poem in issue #4 of Banshee magazine, a rather .creepy poem I think. They are looking for submissions for issue #5


Closing date for submissions: 31st March 2017




Submissions for issue #5 of Banshee (autumn/winter 2017) are open.


All submissions should be previously unpublished.




Stories and essays should be 1500-5000 words. Flash fiction should be less than 1000 words, poems no more than 40 lines.


We are happy to read up to two stories, up to two essays, up to four flashes and up to six poems. However, we ask that each writer submit in only one of the above categories.


Submissions should be in one .doc or .docx format attachment, double spaced, and in a non-quirky font.




Please include a short bio (max 50 words) in the body of your email.




Email to bansheelit at gmail dot com, with the category of the work (flash/story/essay/poetry) in the subject line.




We believe in paying writers. We can offer contributors a small fee as well as two copies of the journal.




Past issues, including extracts, can be found at: http://bansheelit.tumblr.com/issues

New Issue of Skylight

The launch of Skylight 47, Issue 8, takes place at the March Over The Edge reading at Galway City Library at 6.30 on Thursday 30th March. You are all invited to join us to celebrate the release of another great issue full of poetry, reviews, interviews, comment pieces, and of course, the masterclass.



Poetry contributors to Issue 8 are also invited to read their poem at the launch event.

I'm very happy to have a poem included in this issue but I have to miss the launch as I'll be moving house. Do yourself a favour, get down there and grab a copy.