Author Archives for IWC_admin

Announcing our 2023 IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegates

March 22, 2023 2:50 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

We’re delighted to announce our IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegate awardees, who will attend Cúirt International Festival of Literature from 18 – 23 April and work with local writer mentor Alan McMonagle. The four awardees are Lucy Bleeker, Deirdre Bolger, Arianne Clarke, Gráinne Condron and Matthew O’Rourke. Now in its sixth year, the IWC Young Writer Delegates Programme gives young writers an opportunity to immerse themselves in a literature festival and to contribute to it as active participants. You can keep up with the Young Writer Delegates on their Instagram page, and through the Irish Writers Centre and Cúirt social media channels. The full programme is now also available to view over on the festival website.   The Young Writer Delegates                   Lucy Bleeker is a Galway based cross-genre writer. Her one act... Read Moreread more.

8 Writers and 10 Scientists Selected for the Writing the Earth Programme 2023

March 15, 2023 4:05 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

The Irish Writers Centre (IWC) in partnership with the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG) is delighted to announce the 8 writers and 10 scientists who will be taking part in Writing the Earth, a pilot programme for writers working with scientists. This is a fully-funded programme for eight writers interested in climate justice and geosciences. Building on the hugely popular IWC Climate Writing Group, this programme aims to take writing about our planet to the next stage. Writing the Earth brings writers and scientists together in person and online to research and write about climate and geoscience in various genres or forms. In a collaborative process of talks and workshops, the scientists will inform and guide the writers through scientific processes in plain English This will enable them to form their creative ideas around an aspect of climate... Read Moreread more.

Opportunities & Competitions: March 2023

March 9, 2023 11:33 am Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

Each month we update our Competitions & Submissions page, along with our Bursaries & Funding, to ensure that we are connecting our writers with the best upcoming opportunities. Here are a few deadlines we wanted to highlight this March!   Grants and Bursaries Fingal County Council, Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Bealtaine Festival Residency Award 2023 Deadline: 27th March 2023 Fingal Arts Office, in association with The Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Bealtaine Festival, is pleased to announce two, month-long, residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. These residences aim to celebrate and support older artists at all stages of their careers working in literature and visual arts. The Residency will include: · En Suite accommodation and full board in the Big House at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre will be provided for a professional writer on agreed selected dates from June – December and includes quiet... Read Moreread more.

Novel Fair 2023 Round Up

February 22, 2023 2:05 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

Friday 17 February was our first in-person Novel Fair in three years. In the room were our 12 Novel Fair winners, several of whom had travelled from the UK as well as publishers and literary agents from far and wide, including two who tuned in remotely. Our guests for the day included Blake Friedmann Agency, Bonnier Books, Curtis Brown, Epoque, Fletcher & Company, Greene & Heaton, Hachette Books, Hodder, Lilliput Press, Marianne Gunne O’Conor, Mulcahy Sweeney, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Storyline Lit Agency, The Bent Agency, The Book Bureau Literary Agency, The Feldstein Agency and The Lisa Richards Agency. The selected writers Tom O’Connell, Jennifer McMahon, Abby Connolly, Christina Carty, Cassie Smith-Christmas, Colm Maher, Fidelma Mahon, Laura Martz, Jill K Wilson, Sylvia Bluck, Geraldine Creed and Barbara Leahy met with top publishers and agents in a series of one-to-one meetings... Read Moreread more.

Northern Soul Roadshow Awardees 2023

February 15, 2023 3:13 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

We’re delighted to announce the awardees of our new Northern Soul Roadshow (NSR), a programme which spotlights diverse and native writers from the North of Ireland. Delivered across a series of creative writing events and workshops curated and facilitated by Fiona O’Rourke, the programme exclusively features writers born in the North of Ireland and those who have moved there from further afield. Over the course of the 6 weeks, the awardees will benefit from a rich programme of activities, including the opportunity to hone their craft in a supportive writing community of guest readings, lively Q&A discussions, and facilitated writing exercises. In keeping with Goal 2 of our new 2022–2026 Strategy, the roadshow will enhance opportunities for people across all communities to explore and participate in creative writing. NSR is curated by writer-facilitator Fiona O’Rourke, in association with the Irish... Read Moreread more.

Opportunities & Competitions: February 2023

February 7, 2023 3:21 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

Each month we update our Competitions & Submissions page, along with our Bursaries & Funding, to ensure that we are connecting our writers with the best upcoming opportunities. Here are a few deadlines we wanted to highlight this February! Arts Council: Agility Award 2023 Deadline: 9th February 2023 The Agility Award aims to support individual professional freelance artists and arts workers at any stage in their careers. Arts Council: Literature Bursary Award Deadline: 9th February 2023 The objective of the English Language Literature Bursary Award is to enable professional writers and picture book artists (working mainly through the English language) to spend more time on their creative work. The award seeks to provide writers and picture book artists with the time and resources to think, research, reflect, create and write. It enables writers and picture book artists to concentrate on their creative work... Read Moreread more.

NI Support Scheme Awardees 2023

January 10, 2023 2:58 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

We’re delighted to announce the awardees of our Support Schemes for Northern Irish Writers, supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, which offer subsidised membership and mentoring schemes for writers from or based in Northern Ireland. In keeping with Goal 2 of our new 2022–2026 Strategy, these schemes will enhance opportunities for people across all communities to explore and participate in creative writing. The awardees of the Membership Support Scheme are as follows: Professional Members Felicity McCall, Sue Divin, Ellie Rose McKee, Therese Kieran, Byddi Lee, Lynda Tavakoli, Shelly Tracey, Moyra Donaldson, Angela Graham and Juanita Rea. Associate Members Elaine Gormley, Alexandra McDonnell-Hill, Thomas Pole, Catherine Regan, Suzanne Mageee, Rosaline Callaghan, Lynne Edgar, Eilish Mulholland, Maura Martin and Edel Quinn. Our membership scheme connects our community of writers from across the island through a number of member benefits, including access... Read Moreread more.

Opportunities & Competitions: January 2023

January 3, 2023 4:43 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

Each month we update our Competitions & Submissions page, along with our Bursaries & Funding, to ensure that we are connecting our writers with the best upcoming opportunities. Here are a few deadlines we wanted to highlight this January! WriteNow Deadline: 6th January 2023 WriteNow is Penguin’s award-winning programme to seek out, nurture and publish new writers from communities under-represented on the nation’s bookshelves. The programme is designed to give participating writers the tools, information, and access needed to navigate the publishing industry and launch their career as a successful author. CCI Artist Residency Programme Deadline: 12th January 2023 Our annual residency programme offers great opportunities for artists of all disciplines to tap into the resources of Paris and the CCI, as well as being an important means of showcasing Ireland’s dynamic contemporary culture on an international stage. Since 2015, we have partnered... Read Moreread more.

ACNI Course Bursary Awardees 2023

January 3, 2023 3:34 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

We’re delighted to announce the 40 beginner and emerging Northern Irish writers selected to receive Course Bursaries, as part of a new programme funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The successful writers are: Ann Connors, Jacqueline McKay, Nadia Cusack, Marie Clare Friar, Alexandra McDonnell-Hill, Anna Delargy, Jimmy Kerr, Gary McKeever, Conor McPhillips, Ide Simpson, Siúbán O’Hare, Beth McClenahan, Ashling Lindsay, Paula Fusco, Joanne Burns, Alec Gourley, Fay Watson, Catherine Regan, Anne Gallagher, Deirdre McAliskey, Aaron Hickland, Lauren Kerr, Niall O’Siadhail, Nan Fee, Rosaline Callaghan, John Aherne, Rory Milhench, Catherine Higgins-Moore, Lynne Edgar, Eilish Mulholland, Bernie McQuillan, Darlene Corry, Susanna Galbraith, Edel Quinn, Heather Brown, Alison O’Neill, Charlene O’Donnell, Sylvia Wilson, Tony Black, and Mary McClean. These bursaries will enable participants to develop skills through funded places at Irish Writers Centre creative writing courses, and open up access to... Read Moreread more.

Novel Fair 2023: Runners-Up & Highly Commended

December 21, 2022 11:30 am Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

Last week we announced the twelve emerging writers selected for Novel Fair 2023, as selected by the judging panel Alan McMonagle, Mary Watson and Conor Kostick. Of the three hundred entries to the Fair, they additionally selected twelve runners-up and twelve highly commended as follows. These writers will receive a short critique of their work from one of the judges. Judge Conor Kostick observed: “The diversity of voices, the skill of the authors, and the fascinating characters of these novels made reading the entries a real pleasure. I’m just sorry we have to limit the numbers for the day’s event, because far more than the final selection were above the threshold to be published. I hope those who didn’t make the cut will not lose heart and will send their manuscripts to publishers and agents far and wide.” Runners-Up A... Read Moreread more.

12 Emerging Writers Selected as the Winners of Novel Fair 2023

December 14, 2022 10:41 am Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

The Irish Writers Centre is delighted to announce that 12 emerging writers have been selected from over 300 entrants to take part in Novel Fair 2023 on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 February 2023. This marks the 11th year of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair, an initiative which allows unpublished writers the opportunity to break through to the Irish, UK & international publishing world. Our 12 Novel Fair winners will pitch their work to top publishers and agents in a series of one-to-one meetings. In 2023, the Novel Fair will take place over 2 days, in-person at 19 Parnell Square on Friday 17 February and remotely on Saturday 18 February, thus allowing publishers, agents and finalists to participate from around the globe. Sincere congratulations to the 12 winners who were chosen from over 300 manuscript entries which came from... Read Moreread more.

Lacuna & Jack Harte Bursary Awardees 2022

December 8, 2022 10:55 am Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

We are delighted to announce the winners of the Jack Harte and Lacuna Bursary 2022. The awards were presented by Jack Harte and Dr Eimear O’Connor, Director of The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at our Members’ Christmas Party on Wednesday 7th December. You can read more about the winning writers and awards below. Lacuna Bursary 2022 The Lacuna Bursary is a new bursary specifically designed to support an emerging writer from an underrepresented group to develop their writing. It is created and funded by the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in partnership with the Irish Writers Centre. The awardee will be presented with a one-week fully resourced Writer-in-Residence Bursary to take place in 2023 by arrangement with the TGC. Photo courtesy of Bloom Artist Management Mahito Indi Henderson is this year’s awardee. He is a Canadian American writer and actor based in Dublin. He is... Read Moreread more.

Opportunities & Competitions: December 2022

December 6, 2022 1:47 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

Each month we update our Competitions & Submissions page, along with our Bursaries & Funding, to ensure that we are connecting our writers with the best upcoming opportunities. Here are a few deadlines we wanted to highlight in December! Channel Magazine Deadline: 5th December 2022 Essay submissions, which will be considered for online publication as well as for our next print issue, are open year-round. We also welcome submissions of visual art, to be featured on the covers of future issues, at any time. We ask that, if your work was featured in our most recent print issue, you wait one issue before submitting again. Due to the volume of work received, we also ask that writers submit in only one prose category per issue (i.e. please feel free to send us poetry and a short story, or poetry and an essay, but... Read Moreread more.

Our Young Writer Delegates look back on Dublin Book Festival 2022

November 22, 2022 12:23 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

Earlier this month, writers, readers and book-lovers from far and wide attended the Dublin Book Festival 2022, which took place from 8-13th November in venues across the city. Among the attendees were our IWC/DBF Young Writer Delegates, Eva-Marie McNamee, Ellen Duggan, HK Ní Shioradáin, and Annie Brown. Here is what they thought of the experience. RTÉ Radio One Arena at the Hugh Lane Gallery: Review by Eva-Marie McNamee Hosted by Seán Rocks from RTÉ Arena, this event marked the opening of the Dublin Book Festival, with a range of speakers and live music taking place over the course of the evening. The celebratory feel was tangible from first entering the beautiful gallery, located right beside the Irish Writer’s Centre on Parnell Street. Seated in a marble hall, the audience were surrounded by various paintings and busts of illustrious literary figures, which... Read Moreread more.