TIGH LITRÍOCHTA
Welcome to the Munster Literature Centre Founded in 1993, the Munster Literature Centre (Tigh Litríochta) is a non-profit arts organisation dedicated to the promotion and celebration of literature, especially that of Munster. To this end, we organise festivals, workshops, readings and competitions. Our publishing section, Southword Editions, publishes a biannual journal, poetry collections and short stories. We actively seek to support new and emerging writers and are assisted in our efforts through funding from Cork City Council, Cork County Council and the Arts Council of Ireland. Originally located in Sullivan's Quay, the centre moved to its current premises in the Frank O'Connor House (the author's birthplace) at 84 Douglas Street, in 2003. In 2000, the Munster Literature Centre organised the first Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival, an event dedicated to the celebration of the short story and named for one of Cork's most beloved authors. The festival showcases readings, literary forums and workshops. Following continued growth and additional funding, the Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award was introduced in 2005, coinciding with Cork's designation as that year's European Capital of Culture. The award is now recognised as the single biggest prize for a short story collection in the world and is presented at the end of the festival. In 2002, the Munster Literature Centre introduced the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize, an annual short story competition dedicated to one of Ireland's most accomplished story writers and theorists. This too is presented during the FOC festival. The centre also hosts the Cork Spring Literary Festival each year. Workshops are held by featured authors in both autumn and spring, allowing the general public to receive creative guidance in an intimate setting for a minimal fee. In addition, the centre sponsors a Writer in Residence each year. We invite you to browse our website for further information regarding our events, Munster literature, and other literary information. Should you have any queries, we would be happy to hear from you.
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APRIL - JULY 2010
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin receives Griffin Prize
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's The Sun-fish and Karen Solie's Pigeon are the International and Canadian winners of the tenth annual Griffin Poetry Prize. The Griffin Poetry Prize was founded in 2000 to serve and encourage excellence in poetry. The prize is for first edition books of poetry written in, or translated into, English, and submitted from anywhere in the world. In celebration of the prize's tenth anniversary, The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry doubled the annual prize money to a cumulative amount of $200,000 (which includes $10,000 for each of the shortlisted poets who participated in the Readings). The awards ceremony, attended by some 400 invited guests, was held in the Fermenting Cellar at the Stone Distillery and hosted by Scott Griffin, founder of the prize, and Trustees Margaret Atwood, Carolyn Forché, Robert Haas, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and David Young. Celebrated poet Glyn Maxwell was the evening's featured speaker. Judges for the 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize are the distinguished writers and poets Anne Carson (Canada), Kathleen Jamie (Scotland) and Carl Phillips (United States). They read almost 400 books of poetry, including 12 translations, received from 12 countries around the globe. The judges are selected on an annual basis by the Trustees of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry.
On the previous evening, the shortlisted poets read excerpts from their books at a sold-out event for more than 1,000 people at The Royal Conservatory, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, Koerner Hall. The 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlist features collections by three Canadian poets - Kate Hall's The Certainty Dream, published by Coach House Books; Coal and Roses by the late P. K. Page (a selection of which was read by Toronto Poet Laureate and 2003 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlisted poet Dionne Brand), published by The Porcupine's Quill and Pigeon by Karen Solie, published by House of Anansi Press; and four international poets - John Glenday's Grain, published by Picador; Louise Glück's A Village Life, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's The Sun-fish, published by The Gallery Press and Susan Wick's translation of Cold Spring in Winter by Valérie Rouzeau, published by Arc Publications. Also that evening, renowned American poet and essayist Adrienne Rich was honoured with the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award. Trustee Carolyn Forché paid tribute to Rich and presented her with her award. Trustee David Young presented each poet with a leather-bound edition of their book. The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology: A Selection of the 2010 Shortlist, edited by A. F. Moritz and published by House of Anansi Press, is now available at most retail bookstores. Royalties generated from the anthologies, published annually, are donated to UNESCO's World Poetry Day. As in past years, copies of the submitted poetry books are being donated to Corrections Canada.
Read sample poems from the Sun-Fish here.
Click here for more about the Griffin Prize.
Matthew Sweeney's review of the Sun-Fish
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Joyce Russell, former Seán Ó Faoláin winner, takes the Francis MacManus Competition
From the overall entry of 860 stories this year 25 stories were shortlisted – all of which will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 later this year. This year’s first prize winner is Joyce Russell from Bantry, Co. Cork with her short story Fishing For Dreams. The second prize was awarded to Silverfish by Eileen Lynch from South Circular Road, Dublin. The third prize was won by Sheila Mannix from Youghal, Co. Cork with her short story entitled Comfort. Speaking of the competition, Arts and Features Producer, Seamus Hosey, who has been involved in organising the competition since its inception said: “The Francis Mac Manus Short Story Competition has been at the very heart of the creative process of keeping the Irish short story tradition vibrant and exciting. Over the past 25 years the stories broadcast by RTÉ Radio 1 have encapsulated and explored the changing face of Ireland, capturing its moods, passions and obsessions. The short story reveals the contemporary world that is too often obscured by current affairs.”
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New Featured Poets at Poetry International:
The Munster Literature Centre produces the Irish section of this prestigious poetry site. Current featured poets (Panchali Mukherji, Mark Roper, Adam Wyeth, Landa Wo and Jennifer Matthews) are from Landing Places, the new Dedalus anthology of immigrant poets. For further information, please visit the site at www.poetryinternational.org.
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Check out new features on the MLC website:
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Announcing the 2010 Cork City - Frank O'Connor Short Story Award Longlist
The Munster Literature Centre is pleased to release the longlist for the 2010 Cork City - Frank O’Connor Short Story Award, now in its sixth year. The longlist is almost evenly split between women and men this year with 30 men and 28 women. The strength of the short story in the United States is reflected by that country’s overwhelming number of 23 longlistees. This year is also noted for a surge of entries from Asia, accounting for one fifth of all titles. There are three Irish nominees this year including Nuala Ni Chonchuir, the first author to be longlisted for the third time.
Household names in the running include novelist Louis De Bernieres, playwright and film star Sam Shepard, T.C. Boyle, Michelle Roberts, David Means and short story specialist Helen Simpson.
The jury for this year consists of Irish novelist Mary Morrissy, Nadine O’Regan who is arts editor for the Sunday Business Post and Diana Reich, former Orange Fiction Prize judge and a curator of the Small Wonder short story festival in the south of England.
The Cork City – Frank O’Connor Short Story Award is the world’s richest and most prestigious prize for the form and is sponsored by Cork City Council. It is awarded to the best new collection of the year. Previous winners have included Haruki Murakami (Japan), Jhumpa Lahiri (USA) and Simon Van Booy (UK). On two occasions the award has gone to an author for their first book: Yiyun Li (China) in 2005 and Miranda July (USA) in 2007.
A shortlist of six will be announced at the beginning of July. The winner will be chosen in September and receive the award at the close of the world’s oldest annual short story festival in Cork.
The Longlist
(In no particular order)
Statistics:
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Southword Supplement 17A now online.
Featuring the Gregory O'Donoghue winners and commended poets, a video interview with Yiyun Li, a video performance of a Paddy Bushe poem by Crazy Dog Augio Theatre, new work in translation by Su De and book reviews of new collections from Michael Coady, Ciaran O'Driscoll and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.
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MARCH 2010
Writing Workshops--Spring 2010
Fiction with Vincent McDonnell begins 15.03.10 Poetry with James Harpur begins 24.03.10
Only €120/€100 conc. for 6 weeks! Click on the poster for more information.
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Book launch: Landing Places Tuesday, 9 March 2010 at Cork City Library on Grand Parade Wine reception begins at 6.30. All welcome.
Editors Eva Bourke and Borbála Faragó present a timely and important anthology of poems by sixty-six poets, both recent arrivals and first generation immigrants all over the world, who have made their homes in Ireland and who contribute to, challenge and ultimately broaden the definition of what is thought of as ‘writing from Ireland’. Click here to learn more about the anthology at the Dedalus Press website.
FEBRUARY 2010
The Gregory O'Donoghue Poetry Prize Winners
First Prize: John F. Deane 'Shoemaker'
Second Prize: Siobhan Campbell 'Clew Bay from the Reek'
Third Prize: Patrick Deeley 'Geezer'
The result was announced at the Spring Literary Festival on Wednesday, 17 February at 7.30PM in the Metropole Hotel. A video of John F. Deane's reading will be posted in the next issue of Southword Journal Online.
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Visit our dedicated Cork Spring Literary Festival website here:
17 February - 20 February 2010
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SPRING LITERARY FESTIVAL 2010: THE LORE OF PLACE
February 17 - 20
Click on the programme for more information!
Click here to download the festival programme. Click here to download the festival timetable of events.
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The 2010 Gregory O'Donoghue Shortlist
Listed alphabetically: Lauren K. Alleyne– New York, USA Siobhan Campbell– Dublin, Ireland John F. Deane– Dublin, Ireland Patrick Deeley– Dublin, Ireland Maureen Gallagher– Galway, Ireland John Gerard– Cork, Ireland Catherine Phil MacCarthy– Dublin, Ireland Patrick Maddock– New Ross, Ireland Pete Mullineaux– Galway, Ireland Cristina Newton– Swindon, UK Mary Anne Perkins– Richmond, UK Jane Robinson– Enniskerry, Ireland Cherry Smyth– London, UK
Please note that the prize-winners have been personally notified, and the result will be announced at the Spring Literary Festival.
JANUARY 2010
Best Irish Poetry 2010 reviewed in RTÉ radio's Arena.
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Southword Journal Online is now accepting submissions of poetry and short fiction for issue 18.
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Read Southword Journal Online
Issue 18 now online.
Sean Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition
now closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Best Irish Poetry in English 2010
Visit our bookstore here.
Poetry International.org
The Munster Literature Centre produces the Irish section of this prestigious poetry site. Current featured poets are from Landing Places, the new Dedalus anthology of immigrant poets. For further information, please visit the site at www.poetryinternational.org.
Festivals
The Munster Literature Centre hosts two annual festivals. The larger Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival takes place each September, while the Cork Spring Literary Festival, with varying themes, is presented each spring. Further information is available on our drop down menus.
Workshops
Workshops in poetry and fiction run in Spring and Winter at MLC. Contact Jennifer for more information.
Munster Literature Centre
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©2009 The Munster Literature Centre |
Frank O'Connor House, 84 Douglas Street, Cork, Ireland. Tel. (353) 021 4312955 Email munsterlit@eircom.net |
Irish Registered Charity No.12374 |
