Author Archives for IWC_admin

Novel Fair: an opportunity worth travelling 5,000 kms for!

August 23, 2016 9:26 am Published by Leave your thoughts

We spoke to Mairéad Rooney—all the way from Canada—to get some inside tips on applying for Novel Fair! A two-time Novel Fair winner Mairéad chatted about her writing process and whether her experience of the Fair changed the second time around.  Tell us about when you first came across the Novel Fair… In 2012 I had just finished my novel and had reached the what-next moment. So I submitted to the 2012 Novel Fair and a few literary agents. But there were no bites. As it turned out the manuscript was not ready and the only thing to do was edit. I spent a year reworking the words and then submitted to the 2013 Novel Fair. That time I was lucky and got the call. What was your writing process/routine for the first Fair? At the time I was writing first thing... Read Moreread more.


IWC Writers-in-Residence announced – Florence & Cill Rialaig 2016

July 13, 2016 6:53 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

We are delighted to reveal the lucky recipients of our Florence and Cill Rialaig residencies: Paula McGrath will have the honour of residing in St Mark’s Church, Florence for one week this October and Louise C. Callaghan, Kate Kavanagh, Martin Malone, Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Nessa O’Mahony, Sydney Weinberg and Adam Wyeth will be heading to Co. Kerry this autumn as well. Congratulations to these eight writers and we’re sure they’ll have a fruitful time! If you missed the deadlines for the above, fear not… the Jack Harte Bursary at Annaghmakerrig, a two-week fully resourced Writer-in-Residence Bursary, is once again open for applications. Click here to read more about the Jack Harte Bursary.             read more.


Leland Bardwell leaves a legacy of generous commitment to the arts

July 2, 2016 12:33 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

This week the sad news reached us of the death of Leland Bardwell. She was 94 and died in Sligo where she had made her home for many years. From her birth in India in 1922, Leland enjoyed a colourful life with a rich and varied writing career. Her work included five novels, five collections of poems, a collection of short stories, as well as a memoir, and several plays. Apart from her accomplished body of work, Leland also leaves a legacy of generous commitment to the arts, having been one of the founding editors of Cyphers. She was also involved in the founding of the Irish Writers’ Co-op, and the Scriobh literary festival in Sligo. We in the Centre recall with great fondness her participation in our Peregrine Readings in 2011 – despite her age she was not fazed... Read Moreread more.


The UL/Frank McCourt Summer School in Creative Writing

April 27, 2016 3:21 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

University of Limerick Launch New York Summer School in Creative Writing in honour of Frank McCourt We are so pleased to be partnering this July with Glucksman Ireland House NYU and the Creative Writing faculty at the University of Limerick, along with the generous sponsorship of the Shannon Airport Authority, to offer a Summer School in New York in honour of the late Frank McCourt. The UL/Frank McCourt Summer School in Creative Writing will take place in New York from 7–10 July inclusive. The Summer School will be led by the renowned novelist and Frank McCourt Chair of Creative Writing Professor Joseph O’Connor. The Summer School will feature the talents of University of Limerick faculty including Joseph O’Connor, Donal Ryan, Giles Foden, Mary O’Malley, Sarah Moore-Fitzgerald and Eoin Devereux. In addition to creative writing workshops and lectures, the Summer School will... Read Moreread more.


A Poet’s Rising live event

April 5, 2016 11:44 am Published by Leave your thoughts

at the Irish Writers Centre, 31 March 2016  Catherine Dunne      ‘When I think of all the false beginnings… The man was a pair of hands, the woman another pair, to be had more cheaply, the wind blew, the children were thirsty – ’ Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s poem ‘For James Connolly’ was the first to be recited to a spellbound audience at the Irish Writers Centre in Parnell Square, Dublin, last Thursday night. I found these opening lines deeply moving – they brought me right back to when I was ten or eleven and read my first adult biography. It was a portrait of James Connolly, one that concentrated on the family man, the deeply compassionate human being whose sense of fairness and decency was outraged by the appalling poverty in which the ‘common man’ – and woman and child... Read Moreread more.


I Am Dublin: For the birds by Gavin Corbett

April 7, 2016 9:30 am Published by Leave your thoughts

Our flash fiction competition ‘I am Dublin’ during the Five Lamps Festival showcased emerging writers and established writers including Gavin Corbett & Paula McGrath. We have shared the winning entries on our blog and are delighted to be able to share the stories of Paula and Gavin with you as well. Below is Gavin’s story.         For the birds Gavin Corbett I’m a romantic, I suppose. I like the shine of the granite and I like the stories. I like BTs’ bed linen for the softness, that’s my indulgence, and I like that I’ll never see the inside of Fitzwilliam Square. I’m a Dublin man. I used to believe that one day Maura’s ring would turn up. Every little squit of doo-doo I’d look for that diamond. The other week, even, in Marks’s rooftop café, I was sitting there with my coffee... Read Moreread more.


I Am Dublin by Paula McGrath

April 5, 2016 9:30 am Published by Leave your thoughts

During the Five Lamps Festival the Irish Writers Centre hosted a flash fiction competition ‘I am Dublin’ which showcased emerging writers along with some established writers including Paula McGrath and Gavin Corbett. We have shared the winning entries on our blog and are delighted to be able to share the stories of Paula and Gavin with you as well. Below is Paula’s story.       I Am Dublin Paula McGrath From up here, says the bird, it is a city like any other, concrete brick machines glass, a river, a port. And look, over there, on the crest of the bridge, a boy. From up here, says the boy, it is a port like any other, filled with ships containers warehouses cranes. But it is not any other, it is Dublin. This bridge is Samuel Beckett, and the grey... Read Moreread more.


I Am Dublin: The Last Gig by Fionnuala O’Connor

March 31, 2016 8:30 am Published by Leave your thoughts

  Our final winning entry for the I Am Dublin flash fiction competition was submitted by Fionnuala O’Connor. She has been writing short stories since the 1980s albeit with a gap of about fifteen years. She was born in Dublin and has lived there most of her life, moving in 2004 to Bray. The Last Gig Fionnuala O’Connor   Dermot takes his saxophone out of its case. It is as beautiful as ever. He hasn’t played for  a year, since before he came here. He puts it to his lips . This audience looks unresponsive, slumped in their seats, and some asleep even. He’s played a fair few weddings in his time where half the guests were comatose before the band came on. The South City Jazz Band it was called. Originally Jimmy wanted “The Jimmy Devlin Jazz Quintet” but that... Read Moreread more.


I Am Dublin: Killing JB by Laurence Keogh

March 29, 2016 9:01 am Published by Leave your thoughts

     The recent I am Dublin Flash Fiction Competition was a great success with wonderful talent being showcased. In our third instalment of winning entries you can read Laurence Keogh’s entry Killing JB below. Laurence Keogh has lived in Dublin most of his life and is fascinated by its history. He works in marketing and the last book he read was The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. Killing JB Laurence Keogh On an afternoon in spring, I saw John Banville coming out of the Mark’s and Spenser’s on Liffey Street. I am a great admirer of his work. I followed him down the street. I didn’t do this with the intention of killing him. Not straight away, in any case. I planned to work up to that, having first allayed his suspicions by means of some literary conversation.         He  wasn’t... Read Moreread more.


I Am Dublin: Joy by Sinead Flynn

March 24, 2016 11:00 am Published by Leave your thoughts

In the second post of our showcase of the I am Dublin Flash Fiction Competition winners we have the pleasure of reading Sinead Flynn’s winning entry. From County Meath, Sinéad has enjoyed living in Phibsborough for the past few years. She teaches singing, drama and English language to a variety of wonderful people. Apart from writing Sinéad loves mythology and animals – especially dogs. Joy Sinead Flynn Mick surveyed the anxious faces of his three children with the most disapproving grimace he could muster. ‘Lads I’m very disappointed in ye.’ Katie and Shane lowered their heads while Keith stared wide eyed at the two guards standing to his left. ‘How many times have I said Mrs O’Reilly’s garden is out of bounds for ye and that bloody dog? Look at the trouble you’ve caused…’ ‘But Da we didn’t kick the ball in on... Read Moreread more.


Compass Lines: Days by Karl Whitney & Philip Terry

March 21, 2016 4:52 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

Compass Lines is a writers’ exchange project aiming to establish links between writers and communities in the North and South of Ireland, while additionally examining relationships between the East and West of these islands, through workshops, public discussions, and the commissioning of new collaborative writing. Compass Lines aims to encourage artistic fusion and integrate a sometimes fragmented audience, geographically and otherwise, through the strategy of combining writers with various concerns and backgrounds. Eschewing their comfort zones and usual patterns of working presents a diversion and a challenge to the writers, and a way of instigating discussions about ideas of process and place that reside in contemporary writing and which are often ignored through traditional views of literature. Developed by poet, editor and curator Christodoulos Makris in collaboration with the Irish Writers Centre as producing organisation, and with the participation of... Read Moreread more.


I Am Dublin: Liffey. If He. Dares by Louise Cole

March 22, 2016 12:11 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

   Following the success of our recent showcase of the I am Dublin Flash Fiction Competition with Five Lamps Festival we will be posting each of the four winning entries here for the enjoyment of all.  Entrants were encouraged to channel their inner Anna Livia Plurabelle and to seek inspiration in the charm of our fair city – cracks and all. Our first author is Louise G. Cole, she  performs at the Word Corner Café in the Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon, and at pop up shows in the West with the Hermit Collective. She also blogs about writing. Read her winning entry below. Liffey. If He. Dares. Louise Cole I make him tremble. The thought of me: I have causality. He is drawn to me. Torn. More than a tremor.  A convulsive shudder and shake. Rock and roll. Slips and slides. Wants to hide. Looks up... Read Moreread more.


Launch of Wicklow Literature Programme with Words Ireland

February 17, 2016 4:10 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

Mermaid Arts Centre Thursday 25 February, 2016 at 6pm   Words Ireland is delighted to announce the development of a new literature programme in partnership with Wicklow County Arts Office and supported by the Wicklow Library Service.This programme will involve readings, public events, mentoring schemes, workshops and masterclasses with some of Ireland’s leading writers, poets and illustrators.  It will be launched at Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray on Thursday 25 February at 6pm with guest speakers Michael Nicholson and John Ryan, both of Wicklow County Council (scroll down for full invite details).  Wicklow is home to a wealth of writing talent and this programme will seek to celebrate those who are established, while nurturing the next generation. Wicklow enjoys an extremely rich literary heritage and has inspired celebrated writers such as WB Yeats, Derek Walcott, Mary Lavin and Seamus Heaney, to mention... Read Moreread more.


Announcing the recipients of the IWC / Anam Cara bursaries

February 17, 2016 11:45 am Published by Leave your thoughts

The Irish Writers Centre and Anam Cara Writer’s & Artist’s Retreat are delighted to announce that Réaltán Ní Leannáin and Simon Ó Faoláin are the recipients of two one-week residencies to take place later this year.  These residencies will afford the two writers time and space to complete their current creative projects which are being written in the Irish language.  The recipients were selected by a panel comprising writers Anna Heussaff and Jack Harte, and Valerie Bistany of the Irish Writers Centre. Jack Harte commented on the residencies by saying:  ‘A week in Anam Cara is a huge boost to any writer, and the affirmation that it implies is hugely important too.’ We would also like to thank Sue Booth-Forbes of Anam Cara for her generous patronage of these two writers and wish them an enjoyable and – most importantly – creative stay!           read more.