Mark Roper

MUNSTER LITERATURE CENTRE
IONAD LITRÍOCHTA an DEISCIRT

MLC books

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.

MARK ROPER

Mark Roper

Mark Roper is an English-born poet and editor now living near Piltown, in Kilkenny. He studied at Reading and Oxford Universities. His first collection of poetry The Hen Ark (1990, Peterloo) won the 1992 Aldeburgh Prize for best first collection. His other poetry is collected in Catching the Light (1997, Peterloo), The Home Fire (1998, Abbey Press), and Whereabouts (2005, Abbey Press & Peterloo). Roper was the 1999 editor of Poetry Ireland Review and also edited Ink Bottle in 2001. He was awarded Kilkenny’s Father Sean Swayne Art Bursary. Roper also runs creative writing courses and workshops in many different settings in Waterford and Kilkenny, including schools, prisons and senior citizen centres. He led a workshop at the 2002 Geneva Writers’ Convention and served as writer in residence at Waterford Regional Hospital. In 2008 Dedalus published his New and Selected Poems, Even So and in 2010 he was anthologised in Landing Places: Immigrant Poets in Ireland (Dedalus, 2010).

Author Links

Mark Roper at Dedalus (Buy Even So: New and Selected Poems)

Review of Even So by Val Nolan in Southword

Landing Places: Immigrant Poets in Ireland

Writing Workshops
at the MLC