Safe to Create is offering a range of free and subsidised online and in-person workshops, supporting artists, creatives, managers, senior leaders and board members in creating safer, more respectful workplaces. 

Topics covered include Dignity at Work, Safe Practice, Workplace Skills, Governance & Leadership, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) and more. 

Workshops begin in February, with sessions in Cork, Belfast, Dublin, Galway and Online. Free or low-cost (€0–€50) options available. You can also download our updated ‘At A Glance Spring Training Programme’ and pin to your noticeboard.

Join writer, poet, and movement artist, Lani O’Hanlon, for three nurturing earthy days in Fota House and Gardens, to explore and deepen our instinctual, embodies relationship with the land through sensual writing, poetry, voice, gentle somatic movement, rest, and presence.

Fota House and Gardens, Fota Island, Carrigtwohill, Co Cork, book directly with Lani at lanipoetry(@)gmail.com.

The Arts Office, Waterford City & County Council by kind permission of the Keane family is now inviting entries for a previously unpublished short story for this years’ award.

There is a cash prize of €500 and there is no entry fee.

The Pitching Competition at the Film Fair, the industry market of the Galway Film Fleadh, provides screenwriters at any stage of their career with an opportunity to pitch their projects in an open industry forum. The Pitching Competition has given new screenwriters a platform to connect with the wider industry while filmmakers at all stages of development have used the Pitching Competition to attach producers, receive mentorship, and win development funding.

The 5th Annual Drumshanbo Written Word Poetry Film Competition is open for entries from 1st April on FilmFreeway. Shortlisted films will be shown at the Methodist Hall, Drumshanbo, on Friday, 21st Aug 2026, as part of the Drumshanbo Written Word Festival Opening Ceremony.

1st Prize €500 

The Judge this year is Csilla Toldy (Hungarian Poet and Film-maker).

Appearing in the Irish Independent on the last Saturday of each month, New Irish Writing is an opportunity open to writers who are Irish or resident of Ireland.

Stories submitted should not exceed 2,000 words. Up to four poems may be submitted. There is no entry fee. Writers whose work is selected will receive €120 for fiction and €60 for poetry. You can email your entry, preferably as a Word document, to newirishwriting@independent.ie.

Please make sure to include your name, address and contact number, as well as a brief biographical paragraph. Only writers who have yet to publish their first book can be considered.