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MUNSTER LITERATURE CENTRE
IONAD LITRÍOCHTA an DEISCIRT

MLC books

Welcome to the Munster
Literature Centre

Founded in 1993, the Munster Literature Centre (Ionad Litríochta an Deiscirt) is a non-profit arts organisation dedicated to the promotion and celebration of literature, especially that of Munster. To this end, we organise festivals, workshops, readings and competitions. Our publishing section, Southword Editions, publishes a biannual journal, poetry collections and short stories. We actively seek to support new and emerging writers and are assisted in our efforts through funding from Cork City Council, Cork County Council and the Arts Council of Ireland.Originally located in Sullivan's Quay, the centre moved to its current premises in the Frank O'Connor House (the author's birthplace) at 84 Douglas Street, in 2003.

In 2000, the Munster Literature Centre organised the first Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival, an event dedicated to the celebration of the short story and named for one of Cork's most beloved authors. The festival showcases readings, literary forums and workshops. Following continued growth and additional funding, the Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award was introduced in 2005, coinciding with Cork's designation as that year's European Capital of Culture. The award is now recognised as the single biggest prize for a short story collection in the world and is presented at the end of the festival.In 2002, the Munster Literature Centre introduced the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize, an annual short story competition dedicated to one of Ireland's most accomplished story writers and theorists. This too is presented during the FOC festival. The centre also hosts the Cork Spring Literary Festival each year, at which the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Prize is awarded (established 2010).

Workshops are held by featured authors in both autumn and spring, allowing the general public to receive creative guidance in an intimate setting for a minimal fee. In addition, the centre sponsors a Writer in Residence each year. We invite you to browse our website for further information regarding our events, Munster literature, and other literary information. Should you have any queries, we would be happy to hear from you.

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LATEST NEWS

THE SEÁN Ó FAOLÁIN SHORT
STORY COMPETITION

John Boilard, Seán Ó Faoláin Competition winner PG O'Connor, winner of the Seán Ó Faoláin competition

First Prize: €2,000 (approx $2760/£1640 in April 2014), 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 other shortlisted entries will be selected for publication in Southword and receive a publication fee of €120.

Competition closes July 31, 2014

NEW: Win The Sean Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition and have dinner with Richard Ford and attend his Masterclass Talk.

When we say you can meet the literary stars at our short story festival in Cork we mean it. Aside from publication and €2,000 ($2650), the winner receives an offer of a week's residency in artists' retreat Anam Cara. From this year on the winner receives a Pushcart Nomination too. And if the winner chooses to come to Cork in September to receive the prize we'll put them up in a hotel for the duration of the short story festival (five nights) with full board and introductions to all the participating writers. Opening event this year is a reading by Richard Ford. This will be Richard's third time coming to the festival. He will be reading from new work at the festival and presenting Masterclass Craft Talk to the MA in Creative Writing Class at University College Cork which is closed to the general public.

For full details and submission guidelines, please click here

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New Eyes on the Great Book

a joint publication with UCC School of English