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.

JAMES HARPUR

Born of Irish-British descent, James Harpur studied Classics and English at university. He taught English on the island of Crete and then worked as a lexicographer. He is now a freelance writer and has had four poetry collections published by Anvil Press: A Vision of Comets (1993), The Monk¹s Dream (1996), Oracle Bones (2001) and The Dark Age (2007). His latest collection, The Dark Age, received the Michael Hartnett Annual Poetry Award 2009.
Anvil have also published his Fortune¹s Prisoner, a translation of the poems of Boethius. In addition, he has published a sequence of religious poems called The Gospel of Joseph of Arimathea (Wild Goose, 2008). His prose publications include Love Burning in the Soul (Shambhala, 2005), an introduction to the Christian mystics.  
Harpur has won a number of prizes for his poetry, including the 1995 British National Poetry Competition. He has received various awards and bursaries, such as from Cork Arts, the Eric Gregory Trust, the Society of Authors, the Arts Council (UK), and the Hawthornden Foundation.

He has performed his poetry widely at poetry festivals and venues, including the Triskel Arts Centre (Cork), the Voice Box (London), the ICA (London), and the Irish Writers¹ Centre (Dublin). He has held poetry residencies at the Munster Literature Centre in Cork and at Exeter Cathedral in the UK, and he is an experienced workshop leader. He facilitates the weekly writers' workshop at the Munster Literature Centre and has been a regular poetry leader at the Arvon Foundation at Totleigh, Devon, UK.

He is currently poetry editor of the Temenos Academy Review, a publication founded by the poet and William Blake scholar, Kathleen Raine, and of Southword. He lives near Clonakilty, Co. Cork. 

Author Links

James Harpur homepage

Extended bio and poems at Poetry International Web

Harpur at the Poetry Society, UK

Cork Spring
Poetry Festival

15 - 18 February 2012

Read Southword Journal

Issue 21 now online!

Poetry International.org

MLC produces the Irish section of this prestigious poetry site.
Current poets: Caitríona Ní Chléirchín, Greg Delanty,
Katie Donovan, & Michael O'Loughlin.
www.poetryinternational.org

The Gregory O'Donoghue
International
Poetry Competition

Now closed. Thanks to
everyone who
entered!

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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Frank O'Connor House, 84 Douglas Street, Cork, Ireland.

Tel. (353) 021 4312955 Email munsterlit@eircom.net