Francis MacManus Short Story Competition 2016

The competition was founded in memory of Francis Mac Manus, the Kilkenny born novelist, biographer and former Head of Talks and Features at Radio Éireann. Since its establishment in 1986, the competition has been a launching pad for several new and emerging writers who have subsequently received national and international acclaim. They include Molly McCloskey, Anthony Glavin, Claire Keegan and Nuala Ní Chonchúir. 

The winner of the overall prize will receive €3,000 and prizes of €2,000 and €1,000 will be awarded to the second and third prize winners.

Each of the 25 short-listed stories is recorded being read by a professional reader. The judges listen to these recordings and read the stories to consider their broadcasting and short story qualities before they select the winning entries. The entire shortlist is broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 following the announcement of the competition winners. 

Remember the story should be written for the ear rather than the page. Read it out loud.

Deadline: Friday 27th May 2016.

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

The judges for this year are Evelyn Conlon, Declan Meade and Mary Morrissy.

To receive an entry form please send a stamped addressed envelope to: 

RTÉ Radio 1 Short Story Competition, RTÉ Radio Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4  

or download an entry form here.

Dublin Book Festival - Live Interview on Arena Radio 1

This year the Dublin Book Festival has a over 50 events with nearly 100 authors and contributors taking part over four days in venues throughout Dublin. Smock Alley Theatre will be the festival hub, where they will have the majority of events and their magical Winter Garden with its bookshop, cafe, Children’s area and Grown-Up Reading area.

There will be events for everyone; from fiction to crime, poetry to politics, 1916 Walking tours and a discussion on the people of the 1916 Rising, events for budding authors, music and a lot of fun! The children’s and schools’ programmes are all free of charge. Book now!

But much more importantly, I'm going to be there, reading. (Reading!) And chatting (not nervously, no) And on the radio (RTE Radio 1. Arena, my fav arts programme) Live (nervous? moi?!)

I'm on the authors' page for Friday 13th November. 7pm. And the programme. Be there before 6.50pm as it's broadcast live and they lock us in and lock latecomers out.

I'm in conversation with Sean Rocks talking about my debut poetry collection, The Space Between published by Doire Press. There will also be writers Reggie Chamberlain-King, Frankie Gaffney and Danielle McLaughlin, none of whom I've met before. Looking forward to it. Details here. Get your tickets now. It's free too so I'm hoping to see a packed house of friendly faces.  There's music too from by The Healing and The Matthews.  It's in the main theatre in Smock Alley, a lovely venue.

If you can't make it, do listen on the radio and let me know how you think it went.

Carried in Waves short stories for radio

UCC radio are running a short story competition for radio with a prize fund. 

1ST PRIZE €300 | 2ND PRIZE €200 | 3RD PRIZE €100

The competition is open to original short stories in the English language of 3,000 words or less. These stories can be on any subject, in any style, by a writer of any age and of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. The themes explored may be of any nature but keep in mind that a shortlist of forty stories will be recorded for broadcast. By way of guidance the recordings of the shortlisted stories will be performed by one actor who will be chosen from a panel of six which will represent all voices and ages. All copyright and ownership remains the property of the writer. 

Link for details on how to enter

The entry fee for one story of ten euro can be paid here http://uccshop.ie/carried-in-waves-registration-fee.html. If you wish you may enter a maximum of two additional stories for a fee of five euro each.

Quite steep?

The adjudicating of the submissions will be by a panel of five people drawn from across all relevant disciplines. The panel will be chaired by Dr. Jools Gilson. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 

Closing date September 30th.

There's also a George Boole category for young adults.

Francis MacManus Short Story Competition

The Annual Short Story Competition 2015 in memory of Francis MacManus starts later and later in the year. But it's free to enter! What have you got to lose?

Rules and Regulations

The competition is open to people born or resident in Ireland.

Only one entry per person

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

The stories must be written bearing in mind that it would be broadcast on public radio.

Deadline: Friday 1st May 2015.

Link for form here where you can also listen to previous winners.

Short Stories for BBC Radio

The BBC Radio Drama Readings Unit welcomes submissions from writers new to radio for their annual series, Opening Lines which is broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

The next window for sending in material is: 5th January – 13th February 2015. 

The three successful writers will have their stories broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and be invited to the BBC in London to see their stories being recorded. As well as broadcasting the three strongest stories we publish transcripts of the best stories submitted within this period on the Opening Lines website.

KEY INFORMATION

• Writers who have previously had a story/stories broadcast on network radio or have substantial writing credits in other areas of radio (e.g. comedy and drama) are not eligible for this series.
• One story per writer.
• Please don’t re-submit stories that have previously been considered for Opening Lines
• Stories must be between 1,900 and 2,000 words in length.

Things to bear in mind:

The original short story must work being read out loud i.e. with a strong emphasis on narrative and avoiding too much dialogue, character description and digression. Pay particular attention to how the story opens and closes, the ending would usually link back to the beginning.

Material which explores particularly dark, harrowing themes is not suited to Opening Lines. 

Stories must not contain defamatory, obscene or any other unsuitable material which is likely to cause offence to a wide audience of all ages. 

Link and more details here

Click here to read stories which have featured in recent series.

100 Words, 100 Books

The Book Show, RTÉ Radio has launched a very short fiction/flash competition. 

Prizes: 100 books, publication in a book of the best short fiction received and the shortlisted writers will have their stories read out on stage at a live recording of The Book Show to be simultaneously broadcast live on radio on 6 December.

Deadline: 23 November 2014

rte.ie/radio1/the-book-show/

Guidelines

• The competition is open to people born or resident in Ireland and must be in English.
• Submitted stories must be a minimum of 100 words, up to a maximum of 200 words.
• All stories must be original and unpublished (including online).
• No more than three stories by the same author can be entered.
• A small panel of judges will be judging these with these entries.

Who are the judges?

Enter By Post: 
100 Words, 100 Books, The Book Show, RTE Radio 1, Donny brook Dublin 4. 

or By Email:

bookshow@rte.ie with “100 Words, 100 Books” in the subject line. 

Dublin Theatre Festival - Panel Discussions

Chaired by Sean Rocks and presented in association with RTÉ Radio One, these discussions will address some of the themes at play in the 2014 festival programme. The panels are open to the public and will be recorded for broadcast on RTÉ Radio One’s Arena. Admission is free but ticketed. Early booking is advised as seats are limited.

Whose Hamlet is it anyway?

He may be one of the most famous characters in world literature, but he has also proved to be one of the most malleable. For the Victorians, he was a warning against the dereliction of duty; for us today, he might be more recognisable as a stay-at-home arts graduate who doesn’t know what to do with himself. What is it that allows him to be our eternal contemporary?

• Venue: Bewley’s Café Theatre
• Date: Saturday Sept 27, 4pm

Imagining Australia

The showcase of Australian productions at this year’s festival opens the door on a theatre culture that remains largely unknown to Irish audiences. What can we learn from works written on the other side of the world? Does Australian theatre have lessons for Ireland in how it deals with cultural diversity and a colonial past?

• Venue: Bewley’s Café Theatre
• Date: Thursday Oct 2, 4pm

Playwriting – making it work, getting it on

How do we identify talented writers with something to say and ensure that their work is staged? How can we ensure that playwrights have sustainable careers in theatre, that their development and risk-taking as writers is encouraged? This panel will focus on the role and opportunities for playwrights in Ireland today, with contributions from playwrights, dramaturgs and Irish theatre companies who develop and present new writing for the stage.

• Panel:
• Sean Rocks (Chair)
• Lynne Parker (Trustee of Stewart Parker Trust and Artistic Director of Rough Magic)
• Aideen Howard (Literary Director of the Abbey Theatre)
• Amy Conroy (Playwright, founder HotForTheatre and author of an In Development presentation during Dublin Theatre Festival 2014)
• Hanna Slattne (Dramaturg, Tinderbox Theatre Company

Presented in association with the Stewart Parker Trust.

• Venue: Irish Writers’ Centre
• Date: Wednesday Oct 8, 4pm

BBC Radio 4 Seeking 3 Short Stories

Deadline: July 18th.

The Time Being BBC Radio 4 has commissioned Sweet Talk to produce three short stories by new voices for our returning series (TX dates currently scheduled for 11, 18, 25 January 2015). We are therefore inviting submissions.

Sweet Talk is an independent radio production company specialising in readings, drama and short form features. In recent times we’ve broadcast work by - among others - Alison MacLeod, Anita Sullivan, Olga Grushin, Adam Marek, Lynne Truss, Alison Moore, Melissa Lee-Houghton, Jonas Jonasson, Rupert Thomson, Katy Darby, Laura Barton, Jami Attenberg, Nick Walker, Morven Crumlish, Toby Litt, Simon Stephenson, Louise Stern, Andrew Miller, Jesmyn Ward, James Hopkin, Esi Edugyan, Shena Mackay, M.J. Hyland, Scarlett Thomas and former The Time Being contributors Heidi Amsinck and Tania Hershman.

This is the eighth season of The Time Being. The last was broadcast early in 2014.

Writers wishing to submit should be aware of the following:
• This is a week of new voices, so we’re looking for writers who are as yet unbroadcast (and largely unpublished: i.e. having a story in a magazine or anthology here and there is OK, but a track record of novels and story collections in print is not!)
• Please don’t submit stories that have been previously ‘performed’ (e.g. at readings events which have been filmed/recorded and put on YouTube etc.)
• Ideally, stories will not have previously appeared in print or online.
• Broadcast stories will be read by a single voice.
• Stories need to be between 2000 and 2200 words in length.
• Please put full contact details (name, post and email address, phone number) including any alternative contact details for vacations and a word count on the title page of each story.
• No more than two stories per writer, please.
• We are unable provide feedback on unsuccessful submissions.

We are already accepting stories but the closing date for submissions is 18 July 2014. Please email stories to jeremyosborne@mac.com.

Jeremy Osborne
Sweet Talk Productions

Francis Macmanus Short Story Award

Gradually later and later until it missed 2013 all together. The next deadline is Friday 31st January 2014. This is a short story for the radio so the ear is everything.

Submissions for the 2014 RTÉ Francis Mac Manus Radio Short Story Competition are now being accepted. 

 

The competition is free to enter. 

 

Applications forms and guidelines can be found Here  

 

Apply by post to-

 
The Francis Mac Manus Short Story Competition,
RTÉ Radio 1,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.

 

The three judges for 2014 are Christine Dwyer Hickey, novelist and short story writer, Julie Parsons, and author and former radio producer, Eoin Purcell, Editorial Director, New Island Books.

Radio Writing Workshop

This sounds rather thrilling. Good job Kilkenny!

WEEKEND RADIO WRITING WORKSHOP - BOOKING NOW

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WRITE A PLAY FOR SESSIONS HOUSE?

Sessions House Arts Centre is proud to host through the Kilkenny Carlow Education & Training Board Weekend Radio Drama Writing Workshops.
Cost of the workshop is €25 per person
There are two weekend workshops running on the following dates:

WORKSHOP 1

SATURDAY 5TH OCTOBER 10 AM -5PM
SUNDAY 6TH OCTOBER 10 AM -5PM

WORKSHOP 2

SATURDAY 19TH OCTOBER 10AM-5PM
SUNDAY 20TH OCTOBER 10AM-5PM

Radio Drama and Performance Workshop - wherein a radio play will be devised, developed, scripted and performed, specifically for and about The Sessions House Arts Centre, the old Court House and Gaol in Thomastown, Kilkenny
Incorporating the rich history of the building, participants will devise a short piece for radio which they will subsequently perform and record under the facilitation of playwright, Gillian Grattan.
The workshop will explore the following; script writing, editing, acting, creating sound effects, character creation and development, microphone technique and the physicality of radio acting.

Content:
• Development of a story and plot which directly relates to Sessions House.
• Devising and writing of the script or scripts.
• Performance of the piece by participants for recording.
• Sound effects which will be sourced by participants as the project will be recorded in the traditional style: ie: no computerised effects.
• Music, an original piece to be devised by participants.
• Recording the piece, in a professional studio setting
• Performance of the piece to an audience in November at Session House.