Author Archives for IWC_admin

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.

Get Writing: Tips to Kickstart Your Practice

November 17, 2022 2:27 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

    With writing, as with most things in life, getting started is the really difficult part. Progress comes slow at first and sometimes there can be nothing worse than having to drag yourself to your desk to sit down and write. Here are some tips to help kickstart your practice and to keep you working when the going gets rough!   Make time for writing Lots of people want to write but nobody’s got the time! Right? Nope. Part of the reason nobody thinks they have the time to write is the false notion that it takes hours upon hours of trawling over your manuscript to get any useful work done. But just ask any of those famous writers who are also full time parents, or those published authors who still managed to keep up a day job. If... Read Moreread more.

Opportunities & Competitions: November 2022

November 1, 2022 2:06 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 November! Competitions & Opportunities Cafe Writers Poetry Competition 2022 Deadline: 14th November 2022 Café Writers is a Norwich based grass-roots writers’ network supporting and showcasing work by established writers in all genres. It also encourages and champions new work by emerging writers. Cafe Writers is passionate about encouraging wider participation and excellence in literature. This competition funds their programme and allows them to pay writers properly. This year’s judge is Jennifer Wong. The Pig’s Back: Issue 3 Deadline: 15th November 2022 The Pig’s Back (named for Donegal’s Muckish mountain and for the phrase ar mhuin na muice, to be in luck) is a literary prose... Read Moreread more.

Announcing our IWC/DBF Young Writer Delegates 2022

October 18, 2022 10:42 am Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

We’re delighted to announce our IWC/DBF Young Writer Delegate awardees, who will attend the Dublin Book Festival from 8-13th November, and work with local writer mentor Seán Hewitt. The four awardees are Ellen Duggan, HK Ní Shioradáin, Annie Brown and Eva-Marie McNamee. Now in its fifth 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 DBF social media channels. The full programme is now also available to view over on the festival website. Ellen Duggan is a third year English Literature student at University College Dublin, where she has contributed to the student-led creative writing publication, Caveat Lector, as well as to the... Read Moreread more.