Author Archives for IWC_admin

The Novel Fair Reject’s Tale

October 17, 2016 2:48 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

As the Novel Fair deadline approaches (21 October 2016), we went back through our winners’ stories and were reminded of the old adage, ‘if at first you don’t succeed…’ This week we hear from Aidan J. Herron and how he went from Novel Fair longlistee to sitting across from publishers and agents just two years later…  There was no going back once I dropped my entry into the postbox. I was committed. Writing for educational purposes, familiar territory to me, was one thing. Entering an open competition like the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2013 was quite another. I had never submitted my work to anybody for comment before nor was I part of a writers’ group so I had no idea of what others would think of it. But I believed in my story. And I also had some... Read Moreread more.

The Devilry of a Writer’s Workshop

October 12, 2016 2:18 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

June Caldwell, our Online Writer-in-Residence this autumn, gives a fly-on-the-wall account of what it’s like to take part in writing workshops – and why she keeps going back for more… People sometimes ask why I still bother with writing workshops. You get the: ‘But you’ve been published in journals, you’re on all these shortlists, you seem to know what you’re doing?’ Knowing it’s all a bit excruciating, obsessional, frustrating, maddening…that dealing with loneliness is a big part of being a writer. Not being sure if any of it is any good anyway: mollycoddling your own unmovable masochism. Yet there is something really peculiar that happens your own writing when you’re surrounded by people pushing the boundaries with theirs. It’s contagious and corrupting; reading the crushed muffle of someone else’s secrets, their desires, their strange reveries, their intuitions, their truth. How others in the room perceive those words differently on the page/screen, how the tutor feels it could or should work better. What... Read Moreread more.

Novel Fair: Walking on Eggshells

October 6, 2016 7:36 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

The deadline for Novel Fair 2017 is a mere two weeks away. With that in mind Catriona Lally reflects on her experiences of the Fair and how her novel Eggshells developed as a result of this. It was at a launch at the Irish Writers Centre and I just happened to see a poster for the Novel Fair. I looked it up and thought that it would be a brilliant deadline; a novel can be the kind of thing that just sits on your computer for years. I really need some kind of structure and deadline to get anything done, so aiming for October and then for February to have it finished was fantastic.  Mid-October is the deadline to submit the novel and you then have three months to complete it so that you’re ready for the Fair in February.... Read Moreread more.

Announcing our inaugural Online Writer-in-Residence

October 4, 2016 2:39 pm Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

We’re delighted that June Caldwell will be our inaugural Online Writer-in-Residence. Stay tuned for updates from her in the coming months. In the meantime she was in the Centre recently so we took the opportunity to chat with her about the moral elements of writing for Humans of No. 19.  ‘For years I thought I chose the wrong path because I was never happy with journalism, I hated it. Now I look back and I think that was really great grounding for my writing. To me creative writing is a moral form, it’s a way to look at the connection between human behaviour, events and how we perceive things. That’s what is so interesting about creative writing compared to journalism; you’re limited by what you can do in journalism, you’re only writing the facts but with creative writing you can take... Read Moreread more.

Humans of No. 19 – June Caldwell

September 15, 2016 10:11 am Published by IWC_admin Leave your thoughts

June Caldwell was in the Centre this week so we took the opportunity to chat with her about the moral elements of writing. #humansofno19 #writersofinstagram #irishwriterscentre June is our inaugural Online Writer-in-Residence so stay tuned for more from her. And, we’re thrilled to announce the exciting news that June has just signed with New Island for a short story collection, due 2017. Whoop!   ‘For years I thought I chose the wrong path because I was never happy with journalism, I hated it. Now I look back and I think that was really great grounding for my writing. To me creative writing is a moral form, it’s a way to look at the connection between human behaviour, events and how we perceive things. That’s what is so interesting about creative writing compared to journalism; you’re limited by what you can do... Read Moreread more.

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

August 23, 2016 9:26 am Published by IWC_admin 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 IWC_admin 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.

The UL/Frank McCourt Summer School in Creative Writing

April 27, 2016 3:21 pm Published by IWC_admin 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 IWC_admin 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 IWC_admin 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 IWC_admin 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.