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Opportunities & Competitions

Opportunities & Competitions: June 2022

June 1, 2022 11:01 am Published by 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 June! Competitions & Opportunities Write By the Sea Literary Festival 2022 Writing Competitions Deadline: 3rd June 2022 Two category winners will be presented with a cash prize of €500 and the overall winner will receive the top cash prize of €1000. All three winners will receive a beautiful hand-crafted Write By The Sea Festival 2022 Writing Competition trophy and all three winning pieces will be published on the Write By The Sea website. Each category winner will receive a free weekend ticket to Write By The Sea festival 2022 (Covid-19 restrictions in force at festival time will determine the type of free ticket to be... Read Moreread more.


Opportunities & Competitions May 2022

Opportunities & Competitions: May 2022

May 3, 2022 2:21 pm Published by 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 May! Competitions & Opportunities 2022 Bristol Short Story Award Deadline: 4th May 2022 The 2022 Bristol Short Story Prize is open for entries. The competition is open to all writers around the world whether published or unpublished, UK or non-UK based. The closing date for entries is midnight (BST) May 4th, 2022. 20 stories will be shortlisted and published in Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 15. The winner and 2 runners up will be selected from the shortlist and announced at an awards ceremony in October 2022. 1st prize is £1,000, 2nd prize is £500, 3rd prize is £250. 17 further prizes of £100... Read Moreread more.


Duo Awardees 2022

IWC Mentor/Member Duo Programme 2022 Awardees

May 3, 2022 3:33 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

We’re delighted to announce the awardees of our IWC Mentor/Member Duo Programme 2022. The second round of our One-to-One Mentoring and Membership Combined Programme with writers from diverse backgrounds in mind, kindly supported by Dublin City Council. The ten selected writers are Shane Murphy, Jacob Clarke, Eileen Stelter, Patrick Osborne, Aileen Malone, Grace Banks, A.F., Mahito Indi Henderson, Brendan Shanahan, and Jennifer Wilson O’Raghallaigh. They will avail of one year of Irish Writers Centre membership, and one 90 minute mentoring session through our One-to-One Mentoring Programme, with a professional writer of their choice. Shane Murphy was born in 1999 in Dublin. He holds an honours degree in English Studies from Trinity College Dublin where he is currently studying Modern and Contemporary Literature. He won the 2022 New Writing Prize at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature. His first short story... Read Moreread more.


Cuirt YWDs

Our Young Writer Delegates look back on Cúirt 2022

April 20, 2022 1:56 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

Earlier this month, writers, readers and book-lovers from far and wide travelled to Galway for the Cúirt International Festival of Literature 2022, and the much anticipated return of in-person events. From 4-10 April, attendees were treated to a week full of readings, conversations, film screenings, walking tours, events and special guests, which showcased new voices, diverse writing, Irish and international writing talent. Among the attendees were our IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegates, William Keohane, Rere Ukponu, Hannah Gallagher, Luca Melis and Ella Gaynor. Here is what they thought of the experience. Unsettled: Rosaleen McDonagh Review by Rere Ukponu There have been many times where I’ve wanted to disappear, wanted to fit in so well that I faded into the wallpaper. However, during this engaging, poignant and frankly hilarious conversation between icon, author, activist (though she might not call herself one) and... Read Moreread more.


April Opps

Opportunities & Competitions: April 2022

April 6, 2022 3:11 pm Published by Comments Off on Opportunities & Competitions: April 2022

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 April! Competitions & Opportunities Winter Papers Deadline: Friday 8th April We will be accept­ing sub­mis­sions dur­ing the period April 4th 2022 — April 8th 2022. Please note that we are not cur­rently accept­ing poetry submissions. Sub­mis­sion guid­ance for short sto­ries and non-​fiction pieces. Your piece must be pre­vi­ously unpublished. The max­i­mum word limit is 5,000 words. Please sub­mit only one piece of work. Please with­draw your piece if it is accepted elsewhere. Michel Déon Non-Fiction Prize Deadline : Friday 12th April The 2022 Michel Déon non-fiction prize, will reward the best work of non-fiction in the English or Irish languages, by a single author, published since... Read Moreread more.


Around the Island

What’s Happening Around the Island

April 6, 2022 12:40 pm Published by Comments Off on What’s Happening Around the Island

Some of the events and announcements taking place across the country: Cúirt Festival are 3 days in to a jam packed festival schedule. Last night, Cúirt launched Breaking Ground Ireland, a landmark project showcasing and celebrating 80 writers and illustrators from ethnic minority backgrounds, including Irish Traveller writers, from the island of Ireland. The Irish Writers Centre will partner with Cúirt on a new programme called Foundation, which will be open to contributors to Breaking Ground Ireland.   IWC Deputy Director Teerth Chungh joined a panel at the Kilkenny Arts Office Wednesday Weeklies on 6 April 2022. The panel offered audiences the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the Arts Council, Poetry Ireland and the Irish Writers Centre, offering an insight into the role they play in supporting writers in Ireland.read more.


EP Interview Week 3

Evolution: An Interview with Máire T. Robinson, Arnold Thomas Fanning, Deirdre Cartmill & Helen Blackhurst

March 23, 2022 2:41 pm Published by Comments Off on Evolution: An Interview with Máire T. Robinson, Arnold Thomas Fanning, Deirdre Cartmill & Helen Blackhurst

Our Evolution Programme is currently ongoing with a suite of bespoke professional development supports for selected writers. In the last few weeks, we have been sharing interviews with our current writers with discussions on writing, professional development, and more. Previously we interviewed Liz Quirke, Olivia Fitzsimons and Melatu-Uche Okorie, Sheila Armstrong and Maeve Galvin. This week we sat down with Máire T. Robinson, Arnold Thomas Fanning, Deirdre Cartmill and Helen Blackhurst. 1. What are you reading at the moment? Máire: I’ve just finished Deirdre Sullivan’s Savage Her Reply. It’s a reimagining of The Children of Lir from the point of view of Aoife. I love Deirdre’s writing and admired the scope and inventiveness of her take on the classic myth. Next on my reading list is the short story collection Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda (translated by Polly... Read Moreread more.


photo of hands and a cup of coffee across a table

The Irish Writers Centre announces migration of the National Mentoring Programme

March 21, 2022 4:35 pm Published by Comments Off on The Irish Writers Centre announces migration of the National Mentoring Programme

The Irish Writers Centre is pleased to announce it is taking on the stewardship of the National Mentoring Programme for literature after five successful years under Words Ireland management. The seven literature organisations in the Words Ireland collective agreed the Irish Writers Centre was best suited to develop this initiative into the future. Valiere Bistany, Director of the IWC, says: ‘Mentorship, formal or informal, has allowed professional writers to hand on their craft and experience to the next generation. I believe it to be a highly effective intervention for a writer to grow in confidence and in their writing craft. The National Mentoring Programme has formalised that process, ensuring professional writers get paid for their work, and that new, emerging and early career writers learn from the best Irish writers today. NMP is a major initiative in the literary landscape... Read Moreread more.


Introducing our 2022 IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegates

March 22, 2022 2:57 pm Published by Comments Off on Introducing our 2022 IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegates

We are happy to announce that the 2022 IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegates are William Keohane, Rere Ukponu, Hannah Gallagher, Luca Melis and Ella Gaynor. Their local writer mentor for the festival period will be acclaimed novelist Lisa McInerney.  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 Cúirt social media channels. The full festival programme is now also available to view over on the festival website.  William Keohane is a writer from Limerick. In 2021, he was shortlisted for the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award, received a Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland, and was one of... Read Moreread more.


March 2022 Opportunities

Opportunities & Competitions: March 2022

March 1, 2022 12:01 pm Published by Comments Off on Opportunities & Competitions: March 2022

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 March! The Rialto: Nature & Place Competition Deadline: 1st March The Rialto working in association with the RSPB, BirdLife International, Cambridge Conservation Initiative and The University of Leeds Poetry Centre. Poems are invited that deal with any aspect of nature and place – these terms will be given a wide interpretation by the judge Gillian Clarke. Closing Date March 1st 2022. 1st prize – £1000, 2nd prize – £500, 3rd prize – £250. Poetry Ireland Introductions 2022 Deadline: 1st March  Applications are now open for Poetry Ireland Introductions 2022, which will offer poets in the early stages of their careers the opportunity... Read Moreread more.


Gabrielle Fullam, Prin Okonkwo and Rafael Mendes headshots

The Irish Writers Centre and Words of Colour Productions announce the awardees of UpLift, an international leadership initiative for 18-30 year olds

February 23, 2022 2:34 pm Published by Comments Off on The Irish Writers Centre and Words of Colour Productions announce the awardees of UpLift, an international leadership initiative for 18-30 year olds

UpLift, a new pilot programme which aims to foster the leadership ambitions of aspiring professionals of colour in the literature sector across Ireland and the UK, is a collaboration between the Irish Writers Centre and Words of Colour Productions. The programme seeks to help young literature professionals of colour to thrive within the sector, by encouraging connections among the awardees and facilitating development of their writing through guidance from seasoned industry professionals. Three candidates based in Ireland have been selected to receive mentoring and workshops from established industry professionals. They are: Gabrielle Fullam, Prin Okonkwo and Rafael Mendes. Gabrielle Fullam is an Irish-Punjabi writer, theatre-maker and activist from Lucan. She is current editor of Icarus and Trinity Gender Minority Review. She is currently a Philosophy and Sociology student in Trinity College, and has conducted qualitative mixed-race research in Trinity College... Read Moreread more.


Maeve Galvin and Sheila Armstrong headshots

Evolution: An Interview with Sheila Armstrong and Maeve Galvin

February 18, 2022 12:09 pm Published by Comments Off on Evolution: An Interview with Sheila Armstrong and Maeve Galvin

Our Evolution Programme is currently ongoing with a suite of bespoke professional development supports for selected writers Arnold Thomas Fanning, Deirdre Cartmill, Kevin Curran, Maeve Galvin, Máire T. Robinson, Melatu-Uche Okorie, Michelle Gallen, Liz Quirke, Olivia Fitzsimons, Sheila Armstrong, Sue Divin and Helen Blackhurst. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing interviews with our Evolution writers with discussions on writing, professional development, and more. Last week, we interviewed Liz Quirke, Olivia Fitzsimons and Melatu-Uche Okorie, and this week we sat down with Sheila Armstrong and Maeve Galvin. 1. What type of writing do you specialise in? Fiction, poetry, memoir etc. OR Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on at the moment? Maeve: I write contemporary fiction. My work usually focuses on particular societies or groups of people and how they function, how they change... Read Moreread more.


IWC/Cúirt YWD Programme 2022

IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegate Programme 2022

February 16, 2022 12:03 pm Published by Comments Off on IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegate Programme 2022

We invite ambitious young writers aged 18-26 to apply for this extraordinary opportunity to attend and contribute to Cúirt as IWC/Cúirt Young Writer Delegates. In 2022, the Irish Writers Centre will launch a new 5 year strategy. For over 30 years the IWC has acknowledged and uplifted those with the courage and compulsion to write by providing opportunities for them to develop their skill, advance their ambitions and join a vibrant and diverse community of people who share their passion and purpose. At the Irish Writers Centre, we seek to enhance opportunities for people across all communities to explore and participate in creative writing. Now in its fifth year, the IWC Young Writer Delegates Programme is intended to give young writers an opportunity to immerse themselves in a literature festival, soak up the atmosphere and to contribute to it as active participants. The... Read Moreread more.


Evolution: An Interview with Olivia Fitzsimons, Melatu-Uche Okorie and Liz Quirke

February 4, 2022 4:16 pm Published by Comments Off on Evolution: An Interview with Olivia Fitzsimons, Melatu-Uche Okorie and Liz Quirke

What are you reading at the moment? Liz: Seamus Heaney’s translation of Aeneid VI; When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through – A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry edited by Joy Harjo; C+nto & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor; View With A Grain of Sand Selected Poems by Wislawa Szymborska; A God at the Door by Tishani Doshi. Olivia: I’ve normally a few books on the go but it’s been a slow reading month as everyone in my family apart from me has had Covid. Pre-plague house I inhaled Ghost Wall, by Sarah Moss; I’m a newly devoted fan buying everything she’s ever written. I’m currently reading and loving The Raptures by Jan Carson. Jan’s writing is sublime, I find her sentences transport me to a home reimagined. Her latest is incredible. I read some... Read Moreread more.