Wonderful opportunity to be part of a day long workshop with the former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.

• Tuesday 11 August, 10.00am

• Heritage Council Garden, Kilkenny

• Tickets: Free, by application

• www.kilkennyarts.ie

In this workshop for poets, Robert Pinsky hopes to find examples of the relation between sound and imagination, discovery and purpose — some of the quick, intuitive processes of poetry.

Participation is by application. Anyone wishing to take part in the workshop should submit up to 4 poems for consideration together with a brief note outlining previous publication details (if any) to management@poetryireland.ie. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 8 July, 5pm. Successful applicants will be contacted by 13 July. Places are strictly limited.

This event is brought to you by Poetry Ireland and Kilkenny Arts Festival.

TESTY

2016 competition now open for submissions! Deadline 31 July.

This year’s judge is Danielle McLaughlin

First Prize: €2,000

(approx $2153/£1431 in April 2015), publication in the literary journal Southword, AND a week-long residency at Anam Cara Writer’s and Artist’s Retreat.

Second Prize: €500 and publication in Southword.

Four more shortlisted entries will be selected for publication
in Southword and receive a publication fee of €120.

The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition is an annual short story competition open to writers from around the world, submissions accepted from May to July annually. It is dedicated to one of Ireland’s most accomplished story writers and theorists, sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre.

Anam Cara Writer’s and Artist’s Retreat www.anamcararetreat.com is again awarding a week-long residency to the first prize winner of the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition. Located just outside the colourful village of Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, Anam Cara is a tranquil spot structured to provide support and sanctuary for people working in the creative arts. It offers private and common working rooms as well as five acres of walking paths, thirty-four nooks and crannies, a river cascades and a river island, gardens, and a labyrinth meadow. Editoral consultation is also available. The prize is valued at €700. (The dates of the residency will be arranged between the writer themselves and Anam Cara, and can be scheduled before or after the week of the Cork International Short Story Festival. Otherwise, the week can be scheduled for another time of the year, at Anam Cara’s discretion.)

More about the 2016 Judge Danielle McLaughlin

Danielle McLaughlin lives in County Cork. Her stories have appeared in The Stinging Fly, Southword, Long Story, Short, The Irish Times, Boyne Berries, Crannóg, The Burning Bush 2, Inktears, and Hollybough. They have also been published in various anthologies, most recently Willesden Herald New Short Stories 7 (2013), The Salt Anthology of New Writing 2013, Scraps – the NFFD Anthology 2013 and have been broadcast on RTE Radio. She has won a number of prizes for short fiction including the Writing Spirit Award for Fiction 2010, the From the Well Short Story Competition 2012, the William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition 2012, The Willesden Herald Short Story Competition 2012 – 2013, the Merriman Short Story Competition in memory of Maeve Binchy, and the Dromineer Literary Festival Short Story Competition 2013. She was awarded an Arts Council Bursary in 2013. Her début collection is forthcoming from The Stinging Fly.

Read her story ‘The Dinosaurs on Other Planets’ in The New Yorker

New Yorker interview with Danielle McLaughlin

To enter, go along to the Munster Literature Centre website.

Dalkey Book Festival, described by Salman Rushdie as “the best little festival in the world”, takes place every year in June. It was set up by Sian Smyth and David McWilliams in 2010. Since then the festival has hosted internationally renowned writers, including Booker Prize winners, a Nobel Laureate, Impac winners, Oscar winners and Tony award nominees.

Dalkey, “the most beautiful little seaside town on earth”, has a rich literary heritage. The birthplace of George Bernard Shaw, schoolhouse of James Joyce and playground to Samuel Beckett and Flann O’Brien, Dalkey is also home to the likes of Joseph O’Connor, Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan. It’s the perfect spot for a literary festival of books and ideas.

The charm of this festival is undoubtedly the intimate nature of the numerous events, which take place in pubs, cafes, shops, schools and the local town hall as well as the medieval graveyard , the secret garden marquee and the Masonic Lodge. Dalkey is the kind of place where you will casually bump into some of the world’s greatest writers, in the parks, pubs and cafes of this compact town.

To see what the festival has in store visit the site: http://www.dalkeybookfestival.org

 

The Belfast Book Festival returns this year from the 8-14 June.   After the rip-roaring success of the 2011 – 2014 editions, the aim of this Belfast Book Festival is to bring to life all the energy and passion that Belfast has for books and writers.

There is nothing as enjoyable as a good read and nothing so uplifting and joyful as finding a book or a writer that you love.
It can be anything, the darkest crime novel or a historical romp, a guide to the Appalachian foothills or the poetry of Fermanagh: you can love a book for any reason.

The Festival is based at the Crescent Arts Centre, with events happening across the city in a variety of venues.

Full details of the Festival are here http://www.belfastbookfestival.com

The Festival of Writing & Ideas has been extended to incorporate the History Festival of Ireland. The weekend 5th-7th June 2015 will once again be one of stimulating dialogue and discussion, gathering together intriguing international minds – historians, novelists, journalists, film-makers, poets, theatre directors, war correspondents, biographers, artists and political commentators.

The Festival of Writing & Ideas has become known for its casual, friendly atmosphere, and for its extraordinary line up of speakers. It takes place within the magical surroundings of Borris House, the seat of the High Kings of Leinster, situated at the foot of the Blackstairs Mountains with the River Barrow meandering by. Spilling out into pubs and halls of this idyllic village, Borris is an event that the curious find inspiring.

This year they welcome Ian McEwan, David Gilmour, Antony Beevor, Anne Enright,Kevin Barry, Rob Doyle, Polly Samson, Roy Foster, Lisa Hannigan, Dylan Haskins, Michael Cunningham, Andrew O’Hagan, Michael Harding, AC Grayling, Colin Barrett, Mary Costello, Tommy Tiernan, Belinda McKeon,Joanne O’Riordan and many more.

http://festivalofwritingandideas.com/

 

10 novels have been shortlisted for the 20th International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award, managed by Dublin City Libraries. The list includes TransAtlantic by Irish author and former winner, Colum McCann, three novels in translation from Brazil, France and Morocco and novels from Australia, Nigeria, the UK and the USA.

The IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award, an initiative of Dublin City Council, is worth €100,000 to the winner and is the world’s most valuable annual literary award for a single work of fiction published in English. The award was launched on 7th April 1995, making this year the 20th anniversary. The winner is announce on 17 June.

The shortlisted titles are:

 

 

1. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigerian) Published by Fourth Estate and by Alfred A. Knopf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Horses of God by Mahi Binebine (Moroccan) Translated from French by Lulu Norman. Published by Tin House Books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Harvest by Jim Crace (British) Published by Picador and by Alfred A. Knopf.

 

 

 

 

 

4. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Australian) Published by Vintage Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

5. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (Australian) First Novel. Published by Little, Brown & Company and by Picador Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. K by Bernardo Kucinski (Brazilian) Translated from Portuguese by Sue Branford. Published by Latin American Bureau.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Brief Loves That Live Forever by Andreï Makine (French, Russian-born) Translated from French by Geoffrey Strachan. Published by MacLehose Press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann (Irish) Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, Random House Inc. and HarperCollins Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Someone by Alice McDermott (American) Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Sparta by Roxana Robinson (American) Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

 

 

 

 

 

The winner is announced in June 2015

For full details go to http://www.impacdublinaward.ie

This year Listowel Writers Week runs from the 27 to 31 May.

Listowel Writers’ Week is an international acclaimed literary festival devoted to bringing together writers and audiences at unique and innovative events in the historic and intimate surroundings of Listowel, County Kerry. At the heart of this annual celebration is a commitment to developing and promoting writing talent, underpinned by an organisation that works to the values of partnership, inclusivity and civic responsibility.

Listowel Writers’ Week was founded in 1970 and is recognised as the primary event in Ireland’s literary calendar. The annual event is located in Listowel in North Kerry which is the birthplace of many of Ireland’s most prominent writers past and present including Dr. John B. Keane, Dr. Bryan MacMahon, Professor Brendan Kennelly, George Fitzmaurice, Maurice Walsh and Robert Leslie Boland.

Check out their full programme here: writersweek.ie

 

 

The International Literature Festival Dublin, formerly known as Dublin Writers Festival takes place every year in the month of May and has been running since 1998.

This years festival runs from 16-24 May.

With readings, discussions, debates,workshops, performance and screenings, the festival creates a hotbed of ideas. Whether it’s the mix poets, writers of fiction and non-fiction, lyricists, playwrights and screenwriters, International Literature Festival Dublin brings new faces and house-hold names together in ways that suprise and inspire.

Check out the full programme here http://ilfdublin.com

 

Date: Saturday 13 June 2015

Time: 10.30am–4pm

Venue: Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast

Cost: £30 / £25* IWC Members & Crescent Arts Centre Writing Groups

The Irish Writers Centre  takes their established Publishing Day series on the road to connect with new audiences in Northern Ireland. This one-day seminar is suited to writers of all genres and forms who are seeking to get published.

Industry professionals like Patsy Horton of Blackstaff Press/Publishing Ireland will highlight some of the trends and changes in the publishing sector, Dan Bolger, Commissioning Editor at New Island Books, will examine the best practice for submissions and arts publicist Stephanie Dickenson will reveal all about the must-have author profile and book PR. We will also welcome established writers in discussion about their own publishing experiences.

Our expert line-up is certain to help you on your way from manuscript to finished publication.

Click here to book your place.

This event is kindly supported by Words Ireland. 

* Attendees will be charged in Euro based on the exchange rate of 13 May 2015.