Hennessy New Irish Writing

I went along to the New Irish Writing awards on Tuesday held at the French Ambassador's residence on Ailesbury Road, possibly the most expensive house in Ireland. It has a fascinating story you can read here.
There are 3 categories, 6 stories in First Fiction and the other 6 in Emerging Fiction so all of the 12 short stories publishe during 2011 in the Irish Independent are included. There is also an Emerging Poetry Prize for 6 of the poems. The Hennessy has always been stronger on fiction than poetry with often, no poets on the judging committee which has made for unexpected results.

This year the First Fiction nominees were:

Ron Woods -Paddy's Will which you can read here
Pat O'Connor -Advice and Sandwiches previously shortlisted for the Sean O'Faolain Competition in 2010
Aisling Keogh - How To Save A Life who I had the pleasure of meeting. This was Aisling's first published story. She lives in Galway.
Paul O'Reilly - I wish MacGowen hadn't written that song. You can listen to another story by him here and his blog is here. Apparently this is shortlisted for the Pushcart prize in the US.
Here's another story and bio by him here
and the winner Barbara Tarrant - Baby - Congratulations!

The Emerging Fiction Nominees were:
Maire T Robinson - Another Breakfast For You. She blogs here and it was lovely to meet her. You can read it here
Mick Ransford (Doyle) - Kindred. Here's another story by Mick
Susan Lanigan - Infinite Loop,who I know from the blogosphere.
Elizabeth Brennan - Strangers who I got to chat to.
Andrew Fox - By The Canal. Here's another story by Andrew
and the winner, Viv McDade - Leaving for Chile which you can read here

The Emerging Poetry nominees were:
Mike J Gallagher - Stick on Stone which also won Michael Hartnett Viva Voce
Monica Corish - Mind Your Sister on the Rocks who has another poem here
Deirdre Doherty - The Shed She has a poem in Crannog here
Edward O'Dwyer - Only by Chance  here's some more poems by Ed
Tory Campbell - I Beckon You and My Father Doesn't Like Cut Flowers who has also been in the Stinging Fly
and the winner, Niamh Boyce - Kitty who I met and who blogs here

Niamh also won the overall prize as well as my own, personal prize for best hairstyle.

Then John Boyne gave a really lovely speech full of wisdom and wit accepting his entry into the Hall of Fame.

We did notice that of the now ten members, only one, Ann Enright, is a woman. This is strange. Did all the women who were shortlisted or won the Hennessy in the old days (it's in its 41st year) not end up with a bit of fame?

Male v Female

The Guardian has done a wonderful job of highlighting all the poets who have won the prestigious Forward Prize for Poetry. But it does show up an onoing imbalance.

Neil Astley, the Poetry Editor of Bloodaxe books points out on Facebook

20 years of the FORWARD PRIZE: 17 out of 20 winners were men. This Guardian feature only has comments on 18 poets because Sean O'Brien won the Forward 3 times. Publishers: Faber 6 wins, Picador 5, OUP 3, Chatto & Cape 2 each, Anvil 1, Gallery 1.

Compare with 18 years of the TS ELIOT PRIZES: 14 out of 18 winners were men. Publishers: Faber 8 wins, Bloodaxe & Cape 3 each, Picador 2, Carcanet 1, Gallery 1. Derek Walcott won last year's TS Eliot Prize, the only non-white poet out of a combined 38 wins.

The Forward prize does have two siblings:

The stats on Best First Collection and Best Poem show a much more even split with nearly half of those going to women, but there has been a perception that the big prize goes to the men and the women get the other two prizes to give the impression of even handedness. Similarly Best First Collection has gone to three non-white poets and Best Poem to one.

 Comments also point out

Certainly in contrast to the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize winners of the last 22 years: 12 men, 10 women and a real diversity of publishers.

Here's the link to the well thought of Aldeburgh First Collection Prize.

Is it linked to having the same establishment names on the judging panels time after time? And they all know each other. Why are there no poetry readers or emerging writers on the panel.

Some comments from 2002 here Apparently the Forward prize winner is always on the panel for the following year. Wouldn't that mean that the same type of poem would keep winning?

What about the Costa Prize for Poetry? (Note some men have won it more than once)

Whitbread 19 men 2 women 1985-2005
Costa 3 men, 1 woman - 2011 Jo Shapcott
Crickey!

TS Eliot Prize since 1993
18 men  4 women (Note some men have won it more than once)

Christ on a Bike!

What about the Irish Times Poetry Now Award? Since 2005
 5 men, 2 women. (Note some men have won it more than once)
Hm.


I shall be posting more about the balance or lack of it in anthologies and magazines later. Any comments?

Poets Meet Painters 2011 - winners

Poets Meet Painters 2011
The anthology of the successful entries from this year's competition was launched at a reception and reading at Mill Cove Gallery and Sculpture Garden on 30 July

Winner
Gabriel Griffin, 'The singing sounds of sea', inspired by Listen by Ian Humphreys;

Second place
Michael Scott, 'My Grandad made trains (I never met my Grandad)', inspired by No ticket required by Alfred Roch;

Third place
John Baylis Post, 'Did I tell you', inspired by Listen by Ian Humphreys;

Highly commended
Heather Freckleton, 'Getting the measure of the moon', inspired by Laughter by Marianne Klopp;
Patrick Toland, 'A house in Tabgha', inspired by Spoons by Anne Nidecker;
Breda Wall Ryan, 'The laying of the bog', inspired by Bog Vista II and other works by Niall Wright;
John Baylis Post, 'DB', inspired by First Snows, Beara by Monica Groves;
Rachel Woolf, 'Rite of passage', inspired by Sodden by Niall Wright;
Commended
Noel Connor, 'Inventing blue', inspired by Untitled 2 by John Brennan;
Maria Merking, 'Padre', inspired by Turning Head by Sonia Caldwell;
Michael Ray, 'Purse', inspired by Seaform V by Ana Duncan;
Afric McGlinchey, 'Sea thing', inspired by Sea form I by Ana Duncan;
Mark Blayney, 'Glimpse', inspired by Early Morning Light by Aidan Flanagan;
Eleanor Hooker, 'Is that me?', inspired by Is That Me? by Petr Holocek;
Siobhán Flynn, 'These shoes can change your life', inspired by Red Shoes by Nicola Slattery;
Afric McGlinchey, 'Rebellion', inspired by Red Shoes by Nicola Slattery;
Cathy Leonard, 'Reclaiming', inspired by Sleeping Woman by Nicola Slattery;

Winner (school student)
Aoife Troxel, 'Fishing', inspired by Crest by Ana Duncan;

Second place (school student)
Rachael Elphick, 'Perception', inspired by Resting by Betina Seitz.

New Irish Writing

I missed this earlier

The New Writing Page, still edited by Ciaran Carty, appears in Weekend Review in the Irish Independent on the last Saturday of each month and is open to writers who are Irish or who are resident in Ireland.

Entries may be submitted (with a SAE) to: New Irish Writing, The Irish Independent, 27/32 Talbot Street, Dublin 1. Stories should not exceed 2,200 words.

And the judging for the Hennessey awards for 2010 is underway now.  Shortlists for the 2010 awards will be published in the Irish Independent on April 2 and the winners will be announced at a gala dinner at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on April 12. The awards are sponsored by Hennessy Cognac in association with the Irish Independent.

I think, as a three time shortlistee, they should invite me.

I'm a winner!

Yes it's true. As the super sleuth team of Peter Goulding and Michael Farry have already found, I have won the Plough Poetry Prize in the short category. I am absolutely delighted.

See my poem, Amsterdam Otto Recommends and others here. Congrats to Peter for being longlisted also in the short poem category and storming through the children's poems too.

Unfortunately I have a clash on dates and won't be able to make it to Devon to pick up the cheque in person.

What I found most interesting was the judge's comments. Dalgit Nagra (of whom I am an instant fan) read a lot of levels into the poem. Fascinating.

Some background on the poem. My beloved and I got engaged while we were living in the Netherlands so we went to Amsterdam to get a ring. Our diamond seller of choice was the campest diamond seller in the whole world, Norwegian Otto of the title. The wealth of diamonds scattered was, I suppose, like the proposed wealth on offer during the years of the Celtic Tiger.

Francis MacManus

A huge entry for this last Autumn. Here's the shortlist via the lovely and talented Niamh Boyce who got it from Brigid O'Connor at sortofwriting. (is this Chinese whispers? Is that why my name's not on it?)

Congratulations all. 

The Shortlist...
The Sampler by Jeanne Beary
None Of Us Will Be Okay by Elizabeth Costello
Friday by Larry Cotter
Scabapple by Gabriel Curtis
The Effort of Walking in Water by Catherine Finn
Nesting by Andrew Fox
Four by Four by Richard Gibney
Remains of the Dead World by David Hayden
The Shallow End by Ned Kennedy
Silverfish by Eileen Lynch
Radiators Hiss When They Are Bled by Maire Mc Sweeney
Richard the Lionheart by Maurice Maguire
The Ghosts of Saturday Night by Ailbe Malone
Comfort by Sheila Mannix
Madigan’s Lake by Patrick Mc Cusker
Kaare by Darragh Mc Keon
The Night Is Cold, The Hour Is Late by Maire Ni Tuathail
In A Minute Rita by Brigid O’Connor
Raparee by John Philip O’Connor
Split by Sarah Purcell
Fishing for Dreams by Joyce Russell
Digging Australia by Bernadette M. Smyth
May to September by Richard Stevens
Gravity by Cathy Sweeney
A Sunny Sunday In July by Grace Trench

Hey, Bernadette!

RTE P.J O'Connor awards

The shortlist for this radio play competition was announced on Friday's Arena programme. 17 out of a total 135 submitted. I personally don't recognse any names. Congrats to all.

THE KIDNAP by BILLY O’CALLAGHAN

SPEED-DATING IN THE LAND OF CAT WOMEN by JENNIFER McGRATH

NEW MANCHEGO by THOMAS EMMET

QUAVERS by DAVID McCALL

HARD DRIVE by MICHAEL D. O’CALLAGHAN

READING ICARUS by ASHLEY TAGGART

DE-LIGHTED by TERRY O’BRIEN

THE QUIET WILLOUGHBYS by NEIL FLYNN

SHE’S NOT MINE by ROSALEEN McDONAGH

THE COWBOYS by PETER TRANT

A MOTHER’s VOCATION by BRENDAN O’LEARY

GRENADES by TARA MCKEVITT

JUST IMAGINE by JOHN AUSTIN CONNOLLY

THE GHOST ROOM by OLIVER McQUILLAN

BUZZ ME WHEN YOU’RE DONE by BRIAN FENNELLY

15th AUGUST 1998 by ROSS DUNGAN

THE EULOGY OF HARRY BROGAN by ALAN ARCHBOLD

The final adjudication will be made on June 4th.

The Francis MacManus short story award has loads more entries than this and the shortlist will be announced this Wednesday 19th May.

Mslexia Short Story Competition Winners

Oh look, they're all women. Oh yeah

1st Prize: Love: A Painting by Sarah Klenbort
2nd Prize: The Journey by Anne Bentley
3rd Prize: The Upside-down Jesus by Karen Jones

Three runners-up: 'The Cupcake Tree' by Jennifer Moore,
'The Decisive Moment' by Ilona Jesnick,
'Reading Brother Boniface' by Maria Hoey.

Congratulations to all of our winners! The top three stories, plus the three runners-up and Tracy Chevalier's essay, are published in issue 45 of Mslexia:

Order it here.

Read Tracy Chevalier's judges report here

National Poetry Competition UK

I don't know why I would bother entering this. The winners are real poetry heavyweights.

1st Helen Dunmore, Orange Prize winner for "The Malarkey"
2nd Ian Pindar for Mrs Beltinska in the Bath. Pindar's first collection of poetry, Emporium, will be published next year.
3rd prize of £500 was won by John Stammerstook, whose third collection is published in April, for Mr Punch in Soho.

One woman and 2 men.
Do they have a shortlist?

Judges: 2 men and a woman. Ruth Padel, Daljit Nagra and Neil Rollinso.

Sexual Imbalance in Poetry Competitions?

Uiscebots, that well known promoter of positive discimination for women and thoroughly nice guy, pointed out a possible bias in poetry competitions. I decided to dig deeper.

• Iota shortlist. 4 out of 13 unless Pat is Patricia. The judge was man (Tim Turnbull)
• Crawshaw shortlist, 3 out of 12. Winners, 1 out of 6. Judge - The Salt Publishing board.
• Strokestown shortlist 4 out of 10. Judges a man and 2 women (Sebastian Barker, Julie O'Callaghan and Enda Wyley)
• Dromineer: 3 out of 3 were men. 3 women in the commended list of 4. Judge a woman (Vona Groarke)
• Arvon/Classic FM 2008: Top 3 men. 2 out of 3 commended were women. Judges: a man and two women (Andrew Motion, Moniza Alvi and Alice Oswald)
• Attleborough: 3 (maybe 4) out of 10 Women. Judge: Committee
• Padraig Fallon 2008: 5 out of 14 women. Judge: a man (Ciaran O'Driscoll)
• National Poetry Competition 2010: 1 woman out of 3. Judges: 2 men and a woman. Ruth Padel, Daljit Nagra and Neil Rollinso. 
• Cafe Writers. 3 out of  7. Judge: 1 man (George Szirtes)
• Wigtown 2009. 2 out of 12 (2 initials only) Judges: 2 men. (Douglas Dunn and Kevin MacNeil) 
• Patrick Kavanagh. 2 out of 5. Judge: a man (Brian Lynch) 
• Troubadour. 9 out of 23 (couple unknowns). Judges: a man and a woman (Maura Dooley and Jamie McKendrick) 
• Plough.  4 out of 8. Judge: a woman (Alison Brackenbury)
• Windows: published 16 out of 30. Judges a man and a woman (Noel Monaghan and Heather Brett)
• Bridport: 7 out of 13. Judge a woman (Jackie Kay)
• Fish 2009: 6 out of 8 women! Judge: a man (Peter Fallon)
• Gregory O'Donoghue Poetry Prize: 8 out of 13 women. Judge: a man (James Harpur)
• Ragged Robin. 3 out of 5. Judge: Committee

Total  85 out of 199.

This is a straw poll but I find the results startling.
Are the low proportion of women in the shortlists representative of the submissions proportions?


Are there proportionally fewer women poets? That's not the impression I get at readings or workshops.
Do fewer women send poems to competitions? That's possible. Certainly men appear to be more likely to send out their poems at an earlier stage than men. The only way to find this out is if some competition organisers crank out some numbers here. (A thankless task, I think)
Are there more male judges than female? 10 women and 13 men in the ones above suggest slightly more.
Are male judges more likely to favour men? The numbers above suggest not really.

Or are the type of poems that win or place in competitions, the type of poems more commonly written by men? Call me controversal, call me mad, call me jealous, but I'm suggesting yes.

Next question.
Does this have a knock on effect in poetry magazines and poetry collection publication?

Iota Poetry Competition Shortlist

1st Prize £2,000
2nd Prize £1,000
3rd Prize £500
10 Supplementary Prizes of £50

All poems will be published in Iota 88.

"Here is The News" by Carol Beadle

"A truck called 'Perseverence' ", by Martyn Crucefix

"Look Who's Shunting The Nuclear Train", by Mick Wood

"Playtime", by Maeve Henry

"Los Angeles", by Matthew Caley

"The embolism suffered by Edward's father (during a sudden cold snap)", by Rosie Sheppard

"Doors", by Kevin Russell-Pavier

"In the Gardens of Titans", by Clint Frakes

"Everyone Matters", by Jamie Walsh

"Untitled", by Pat Cash

"Where the Bull Got In", by Kate Miller

"New Flat", by Ben Wilkinson

"Eurythmy Artiste with Toque", by Christopher North

Some wacky titles there but no names I recognise from either side of the water. Not mine anyway. Grrr. Where shall I send my unreconised masterpieces next?

Crashaw Poetry Shortlist

The Salt Publishing Crashaw Prize received and read 120 full length manuscripts from poets in the UK and Ireland, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. They have announced a shortlist of 12 - only 3 are women.

1. Phil Brown, Il Avilit (ENGLAND)
2. Matt Bryden, Boxing the Compass (ENGLAND)
3. Theodore Z. Cotler, House with a Dark Sky Roof (USA)
4. Nathan Hoks, Book of Clouds (USA)
5. Yvonne C. Murphy, Aviaries (USA)
6. Andrew Pidoux, Year of the Lion (USA)
7. Nick Potamitis, The Book of Night Terrors (ENGLAND)
8. Terry Ann Thaxton, Getaway Girl (USA)
9. Jonty Tiplady, Zam Bonk Dip (ENGLAND)
10. Ryan Van Winkle, Untitled (SCOTLAND)
11. Eoghan Walls, The Salt Harvest (IRELAND)
12. Anna Woodford, Birdhouse (ENGLAND)

They will publish four collections during in 2010. The winners will be announced on Friday 26th of February.

Varilux Stort Story Competition Results

From the organisers.

A father’s embarrassment in not being able to ride a bike; a child’s pleading to go for a cycle with his Dad; ‘proper’ bike lessons on Dublin’s Sandymount Strand on a cold windy day; the ‘unassailable, mammoth depth of love’ between father and child, all woven into a short story using gripping dialogue, have earned Dublin copywriter, Henrietta McKervey, the inaugural Essilor Short-Story Award.

Seventy writers from all corners of Ireland answered the call; fifteen equally-skilled compositions were shortlisted – three emerged as winners: Dublin-based McKervey, the overall winner; Dublin-born but Kildare-based Niamh Mac Sweeney runner-up; and Longford-based Eimear McGuinness, writing under the pen name of Gloria Hunter, in third place.

Kildare authors John Martin, Marie Gallagher and Clare Walsh were shortlisted and highly commended.

Making the announcement in Limerick, Essilor Ireland’s managing director Angela Keogh said:

“The brain gives the eye the signal to see. The varifocal lens gives a slightly impaired eye perfect vision, hence our decision to focus our Varilux celebrations on something which is stimulated by the brain and eye – writing. We have been amazed at the level of interest in this competition; it has awakened our interest in nurturing and celebrating new Irish writing talent. Varilux inventor Bernard Maitenaz, now in his seventies, will be delighted to read the winning entries.”

Competition judge David Rice, who directs the Killaloe Hedge-School of Writing, said the quality of the entries demonstrated a truly remarkable level of creativity.

"I have worked as writer and teacher in three continents," he said, "and I have never found anything quite like the astonishing gift in so many Irish people to produce brilliant creative fiction."

He said it shows in the number of new authors that appear on the lists every year, as writers of full-length fiction or of short stories.

"And it was evident once again in this competition, which made the judging extremely difficult."

The winning entries were finally selected for the eminent way in which they fulfilled the demands of the short story -- grabbing the reader's interest from the start; presenting of believable characters; effective dialogue; evocation of all the senses; satisfying ending.

"But of course there was one further requirement for these particular stories. They had to meet the particular theme of this competition -- Now I See. So they had to end with someone seeing something for the very first time. The three winners did this brilliantly, with a twist in the tale worthy of O. Henry."

Bridport Results

The Bridport short story and poetry results are out. There are a few Irish addresses for those who are interested. I didn't recognise any names except Carolyn Jess-Cooke shortlisted for short story and Michael Farry for poetry - congrats! The first prize in the short story section was the first Jenny Clarkson had submitted.

I recommend reading the judges reports. They can be very insightful and you may take notes on how to stand out in a pile of entries.

Ali Smith on Short stories

Not many asked much of the form when it came to structure; ... A fair few were about marital break-up and gender anger. An awful lot were about death, or dying, or hospitals. This isn't surprising: it's a matter of life and death, after all, the short story. Its nature concerns itself with the shortness of things; by its very brevity it challenges aliveness with the certainty of mortality, and vice versa too, which is why I got very excited when I read anything which leaned towards the story form as a force and source of life. I wish there had been more of these.

I don't completely follow the comment on story form as a force and source of life. Is she refering to challenging or non-standard story structures? Ali, if by any chance you read this, please explain.

The wonderful Jackie Kay said

I read all my favourite poems aloud to see how they lived off the page, and each of my choices make a good sound read as well as a paper one, the test of a good poem.

So true. Read your poems AND your prose aloud.

Poems on the Dart Winners

Some familiar names here. Congratulations

John O’Donnell, Dublin for his poem - The Blue Man

Cecilia McGovern, Dublin for her poem - It is Dangerous to lean out

Eamonn Bonner, Donegal for his poem - Climbing out of the window

These poems will be displayed on trains, in stations and will be published after the awards ceremony on irishrail.ie.

announcement here.

Asham Award Winners

I've read a couple of these anthologies (for UK resident women writers) and there are some great stories, maybe a little gloomy in the main.

This year's winners are:

Jo Lloyd, a software company project manager from Oxford won the £1,000 top prize. She was brought up in Wales and now lives in Oxford. Her stories have been long listed for the Bridport Prize and she has won this year’s Willesden Herald Short Story Prize for her story Work.

You can read her story on the website.

Second prize of £500 went to Hilary Plews for Lily’s Army and £300 to Cherise Saywell from Edinburgh, who came third with her story The Candle Garden.

Hilary, a previous Asham finalist, has worked as a community lawyer with refugees and in carers’ development. Her story sees the breakdown of a marriage through a child's eyes.

Cherise won the V.S.Pritchett Prize in 2003 and her short stories have been published in The London Magazine, New Writing Scotland and Carve Magazine. The Candle Garden is set in a world where there are no open spaces left for a mother to scatter the ashes of her dead child.

Nine runners-up all received cash prizes from the Asham Trust, and were congratulated on the quality and originality of their writing by the three judges.

The runners-up were Alexandra Fox, Nora Morrison, Janna Connerton, Erica Rocca, Vicky Grut, Alison Dunn, Juno McKittrick, Liz Day and Catherine Chanter.

Winners over the edge

David Mohan won (again - a great year for David) in the poetry category for his poems 'Nursing a Star', 'Come to Light' and 'The Samurai Lovers'; and the title of 2009 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year. David received a cash prize of €700 and will be a Featured Reader at an Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library.

David lives and works in Dublin and is a member of the Lucan Writers' group. He has had poems featured in the 2008 and 2009 Oxfam calendars, and his poems have appeared in various publications including The Sunday Tribune, Revival and the 2008 poetry anthology Night and Day. He won the 2008 Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Poetry Award, as well as the overall New Irish Writing Award.

******

Orla Higgins won the fiction category for her story Thin Blue Line. Orla received a cash prize of €300.

Orla lives in Galway city and lectures part-time at NUIG with the Department of Marketing and the Huston School of Film. Orla was a Featured Reader at the September 2008 Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library and was also selected by the Cúirt Festival panel to read at the 2009 Cúirt Festival Over The Edge showcase.

The competition judge was Patrick Chapman. He had this to say about the winning entries:

'while there were many fine pieces on the shortlist, the winners stood out. They sustained their individual visions to the end with clarity, style and imagination; and their work was a pleasure to discover. I am glad to congratulate David Mohan and Orla Higgins, and I look forward to seeing much more of their work in the future.'

Dromineer Results

I didn't win. Imagine! Snubbed again. No familiar names on the list for me.

ADULT POETRY COMPETITION (Over 18)

Judge: Vona Groarke

1st. Prize 500.00
2nd. Prize 350.00
3rd. Prize 150.00

Shortlist Congrats to:

JIM MAGUIRE, WEXFORD: 'ZEN GARDEN DREAM'
MARTIN DYAR, CO. MAYO: 'CYRANO DE BERGERAC' & 'MOY NURSES'

SPECIAL MENTION:

DENISE GARVEY, GALWAY: 'EASE FOR THE LEAVING'
AILIN O'DEA, DUBLIN: 'BETWEEN JOBS'
CIANA CAMPBELL, ENNIS: 'SEAMSTRESS'
JOHN WALSH, CO. GALWAY: 'TALK SHOP'

ADULT SHORT STORY COMPETITION (Over 18)

Judge: David Rice

1st. Prize 500.00
2nd. Prize 350.00
3rd. Prize 150.00

MIKE HEALY, NENEGH: 'SWIMMER'
CLAIR McNAMARA, DUBLIN: 'SHAY DUFFY IS A GENTLEMAN'
MERIEL J HEATHER, DUBLIN: 'FOR THE RECORD'

Words of Ruth

There's a really interesting judge's report from Ruth Padel on the Mslexia website about the entries from the Poetry Competition. (Did I win? Did I 'eck as like)

One thing she mentions is to look again at the treacherous adverbs and adjectives and think what the poem would be like without it. (Same applies to fiction and non-fiction I suggest) I'm off to frisk my entries.

She also mentions over reliance on short lines. I put my hand up for this one.

Note: none of the winners were written to form. Again.

Davey Byrnes Short Story shortlist

This year, more than 800 entries were received, all of which were read in an anonymous process by a panel of readers. A longlist of 30 was then passed on – again anonymously – to the competition judge, Richard Ford, from which the six prize winners were selected. They should publish the shortlist for reasons of encouragement I think. The filter judges aren't named but will obviously have an in fluence on the type of stories presented to Richard Ford.

The comments from the final judge, Richard Ford, are worth reading. He goes on a bit I think about Irish identity and said there wasn't much in the way of experiment or laughs.

Some heavyweights on the shortlist of 6.

CLAIRE KEEGAN , who was raised in Wicklow, studied in New Orleans and Cardiff before earning an MPhil in creative writing from Trinity College Dublin. Her first short story collection, Antarctica , was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year and earned her the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, while her second collection Walk the Blue Fields won the Edge Hill Prize. She is a member of Aosdána.

Cork-born journalist MARY LELAND has published two novels, The Killeen and Approaching Priests , and a book of short stories, The Little Galloway Girls as well as three non-fiction books, The Lie of the Land: Journeys through Literary Cork, That Endless Adventure: A History of the Cork Harbour Commissioners , and Dwyers of Cork: A Family Business and a Business Family .

MOLLY McCLOSKEY , who was born in Philadelphia but has lived in Ireland for the past 20 years, is the author of two collections of short stories, Solomon’s Seal and The Beautiful Changes , and a novel, Protection . She has also worked for the United Nations in Kenya, and is currently completing a non-fiction book about schizophrenia.

Carlow native KATHLEEN MURRAY’S stories have appeared in the anthologies The Incredible Hides in Every House and These Are Our Lives , and in the Stinging Fly magazine. She was the winner of the Fish Short Story Prize 2006-07 and is working on her first collection of short stories.

NCAD graduate SUSAN STAIRS is currently a student on the MA in creative writing programme in UCD. She has published three books about Irish art, Markey Robinson: A Life, The Irish Figurists , and Drawing from Memory: The Life of Irish Artist Gladys Maccabe and is currently working on a novel.

EOIN MCNAMEE, from Kilkeel, Co Down, was shortlisted for the Irish Times literature prize for his first book, the novella The Last of Deeds , in 1989. He has published four novels – Resurrection Man, The Blue Tango, The Ultras and 12:23 – a poetry collection, two screenplays and two books for children. He also writes under the name John Creed.

THE OVERALL WINNER of the award will receive €25,000,