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.

CAROLINE LYNCH

Born in 1976 and grew up in Cork. She studied Law in UCC, taking part in student theatre productions. While in college, she was the inaugural winner of the Sean Dunne Poetry Competition. On completing her degree, she studied acting and worked as a professional actor for a number of years. In 2001 she was short listed for the Seacat/Poetry Ireland Award. While living in Dublin she took a creative writing course in the Irish Writers' Centre with Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. She was granted an Arts Council Professional Development Award and obtained an MA in Writing from NUI, Galway. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Ireland, in an anthology of new writing The Incredible Hides in Every House edited by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, and in Writers Seeking Lovers, a collection from the MA in Writing. She won the Listowel Writers' Week poetry collection competition in 2007 with Lost in the Gaeltacht published by Salmon 2008. She lives in Galway and is working on her first full collection.

Author Links

Caroline Lynch (Salmon Poetry)

Read Southword Journal

Issue 21A now online!

Seán Ó Faoláin
Short Story
Competition

Now open!

Pre-book Festival
Writing Workshops
at the MLC

4 Day Story
Workshops Coming
This September

Poetry International.org

MLC produces the Irish section of this prestigious poetry site.
Current poets: John F. Deane & Michael D. Higgins
www.poetryinternational.org

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.

Munster Literature Centre

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

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