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MUNSTER LITERATURE CENTRE IONAD LITRÍOCHTA an DEISCIRT |
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Welcome to the Munster Literature Centre Founded in 1993, the Munster Literature Centre (Ionad Litríochta an Deiscirt) 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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NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2011
THE 2012 GREGORY O'DONOGHUE INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION
Now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Shortlistees will be notified personally and a shortlist will be published by early February. The winner will be announced at the Cork Spring Poetry Festival. Click here for more information about the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Prize.
The Munster Literature Centre is a not-for-profit institution, an officially registered charity in the Republic of Ireland Charity. No. 12374. All entry fees received in this competition will be disbursed in prize money, judge's fee and to fund services the Centre provides to writers and readers.
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The Munster Literature Centre proudly presents THE ESSENTIALS OF FICTION a seminar with Claire Keegan
Photo © Murdo MacLeod
Metropole Hotel, Saturday 10 December See ticketing info below.
The course is designed for anyone interested in writing a short story or a novel, or is already having difficulty with their fiction. It will examine how fiction works and how stories begin. structure of narrative * writing dialogue * tension in fiction Claire Keegan is the author of Antarctica, Walk the Blue Fields and Foster; publications which have earned her the William Trevor Prize (judged by William Trevor), The Francis MacManus Award, The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, The Edge Hill Prize and The Davy Byrnes Award among many others. “a natural inheritor of the mantle of John McGahern and Alistair MacLeod, a writer already touched by greatness.” --Declan Kiberd “Every line seems to be a lesson in the perfect deployment of both style and emotion.” --Hilary Mantel
Tickets will be on sale at the door. Seats available on a first come, first served basis. Fee payable by cash; also cheques, postal orders, bank drafts should be made payable to the Munster Literature Centre. We regret that we cannot accept credit or laser cards.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2011
Winter 2011 Workshops Beginning 1st week of November.
Poetry with Matthew Sweeney and Fiction with Ian Wild
Participation Details --Intimate class size (ten maximum) individual attention guaranteed Visit the workshops page for more details.
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Cork Culture Night
What will you see this Friday 23rd September 2011?Culture Night 2011 will take place on Friday 23rd, September 2011 In Cork with over 75 venues taking part, over 200 events taking place and over 30,000 people expected to attend, this year's Cork Culture Night will be biggest yet! The Munster Literature Centre will open its doors from 6pm to 10pm, screening documentaries about Edna O'Brien for the public. Edna O'Brien is this year's winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award for her collection Saints and Sinners. Coffee/Tea and biscuits will be available for 1 euro. Running from early evening until very late, there will be something for everyone, young and old alike. Theatres, galleries, observatories, public laboratories, artist studios, historic houses and Churches are staying open late and putting on a range of special programmes, all for FREE.
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EDNA O'BRIEN WINS THE 2011 FRANK O'CONNOR SHORT STORY AWARD
Edna O'Brien's short story collection Saints and Sinners has won the 2011 Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. The final decision was made after much deliberation by the judges Thomas McCarthy (Cork-based poet), Alannah Hopkin (Cork-based writer) and Guardian journalist Chris Power (UK). The shortlist had a majority of women including Irish grandee Edna O’Brien and inaugural winner (2005) of the award Yiyun Li for her second collection. There were two young debutantes, Canadian Alexander MacLeod and American Suzanne Rivecca. American novelist Valerie Trueblood is shortlisted with her first short story collection and the shortlist is completed by the Irish literary heavyweight Colm Tóibín. It was the first year two Irish authors had been shortlisted for this, the world’s largest and most prestigious award for the Short Story. Established in 2005 the €35,000 award is in the gift of the Munster Literature Centre and funded by Cork City Council. It was awarded for what was judged to be the best original short story collection published in English between July 1st 2010 and June 30th 2011. Previous winners have included Haruki Murakami, Jhumpa Lahiri and Simon Van Booy. O’Brien received a standing ovation as she accepted the award. “This is lovely, wonderful,” she said. “When Maureen Stapleton won an Academy Award, she said she’d like to thank everyone she’d ever met. I should probably limit that to Munster… I’d like to thank this wonderful festival for doing so much to stimulate the dying flower called literature.”
Announcing the 2011 Seán Ó Faoláin Competition Winners
First Prize: P.G. O'Connor (Limerick, Ireland)--'The Haggard' Second Prize: Laura Rock (Ontario, Canada)--'Woman Cubed' Commended Stories Guy Barriscale (Donegal, Ireland)--'Jamesy' Jeremy Castle (Tipperary, Ireland)--'The Smallest Window in the World' David O'Doherty (Cork, Ireland)--'Post Office' Martha Williams (Cornwall, UK)--'Wet Stones'
P.G. O'Connor read his story, 'The Haggard' during the Cork International Short Story Festival and was presented with his prize on the same stage as Edna O'Brien, this year's recipient of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. All of the winning and commended stories (above) will be published in the winter edition of Southword Journal, an online literary magazine in late December/early January.
Congratulations to our winners and commended authors! A sincere thank you to everyone who participated.
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THE CORK INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY FESTIVAL
September 14 - 18, 2011
Visit our dedicated festival website for more information including the programme, timetable & author-related links: http://www.corkshortstory.net Also, check out our festival blog for articles by festival contributors, including a statement on why the festival has changed names! http://corkshortstory.wordpress.com/ This year's readers to include Edna O'Brien, Colm Toibin, Suzanne Rivecca, Yiyun Li, Alexander MacLeod, Valerie Trueblood, Siobhan Fallon and many more. To learn more about the Frank O'Connor Award, visit our award website: http://www.frankoconnor-shortstory-award.net/
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Announcing The 2011 Seán Ó Faoláin Competition Shortlist In alphabetical order by author surname:
Guy Barriscale (Donegal, Ireland)--'Jamesy' Jeremy Castle (Tipperary, Ireland)--'The Smallest Window in the World' P.G. O'Connor (Limerick, Ireland)--'The Haggard' David O'Doherty (Cork, Ireland)--'Post Office' Laura Rock (Ontario, Canada)--'Woman Cubed' Martha Williams (Cornwall, UK)--'Wet Stones'
The winner and second prize-winning story will be announced at the Cork International Short Story Festival, 7pm 18 September 2011 (Metropole Hotel, Cork). All of the shortlisted stories will be published in a forthcoming issue of Southword Journal. The winning story will also be read in the festival on Saturday, 17 September at noon in the Metropole Hotel.
JULY - AUGUST 2011
The Seán Ó Faoláin Competition longlist is now available!
Click here to view the results.
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Announcing the 2011
Authors listed alphabetically by surname.
Yiyun Li * Gold Boy, Emerald Girl
Alexander MacLeod * Light Lifting
Edna O'Brien * Saints and Sinners
Suzanne Rivecca * Death is Not an Option
Colm Tóibín * The Empty Family
Valerie Trueblood * Marry or Burn
For more information please visit our new website dedicated to the award: www.frankoconnor-shortstory-award.net
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Announcing the 2011
Press Release: May 31st, 2011 JURY AND LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE FRANK O’CONNOR INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY Award 2011: THE WORLD’S LARGEST SHORT STORY PRIZE Munster Literature Centre are proud to announce the jury and long list for the Frank O’ Connor International Short Story Award 2011. Submissions have been flowing into the Munster Literature Centre in Cork from publishing centres in New York, London and Delhi including collections by some the world’s leading short story writers. Among them are Irish author Colm Toibin who won the Edgehill Prize for his previous story collection, Spanish author and Impac Award winner Javier Marias, American Anthony Doerr, winner of the 2011 Sunday Times Short Story Award and Beijing-born Yiyun Li who won the inaugural Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award in 2005 with her first book. Click here to view the full long list on our Award Page.
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The 2011 Seán Ó Faoláin Competition
First Prize: €1,500 (*approx USD $2000/ GBP £1300), publication in the literary journal Southword, Second Prize: €500 and publication in Southword. Four other shortlisted entries will be selected for publication in Southword and receive a publication fee of €120.
*Currency exchange amounts via XE.com, calculated 11.04.11
The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition is an annual short story competition dedicated to one of Ireland’s most accomplished story writers and theorists, sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre. If the winner comes to Cork to collect their prize, we will lavish them with hotel accommodation, meals, drinks and VIP access to the literary stars at the Cork International Short Fiction Festival (14-18 September 2011). This year, Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat www.anamcararetreat.com is awarding a week-long residency to the first prize winner of the Sean O'Faolain Short Story Competition. Located just outside the colourful village of Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, Anam Cara is a tranquil spot structured to provide support and sanctuary for people working in the creative arts. It offers private and common working rooms as well as five acres of walking paths, thirty-four nooks and crannies, a river cascades and a river island, gardens, and a labyrinth meadow. Editoral consultation is also available. The prize is valued at €700. (The dates of the residency will be arranged between the writer themselves and Anam Cara, and can be scheduled before or after the week of the Cork International Short Fiction Festival. Otherwise, the week can be scheduled for another time of the year, at Anam Cara's discretion.
Judge: For 2011 is author and Fish International Short Story Prize winner Ian Wild.
Please visit our SOF Competition Page for more details on how to enter.
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New title from Southword Editions
Click here to visit our translations bookshop.
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MAY - JUNE 2011
Patrick Galvin 1927 - 2011
Photo © Billy MacGill
It is with great sorrow we have just learned news of the passing of Patrick Galvin. Our thoughts are with his wife Mary and children Macdara & Grainne. As if it wasn’t enough that Patrick (many people knew him as Paddy) was an eminent poet, playwright, memoirist and songsmith he was also founder/chairman of the Munster Literature Centre, so he has a special place in our heart and in the hearts all of the people associated with us. Reposing at his home, South Douglas Road on Wednesday, 11 May, from 4 to 9pm. Reposing at Connolly Hall on Thursday, 12 May, from 4pm to 8pm. Cremation on Friday at 2pm at the Island Crematorium, Ringaskiddy.
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Southword Journal Supplement 19A now online!
Click through to read the winning Gregory O'Donoghue Competition poems from 2011, in addition to a selection of short fiction from the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival.
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Congratulations to Matthew Sweeney!
MARCH - APRIL 2011
Congratulations to Leanne O'Sullivan!
Irish poet Leanne O’Sullivan to receive fifteenth O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry; Public reading is April 15 at St. Thomas
The $5,000 O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry, established in 1997, honors Irish poets. The award is named for Lawrence O'Shaughnessy, who taught English at St. Thomas from 1948 to 1950, formerly served on the university's board of trustees and has recently retired as head of the I.A. O'Shaughnessy Foundation.
In addition to her St. Thomas appearance, O’Sullivan will take part in a public conversation with local poet Katrina Vandenberg “The Personal and the Mythic: Poetry and Stories.” The event begins at 7 p.m. Monday, April 11, at the Hamline Midway Branch Library Auditorium, 1558 West Minnehaha, St. Paul. Vandenberg is the author of The Alphabet Not Unlike the World and Atlas: Poems, both published by Milkweed Editions. Her essays and poems have appeared in numerous national and regional journals, including The American Scholar, Poetry Daily, The Southern Review and Orion. Vandenberg is the recipient of many awards, including a Bush Artist Fellowship, a Loft-McKnight Award, a Minnesota State Arts Board grant. Both events are co-sponsored by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, a non-profit group that advocates for the library.
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DEADLINE TO SUBMIT COLLECTIONS FOR THE CORK CITY - FRANK O'CONNOR INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD APRIL 11th.
2011 brings major changes to the Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
Please note: Major changes to conditions this year / 2011: 1. Deadline for receipt of entries and eligible publication dates In recent years the organisers have taken note that books published between July and August are not being submitted for entry; so to remedy this, the year of publication for titles eligible to be entered for the 2011 award need to have been published between July 1st 2010 and June 30th 2011. Proofs and bound typescripts are acceptable for titles scheduled to be published after the closing date for entries which for this year has been extended to April 11th. Interested publishers are encouraged to submit immediately and not wait until the last moment.
2. Publicity requirements for publishersThe Frank O’Connor Short Story Award is remuneratively larger than any American book award. It is approximately equal to the Costa Book award and the Orange Prize for fiction. The organisers of the award will not charge publishers of winning or shortlisted titles thousands of pounds as in the case of the Costa and Booker awards but in order to fulfil the award’s purpose in raising the marketing profile of the winning title in particular and the short story in general the following conditions will be enforced: It is a condition of entry that all shortlisted authors attend the award announcement at the reasonable expense of the award organisers (economy air travel and lodgings chosen by the organisers). It is also a condition that all copies in print of the winning book and any subsequent English-language editions (up to five years after the award is made) carry a badge at the publisher’s expense (either as a sticker or part of the original printing) on the front cover declaring “Winner of the 2011 Frank O’Connor Short Story Award”. €15,000 of the award money is payable to the author within a month of the award announcement. €20,000 is payable within six months after the award announcement once the award director is satisfied that the title’s publishers have complied with the badge requirement. The second tranche of €20,000 payable to the author will be forfeited if the author’s publishers fail to honour this condition.
Click here for more information about submission guidelines.
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Spring 2011 Workshops
Download a map to the Munster Literature Centre here. To register, email info(AT)munsterlit(DOT)ie. Read more about the classes available at our Workshops Page.
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New edition of Poetry International Web Ireland now up.
Click here to read poems by and articles about Ailbhe Darcy and Bernard O'Donoghue.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2011
Announcing the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition winners!
First Prize: Death of Alaska by Sandra Ann Winters
Second Prize: Superstition by Tadhg Russell
Third Prize: Bulloch Harbour, Winter 09 by Mike Casey
Honorary Mentions (alphabetical order)
Marina Blitshteyn (New York, USA), 'Winding the Watch' Magdalena Cullen (Cork, Ireland), 'Two Things' Caroline M Davies (Bedfordshire, UK), 'At Sea' Peggie Gallagher (Sligo, Ireland), 'In Her Later Years' Noel King (Co. Kerry, Ireland), 'Danger' Jim Maguire (Wexford, Ireland), 'Water Ghosts' Michael McKimm (London, UK) 'The Ice Harvest' Patrick Moran (Co. Tipperary, Ireland), 'So Much' Tadhg Russell (Co. Cork, Ireland), 'The Wood' KC Trommer (New York, USA), 'First Map'
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CORK SPRING LITERARY FESTIVAL 2011
Vist our new Cork Spring Literary Festival Blog for the most up to date information on festival events, as well as festival coverage including contributions by visiting authors and the MLC's Artistic Director.
Cork Spring Literary Festival Blog Click here to visit the dedicated website. Click here to view a map of Festival venues.
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Announcing the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition shortlist!
In alphabetical order by author:
Marina Blitshteyn (New York, USA), 'Winding the Watch' Mike Casey (Co. Dublin, Ireland), 'Bulloch Harbour, Winter 09' Magdalena Cullen (Cork, Ireland), 'Two Things' Caroline M Davies (Bedfordshire, UK), 'At Sea' Peggie Gallagher (Sligo, Ireland), 'In Her Later Years' Noel King (Co. Kerry, Ireland), 'Danger' Jim Maguire (Wexford, Ireland), 'Water Ghosts' Michael McKimm (London, UK) 'The Ice Harvest' Patrick Moran (Co. Tipperary, Ireland), 'So Much' Tadhg Russell (Co. Cork, Ireland), 'Superstition' Tadhg Russell (Co. Cork, Ireland), 'The Wood' KC Trommer (New York, USA), 'First Map' Sandra Ann Winters (North Carolina, USA), 'Death of Alaska'
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The new issue of Southword Journal (#19)
is now up and makes great winter reading!
If you would like to submit poetry, fiction or creative non-fiction to the next issue, please note that submission guidelines have significantly changed. Visit our submission guidelines page for the new instructions! Deadline: 15 March 2011.
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CORK SPRING LITERARY FESTIVAL 2011
Click here to visit the dedicated website!
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OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2010
Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition is now closed.
Thank you to everyone who entered!
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Congratulations to Cork poet Marie Coveney,
shortlisted for the Patrick Kavanagh Award!
Click here to read poems by Coveney in Southword Journal.
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New edition of Poetry International Web Ireland now up.
Patrick Galvin photo © Billy MacGill
Click here to read poems by and articles about Patrick Galvin and Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuig.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO LEANNE O'SULLIVAN
ON WINNING THE ROONEY PRIZE! Click here to read more in the Irish Times.
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AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2010
The Munster Literature Centre is pleased to announce the winner of the 2010 Cork City-Frank O'Connor Short Story Award has gone to
RON RASH
Read the announcement on the Guardian books page. Read the announcement at the Irish Examiner.
More articles & commentary on the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival and its participants:
Ben Greenman of the New Yorker The Irish Times on Robin Black The Irish Times on Claire Keegan Gerry Smyth's 'Loose Leaves' in the Irish Times Irish Times on David Marcus Memorial Reading Shortlist coverage in the Guardian. Nelin's blog on his festival experience as the Seán Ó Faoláín prize winner.
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The winners of the Sean O'Faolain Competition are:
First Prize: Nikita Nelin's 'Eddie'
Second Prize: Bernie McGill's 'No Angel'
Congratulations! Their stories, and those of the other highly commended authors (Dave Wilson, Shannon Cain, Serge Shea & Judy Crozier) will be published in the next issue of Southword Journal Online.
View more commended authors on the judge's long list at Tania Hershman's blog 'Titania Writes'.
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The Munster Literature Centre regrets to announce that, due to unforseen circumstances, TC Boyle will not be able to attend the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival. The official changes to the Thursday night readings timetable will be posted on our dedicated festival website soon.
View errata slip and other programme changes here.
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Visit the Seán Ó Faoláin Prize page to view the newly announced shortlist.
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Click here to visit our dedicated Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival website.
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Southword Journal issue 18 is now online!
Poetry from Paddy Bushe, Grace Wells, Dave Lordan, Barbara Smith (& more), fiction selection from Tania Hershman, as well as work in translation from Chinese writer Wang Zhousheng, plus reviews of Theo Dorgan, Landing Places, John Sexton, Eileen Sheehan & more!
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Provisional programme for September's Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival posted HERE.
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Shortlist for the 2010 Cork City - Frank O'Connor Short Story Award Announced
The Munster Literature Centre is pleased to unveil the shortlist for the 2010 Cork City – Frank O’Connor Short Story Award. At €35,000 it remains the world’s richest prize for the form. It is awarded to what is judged to be the best, original collection of stories published in English in the 12 months preceding its award in September. This year we have the usual mix of veteran and debutante authors, although unusually, five of the six places this year have been taken by authors of one country: the USA. Another unusual feature is that as many as three of the books have been published by small presses. All of the shortlistees have agreed to come to Cork next September to attend the awards ceremony and to read from their books at the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Festival.
Further information can be obtained from: Patrick Cotter, Director, The Munster Literature Centre, ++353 214312955
The shortlisted books are as follows (in alphabetical order):
1. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This (Picador UK, 2010) by Robin Black
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Robin Black holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA from Warren Wilson College. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This (Random House, 2010) is her first story collection. The book has also been brought out by six foreign publishers and translated into four languages. Robin Black’s stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications including The Southern Review, One Story, The Georgia Review, Colorado Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Indiana Review, and The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. I (Norton, 2007). She is the recipient of grants from the Leeway Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the Sirenland Conference and is also the winner of the 2005 Pirate’s Alley Faulkner-Wisdom Writing Competition in the short story category. Her work has been noticed for Special Mention by the Pushcart Prizes on four occasions and also deemed Notable in The Best American Essays 2008 and The Best Nonrequired Reading 2009. She is currently at work on a novel, also to be published by Random House and overseas. Since receiving her MFA, she has taught Advanced Fiction Writing at Arcadia University and worked extensively with individual students. In 2010, she will be teaching at Bryn Mawr College. Click here to visit Robin Black's homepage.
2. Mattaponi Queen (Graywolf Press, 2010) by Belle Boggs
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Belle Boggs grew up in Virginia and currently lives in North Carolina, USA with her husband Richard Allen. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of California at Irvine and is a writer and teacher. Mattaponi Queen (Graywolf Press, 2010) is her first book. Stories from the collection have appeared in The Paris Review, Glimmer Train, At Length, storySouth and Five Chapters. Boggs is also the winner of the 2009 Katharine Bakeless Nason Prize for fiction, selected by Percival Everett and awarded by the Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers’ conference. Click here to visit Belle Boggs's homepage.
3.Wild Child (Bloomsbury, 2010) by TC Boyle n
T. Coraghessan Boyle is the author of twenty books of fiction, including, most recently, After the Plague (2001), Drop City (2003), The Inner Circle (2004), Tooth and Claw (2005), The Human Fly (2005), Talk Talk (2006), The Women (2009), Wild Child (2010) and When the Killing's Done (2011). He received a Ph.D. degree in Nineteenth Century British Literature from the University of Iowa in 1977, his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1974, and his B.A. in English and History from SUNY Potsdam in 1968. He has been a member of the English Department at the University of Southern California since 1978. His work has been translated into more than two dozen foreign languages, including German, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, Korean, Japanese, Danish, Swedish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Finnish, Farsi, Turkish, Albanian and Slovene. His stories have appeared in most of the major American magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, The Paris Review, GQ, Antaeus, Granta and McSweeney's, and he has been the recipient of a number of literary awards. He currently lives near Santa Barbara with his wife and three children. Click here to visit TC Boyle's homepage.
4.The Shieling (Comma Press, 2009) by David Constantine n
David Constantine is an award-winning poet and translator. His collections of poetry include Madder, Watching for Dolphins, Caspar Hauser, The Pelt of Wasps, Something for the Ghosts (shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Prize), Collected Poems and most recently Nine Fathom Deep (all Bloodaxe). He is a translator of Hölderlin, Brecht, Goethe, Kleist, Michaux and Jaccottet. In 2003 his translation of Hans Magnus Enzensberger's Lighter than Air (Bloodaxe) won the Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation. He is also author of one novel, Davies (Bloodaxe) and Fields of Fire: A Life of Sir William Hamilton (Weidenfeld). The Shieling (Comma, 2009) is his third collection of short stories, following Back at the Spike (Ryburn), and the highly acclaimed Under the Dam (Comma). He lives in Oxford, where he edits Modern Poetry in Translation with his wife Helen. Click here for more about Constantine at Comma Press.
5.Burning Bright (HarperCollins, 2010) by Ron Rash n
Ron Rash was born in South Carolina, USA, grew up in North Carolina, and is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University and Clemson University. He is the author of prize-winning novels: One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, The World Made Straight; and the New York Times bestseller, Serena, which was a 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist. His poems have appeared in over 100 magazines and journals, and he has published several collections. Burning Bright (HarperCollins, 2010) is the most recent of short story collections. Twice a recipient of the O. Henry Prize, he holds the John Parris Chair in Appalachian Studies at Western Carolina University. Click here to read more about Rash at HaperCollins.
6. What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us (Dzanc Books, 2009) by Laura van den Berg
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Laura van den Berg was raised in Florida and earned her MFA at Emerson College. She is the recipient of scholarships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers' Conferences, the 2009 Julia Peterkin Award, and the 2009-2010 Emerging Writer Lectureship at Gettysburg College. Formerly an assistant editor at Ploughshares, Laura is currently a fiction editor at West Branch and the assistant editor of Memorious, an online journal of new verse and fiction. She has taught writing at Emerson College, Grub Street, and in PEN/New England's Freedom to Write Program. Her fiction has or will soon appear in One Story, Boston Review, Epoch, The Literary Review, American Short Fiction, StoryQuarterly, Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008, Best New American Voices 2010, and The Pushcart Prize XXIV: Best of the Small Presses, among other publications. The winner of the Dzanc Prize, Laura's first collection of stories, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, was published by Dzanc Books in October 2009 and was a Holiday Pick for the Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" Program. She is currently at work on new stories and a novel. Click here to visit Laura van den Berg's homepage.
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The 2010 Frank O'Connor Award shortlist has been decided and all shortlistees have now been contacted individually. The results will be posted on our website by the weekend.
Click here to view the 2010 longlist.
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The 2010 Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition now open!
First Prize: €1,500 (approx US $2000) and publication in the literary journal Southword. Second Prize: €500 (approx US $650) and publication in Southword. Four other shortlisted entries will be selected for publication in Southword and receive a fee of €120 (approx USD $150).
The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition is an annual short story competition dedicated to one of Ireland’s most accomplished story writers and theorists, sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre. If the winner comes to Cork to collect their prize, we will lavish them with hotel accommodation, meals, drinks and VIP access to the literary stars at the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival (15-19 September 2010).
2010 Judge: Tania Hershman (Founder and editor of The Short Review)
Click here for more information at our competition page.
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The 2010 Cork City-Frank O'Connor Short Story Competition Judges
Nadine O'Regan is The Sunday Business Post’s Books and Arts Editor, an occasional telly pundit with The View on RTE 1 and the presenter and producer of The Kiosk, the weekend arts show on Dublin station Phantom 105.2. Originally from Skibbereen, Co. Cork, she lives in Dublin. She is an English and Philosophy graduate of UCC and has an Mphil in Creative Writing from Trinity College.http://nadineoregan.wordpress.com/
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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Cork Spring
15 - 18 February 2012
Read Southword Journal
Issue 21 now online!
Poetry International.org
MLC produces the Irish section of this prestigious poetry site.
The Gregory O'Donoghue
Now closed. Thanks to
Best Irish Poetry in English 2010
Visit our bookstore here.
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.
MLC Workshops
Workshops run in spring & autumn. Check back in October 2011 for more details!
Munster Literature Centre
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Mary Morrissy is the author of two novels, Mother of Pearl and The Pretender, and a collection of short stories, A Lazy Eye. She has recently completed a third novel called The Family Silver, based on the life of Sean O’Casey sister’s Bella and is at work on a second collection of linked short stories, tentatively titled Diaspora. She works as a journalist and teacher of creative writing, most recently as the Jenny McKean Moore Writer in Washington at George Washington University.
Diana Reich is former Orange Prize for Fiction Administrator, former Director of English PEN, and the founder and Artistic Director of Small Wonder, the only dedicated short story festival in the UK, held at Charleston in Sussex.
