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.

WATERFORD POETS

THOMAS McCARTHY   (b. 1954)

Thomas McCarthy was born in Cappoquin, Co Waterford in 1954.

His poetry collections include The First Convention (The Dolmen Press, 1978), The Sorrow-Garden (Anvil Press Poetry, 1981), The Non-Aligned Storyteller (Anvil Press Poetry, 1984), Seven Winters in Paris (Anvil Press Poetry/Dedalus, 1989), The Lost Province (Anvil Press Poetry 1996), Mr Dineen's Careful Parade: New & Selected Poems (Anvil Press Poetry, 1999) and Merchant Prince (Anvil Press Poetry, 2005).

His fiction includes Without Power (Poolbeg Press, 1991) and Asya and Christine (Poolbeg Press, 1992). He has also published a memoir, The Garden of Remembrance (Dublin, New Island Books, 1998.)

His awards include The Patrick Kavanagh Award (1977), The Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize (1981), The Annual Literary Award, American Irish Foundation (1984) and the O'Shaughnessy Poetry Award, Irish-American Cultural Institute, 1991. He is a member of Aosdána, and lives in Cork. He was Deputy Director of Cork’s 2005 Capital of Culture.

SEAN DUNNE (1956 - 1995)

Dunne was born in Waterford and educated at UCC. He worked as a journalist and reviewer for the Cork Examiner.  He frequently contributed to Poetry Choice on RTE and edited Poets of Munster (1985).  His own collections include Against the Storm (1985), The Sheltered Nest (1992) and Collected Poems (2005). He also published an autobiographical memoir, In My Father’s House (1991).  His work details a search through breakdown and disorder for a safe haven, shelter from the storm.

Sean Dunne passed away in 1995, but his memory and achievements are honoured in Waterford’s annual Sean Dunne Literary Festival.

JOHN ENNIS  (b. 1944)

John Ennis was born in Westmeath in 1944. His collections include Night on Hibernia (Dublin [now Oldcastle, Co Meath] The Gallery Press, 1976), Dolmen Hill (The Gallery Press, 1977), A Drink of Spring (The Gallery Press, 1979), The Burren Days (The Gallery Press, 1985), Arboretum (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1990), In a Greener Shade (The Dedalus Press, 1991), Down in the Deeper Helicon (Dedalus Press, 1994), Telling the Bees (Dedalus Press, 1995), Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 1996), Tráithníní (Dedalus Press, 2000) and Near St Mullins (Dedalus, 2002). A winner of the Listowel Open Poetry Competition eleven times, he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 1975 and the Irish American Cultural Institute Award in 1996. He is head of School of Humanities at Waterford Institute of Technology and lives in Waterford.

PETER SIRR (b. 1960 )

Peter Sirr was born in Waterford in 1960. In 1982 he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award and in 1983 the poetry prize at Listowel Writers' Week. His collections of poetry are Marginal Zones (Loughcrew, Co Meath, The Gallery Press,1984); Talk, Talk (The Gallery Press, 1987); Ways of Falling (The Gallery Press, 1991); The Ledger of Fruitful Exchange (The Gallery Press, 1995); Bring Everything (The Gallery Press, 2000); and Nonetheless (The Gallery Press, 2004). He is a former director of the Irish Writers' Centre and lives in Dublin.  

Waterford sub-section authored by Susan Burke-Trehy. This subsection has been grant-aided by Waterford City Council Arts Office

Festivals & Competitions

Sean Dunne Writers' Festival

The Waterford City Council Arts Office hosts the Sean Dunne Writers' Festival in honour of one of the city's most distinguished literary sons. Held annually each March, the festival features readings in Irish and English by local and national authors. More details are available here.

L-R: Mayor of Waterford City, Cllr Mary O Halloran, Lucy Twigg Winner, Local Section of the Seán Dunne Young Writers Awards, Steven Stubbs – National Winner, Seán Dunne Young Writers Awards, Mollie Bruton, Winner of the Junior National section of the Seán Dunne Young Writers Awards, Ian Kilroy guest speaker (Arts Editor of The Irish Examiner) Front Row: David Kavanagh, Armend Gashi and Alan Grimes from Scolil Lorcain (Photo by Robert Bruton)

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Sean Dunne
Young Writers' Award

The awards are available in three categories: LOCAL ENTRIES for Waterford writers 21 years or under on January 31st of competition year. NATIONAL ENTRIES for Irish writers 30 years or under on January 31st of competition year and NATIONAL JUNIOR ENTRIES for Irish writers 13 years or under on January 31st of year of competition. For further details or information please contact the Arts Officer, Waterford City Council, City Hall, The Mall, Waterford. Tel: 051 – 849856 or submit an email.

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Frank O'Connor House, 84 Douglas Street, Cork, Ireland.

Tel. (353) 021 4312955, Email: munsterlit(AT)eircom(DOT)net