29 April, 2025
Opportunities for Writers: May 2025
Check out the current opportunities available for writers. See a list below of May/June deadlines for submissions, competitions, bursaries, residencies and other opportunities. For the full list of opportunities, check out: Competitions, submissions and other opportunities and Bursaries and funding
Submissions
Deadline: 30th April 2025
The Pig’s Back
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 journal that aims to bring the rest of Ireland – and in turn, the world – to the northwest. Founded by the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny, it publishes short fiction and essays.
Accepted forms: The Pig’s Back seeks submissions of previously unpublished fiction and non-fiction. They accept work from anywhere in the world but currently can only accept English language pieces. They do not accept poetry.
Contributor payment: All contributors will receive a flat fee of €300. They will also receive two copies of the issue in which their work features.
More Information here:
Deadline: 30th April 2025
Faerie Press: Anthology for Teens and Young Adults
Faeire Press – Ireland’s first LGBTQ+ children’s publishing house – is currently seeking submissions for its second annual anthology. Young people aged 16-25 who are resident on the island of Ireland or the United Kingdom are invited to submit poems and prose up to 2,500 words in length.
Accepted forms: Poetry and short stories on the theme of ‘dreams’.
Entry fee: None.
Contributor fee: None.
More Information here:
Deadline: 30 April 2025
The Wild Umbrella
The Wild Umbrella is a new, ambitious new literary journal, eager to publish compelling prose and poetry from Ireland and around the world. They are currently seeking submissions of fiction, non-fiction and poetry for inclusion in their second online issue.
Accepted forms: Fiction, non-fiction, poetry.
Entry fee: None.
Contributor payment: €10 per poem and €25 per story or essay.
More Information here:
Deadline: 15 May 2025
The Stinging Fly: Climate Crisis Focus in Issue 53
Climate-themed fiction and poetry will be welcomed through the the Stinging Fly’s Submittable portal from May 1 to May 15 2025. The link to the submission form will be made available on their main submission page during this two-week period.
Accepted forms: Fiction and poetry.
Contributor payment rate: Fiction and non-fiction: €45 per magazine page, with a minimum/maximum payment of €325/€1200. Flash Fiction/shorter essays (1 – 2 pages): €150. Poetry: €45 per magazine page, with a minimum payment of €70 per poem.
More Information here:
Deadline: 2 June 2025
The Stony Thursday Book – 50th Anniversary Edition
The Stony Thursday Book is seeking submissions from local, national and international poets for its next issue, to be published in Autumn/Winter 2025. This year’s editors will be founding poets John Liddy and Jim Burke, to mark 50 years since the founding of the book. Writers are invited to submit up to three poems either in .doc or .pdf format. All work must be previously unpublished. Texts in other languages are welcome, and if poets wish to send an accompanying English translation they may.
Accepted forms: Poetry.
Entry fee: None.
Contributor’s fee: None.
More Information here:
Competitions
Deadline: 23rd May 2025
RTÉ Short Story Competition
The 2025 RTÉ Short Story Competition in honour of Francis MacManus, one of Ireland’s longest established and most significant literary prizes, is now open for entries.
Writers over the age of 18 living in Ireland, and Irish writers around the world are invited to submit their short story to the competition; this year, Tristan Rosenstock and Jan Carson join returning judge Neil Hegarty on the panel. The literary prize, set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus, recognises and rewards the best new Irish fiction writing for radio.
Prize: 1st prize €5,000.
Entry fee: None.
More Information here:
Deadline: 30 April 2025
Oxford / 42 New Writing Prize
The Faculty of English at the University of Oxford is delighted to announce the launch of a multi-disciplinary storytelling competition in conjunction with management and production company, 42. The Oxford/42 New Writing Prize is looking for talented new voices in storytelling. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 living, working or studying in the UK and Ireland at the closing date for submissions.
Accepted forms: Aspiring novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters.
Prize: £1500 along with professional representation by 42.
More Information here:
Deadline: 6 June 2025
Write By The Sea Writing Competition 2025
Write By The Sea Festival is currently accepting entries to its annual writing competition. Writers can apply in any one of four categories (fiction, flash fiction, poetry and non-fiction/memoir), with a cash prize of €500 and a free weekend pass to the Write By The Sea Festival 2025 available in each. See the festival’s website for full details.
Accepted forms: Short Story: max. 2,500 words; Flash Fiction: max. 700 words; Poetry: max. 40 lines; Personal Essay/ Memoir: max. 1,000 words.
Prize: The winner of each category will receive a cash prize of €500 and a free weekend pass to the Write By The Sea Festival 2025.
Entry fee: Entrants can submit as many entries as they wish at €10 per entry, or enter 3 pieces, in the same or different genres, for €25.
More Information here:
Residencies
Deadline: 4th May 2025
Writer in Residence, Department of English, Maynooth University
Established writers are invited to apply for a Writer-in-Residence position, co-funded by Maynooth University and Kildare Library and Arts Services.
The residency will run from 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2026, with duties expected to average approximately six hours per week contact time (with students and the wider public).
Writers-in-Residence at Maynooth University have included Catherine Prasifka, Fíona Scarlett, Paul Lynch, Christodoulos Makris, Eoin McNamee, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Sue Rainsford, Susan Tomaselli, and Joanna Walsh.
More Information here:
Deadline: 16 May 2025
Greywood Arts Family Residency
The Greywood Arts Family Residency is a new residency scheme designed to support parenting artists located at Greywood Arts Creative Hub in Killeagh, Co. Cork. Two artists and their families will be awarded studio space, accommodation, and one place on Greywood’s summer art camp from 20 – 27 July, 2025. Families will be offered up to two bedrooms plus studio space appropriate to their discipline (literary, visual art, performing arts).
See Greywood’s website for full details.
More Information here:
Deadline: 19th May 2025
Birr Writers’ Residency Award 2025
The Birr Writers’ Residency will offer professional writers’ accommodation and workspaces for five nights at Brendan House in the centre of Birr, County Offaly.
The purpose of the residency is to provide an opportunity for artists to focus on a writing project (current or new) in a tranquil environment which supports and values high professional artistic development.
Accepted forms: Professional writers working in any genre, e.g. literary fiction, poetry, playwrights, journalism, travel writing, etc.
Award: Five night residency in Birr, County Offaly.
More Information here:
Deadline: 15 August 2025
Tyrone Guthrie Centre Bursary Awards for Children’s Books Artists in 2025
Children’s Books Ireland and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre are pleased to announce an opportunity for Irish Children’s books artists and illustrators to avail of a week-long residency, to take place between 3rd and 10th November and 17th and 24th November 2025
- One bursary is on offer to support an upcoming, unpublished, aspiring Irish children’s author
- One bursary is on offer to support an emerging artist, published but in their early career
- One bursary is on offer to support a children’s artist published in the Irish language, at any stage in their career
- The additional bursaries are on offer to support mid-career artists
More Information here:
Bursaries
Arts Council Bursary Award Round 2
The Bursary Award supports individual artists to develop their artistic practice. It focuses on providing artists with the time and resources they need to think, research, reflect, and deeply engage with their artistic practice. Applications open on Tuesday 20 May 2025.
Maximum award: €20,000
Applications close con Thursday 19 June 2025 at 5.30pm.
The Irish Writers Centre is the leading support and development organisation for writers in Ireland. Each year, we runs up to 20 free and exciting programmes to support writers’ development. Carrying out it’s work on an all-island basis, the Irish Writers Centre offers a range of support schemes, residencies, and other support programmes. View more opportunities for writers here.
Join our mailing list to receive bi-monthly updates straight to your inbox. We will keep you informed of what’s on at the Centre, including the current opportunities we have for writers, our events, the latest creative writing courses, resources for writers at all stages, and other news you’ll want to know.
Please get in touch with Communications Officer Jo Morton at communications@irishwriterscentre.ie if your organisation has a competition, submission, residency, bursary or funding opportunity for writers that you would like us to include in our monthly round-up blog post.
