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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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LIMERICK NOVELISTS
Dan Binchy (b. 1940)
Dan Binchy was born in County Limerick in 1940 and is a cousin of well-known Dublin novelist Maeve Binchy. His novels are The Neon Madonna (London, Century, 1991), The Last Resort (Century, 1992), Fireballs (London, Century, Random House, 1993), and Loopy: A Novel of Golf and Ireland (New York, Thomas Dunne Books, 2005). He has also published the non-fiction work Cover-up: The Disaster at Tuskar Rock (Tralee, Mount Eagle Publications, 2000). He lives in County Limerick.
Michael Curtin (b. 1942)
Michael Curtin was born in Limerick in 1942 and is best known for his novel The Plastic Tomato Cutter (Zondervan, 1991), set in his native city. He is also the author of the novels The Self-Made Men (Penguin Books, 1980), The Replay (Sphere Books, 1981), The League Against Christmas (HarperCollins, 1989), The Cove Shivering Club (Zondervan, 1996) and Sing (Zondervan, 2001). The plots of his work tend toward the comic and range from the farcical to the dark and understated.
Gerald Griffin (1803 - 1840)
Gerald Griffin was born in Limerick in 1803 and was primarily a novelist but also wrote plays and poems. In 1827 came Holland – Tide Tales, a series of eight short stories, followed the same year by Tales of the Munster Festivals. His next work, The Collegians (1829), based upon a murder which shocked Limerick in 1819, was adapted for the stage under the title Colleen Bawn. He also wrote the plays Aguire and Gissipus, the latter of which was produced in London in 1842 to great success. After the publications of Tales of the Jury Room, Rivals, Tracey’s Ambition and The Christian Physiologist, Griffin turned from literature to service of the Church, in 1838 joining the Congregation of Christian Brothers before dying of typhus fever in 1840. Today Griffin has streets named after him in both Limerick and Cork.
Marian Keyes (b. 1963 )
Marian Keyes was born in Limerick in 1963 and is the prolific writer of eight extremely popular novels: Watermelon (1995), Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married (1996), Rachel’s Holiday (1998), Last Chance Saloon (1999), Sushi for Beginners (2000), Angels (2002), The Other Side of the Story (2004), and Anybody Out There? (2006). She has also published two collections of her journalism, Under The Duvet (2001) and Further Under The Duvet (2005). All her novels have been bestsellers around the world, over ten million copies shifted in total. Sushi for Beginners and Angels were both Sunday Times No1 Bestsellers, and The Other Side of the Story was the second highest selling paperback novel of 2005. She is currently living in Dun Laoghaire.
Frank McCourt (1930 - 2009)
Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1930 to Irish immigrant parents and raised in Limerick. A memoirist/novelist, he is author of Angela’s Ashes (1996), ‘Tis (1999), Teacher Man (2005), and Angela and the Baby Jesus (2007). His awards and accolades are many, receiving the Pulitzer Prize (1997) and National Book Critics Circle Award (1996), both for Angela’s Ashes, and the Award of Excellence from The International Centre in New York. Also, in 2002, he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Western Ontario and the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award. He died in New York in 2009.
Kate O'Brien (1897 - 1974)
Born in Limerick in 1897, Kate O’Brien is one of Ireland’s most distinguished female novelists. Her writing career began with the play, Distinguished Villa (1926), after which she turned to the novel. Her first, Without My Cloak (1931), won both the Hawthornden and James Tait Black prizes. It was followed by The Ante-Room (1934), Mary Lavelle (1936) and The Land of Spices (1941), the latter two banned under Irish Free State censorship law. After them came Pray for the Wanderer (1938) and The Last of Summer (1943), both critical of the Irish Free State under de Valera. Her most successful novel, That lady (1946), followed, which she adapted for Broadway to modest success in 1949. Flower of May and As Music and Splendour were lesser successes. She also wrote a biography of the saint Theresa of Avila as well as the travel books Farewell Spain (1937) and My Ireland (1962), documenting her experiences of place, the former causing her to be banned from Franco’s Spain. She died in 1974 in Canterbury, England.
Clairr O'Connor
Clairr O’Connor was born and grew up in Croom, Co. Limerick, living now in Dublin, and is a poet, playwright and novelist. Poetry collections by Clairr are When You Need Them (Salmon, 1989), Breast (Astrolabe, 2004) and Trick the Lock (Astrolabe, 2008). Her first novel, Belonging (Marino, 1991) was nominated for an Irish Times / Aer Lingus Award. Her second, Love in Another Room (Attic Press, 1995), was shortlisted for the Listowel Book of the Year Award. Her radio plays have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and on RTE Radio 1 and her short stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.
Jerry O'Neill (1921 - 1999)
Jerry O’Neill was born in Limerick City in 1921 and achieved literary acclaim chronicling the bleak plights of the Irish in London. His works include the play, God is Dead (1967), and the novels, Open Cut (1986), Duffy is Dead (1988), Canon Bang Bang (1989) - each about the lives of the Irish immigrant labourers - Commissar Connell (1992), and Rellighan, Undertaker (2000). He died in Limerick in 1999.
Darren Shan (b. 1972)
Darren Shan was born in 1972 and grew up in Limerick since the age of six. Currently living in Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick, he is famed worldwide primarily for his children’s horror fiction, namely the novel series’ The Saga of Darren Shan, consisting of four trilogies of vampire books, and The Demonata, made up of ten books about demons. Universal Studios bought the film rights for The Vampire Blood Trilogy, the first three books of The Saga, making The Vampire’s Assistant, which went to cinemas in late 2009 and, depending on its success, could lead to another three films. Shan has also had success in writing novels for adults, primarily with The City Trilogy, made up of Procession of the Dead (2008, but first published as Ayuamarca in 1999), Hell’s Horizon (2000 and republished in 2009), and City of the Snakes, (which is to be published in early 2010). He is the recipient of many awards for his books, including The Redbridge Teenage Book Award (2006) for Lord Loss, the first instalment of The Demonata. By late 2009, Shan’s books were on sale on every continent, in 39 countries and in 31 languages, and have been children’s bestsellers in America, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway. His books have topped adult bestseller charts in Hungary, Japan and Taiwan. In total, his books have shifted around 15 million copies worldwide.
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Click below for more Limerick resources:
Literary Limerick and the Cuisle Festival Irish Language Writers from Limerick
The Limerick sub-section authored by Ed O'Dwyer. This subsection has been grant-aided by Limerick City Arts Services
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Read Southword Journal
Issue 21A now online!
Seán Ó Faoláin
Pre-book Festival
4 Day Story
Poetry International.org
MLC produces the Irish section of this prestigious poetry site.
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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©2009 |
Frank O'Connor House, 84 Douglas Street, Cork, Ireland. Tel. (353) 021 4312955 Email munsterlit@eircom.net |
Irish Registered Charity No.12374 |
