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Archived Announcements
- Farmgate Café National Poetry Award Entries
55 valid entries have been received for the Farmgate National Poetry Award for the best original collection in English (or translated into English for the first time) published by a poet living on the island of Ireland in the calendar year of 2025. The award is worth €2000. A shortlist will be announced late March… Read more: Farmgate Café National Poetry Award Entries - Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition Results
The tied-for-first-prize manuscripts of the Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition are We Fall, We Carry by Róisín Leggett Bohan and Playing Paradise by Katie Hale. Their chapbooks will be published next year and launched at the Cork International Poetry Festival. We have also highlighted the finalists and 21 highly commended entries below. Winners Playing… Read more: Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition Results - Southword Poetry Podcast: Gerry Murphy
Episode 25 with Gerry Murphy is now available anywhere you get podcasts. Gerry Murphy is an Irish poet, born in Cork in 1952. His first poetry collection was A Small Fat Boy Walking Backwards (1985, 1992). He has since published many collections with The Dedalus Press including Rio de la Plata and All That (1993), The Empty Quarter (1995), Extracts from the… Read more: Southword Poetry Podcast: Gerry Murphy - 1961: Frank O’Connor’s Cork | Monitor BBC Broadcast
Frank O’Connor, the celebrated Irish short-story writer, novelist, essayist, and poet, revisits the city of his birth, where he lived for twenty-eight years and which provides the setting or inspiration for many of his stories. He speaks to Huw Wheldon about what Cork means to him, reflects on his childhood there and why he left.… Read more: 1961: Frank O’Connor’s Cork | Monitor BBC Broadcast - Southword Poetry Podcast: David Nash
Episode 24 with David Nash is now available anywhere you get podcasts. David Nash was born in Co. Cork and lives between Ireland and Chile. His work is widely published in journals, and his texts have appeared in numerous art exhibitions and books, including for Wolfgang Tillmans at IMMA. A Spanish-language children’s book, Bajo Mis Pies,… Read more: Southword Poetry Podcast: David Nash - Statement in Support of Sally Rooney
We at The Munster Literature Centre express our unequivocal support for the position which author Sally Rooney has taken in using her platform to advocate for free speech. We vehemently reject the distortion of the definition of ‘terrorism’ to include non-violent manifestations of civic protest, which is one of the cornerstones of a free, democratic… Read more: Statement in Support of Sally Rooney - Order Southword 49, Cork launch 21st November
21st November, 6.30 p.m., CTC space Triskel Arts Centre as part of the Winter Warmer Festival The winter issue of Southword includes, as well as poetry and fiction, the winner and runners up from our Creative Non-Fiction Award. Join us for a glass of wine at the launch of issue 49 with readings from some… Read more: Order Southword 49, Cork launch 21st November - Aneas 6
€12.00, Southword Editions, 2025, 81 leathanach Iris nua bhliantúil atá tiomnaithe go hiomlán don gcuid is fearr de litríocht chomhaimseartha na Gaeilge í Aneas, iris a léiríonn go bhfuil neart, ealaín, pléasúr agus tathag fós ag baint le litríocht na teanga sinseartha sa tír seo. Laistigh dá clúdach geobhair filíocht, gearrscéalta agus léirmheasanna doimhne ó na scríbhneoirí… Read more: Aneas 6 - Macedonian Bursary for Cork Poets
Submit here Deadline 31st October The Munster Literature Centre will provide annual sponsorship of 750 euro as follows: The Cork poet must be a poet who has not read at a Macedonian poetry festival already. The Cork poet must have published at least one poetry chapbook, either published by a reputable publisher or a self-published… Read more: Macedonian Bursary for Cork Poets - Online Fiction Workshop with Laura Jean McKay
Join Frank O’Connor Fellow Laura Jean McKay to journey through the short story form – idea, character, voice and editing. This practical four-week workshop series will take apart the short story form, using examples from Laura’s and other authors’ works. Through readings, discussion and workshopping, participants will work together to celebrate and explore the precise,… Read more: Online Fiction Workshop with Laura Jean McKay - The Farmgate Café National Poetry Award
postal Submissions by publishers accepted until 15 november The award will be €2000 for the best full-length poetry collection published in the previous year (2025) by a poet residing in Ireland. All entered books must be in English. Translations will be accepted as long as the translated poet resides in Ireland. The judges this year… Read more: The Farmgate Café National Poetry Award - Southword Poetry Podcast: Joyelle McSweeney
Episode 24 with Joyelle McSweeney is now available anywhere you get podcasts. Guggenheim Fellow Joyelle McSweeney is the author of ten books of poetry, drama and prose, a well-known critic, and a vital publisher of international literature in translation. McSweeney’s recent book, Toxicon and Arachne (Nightboat Books, 2020), was called “frightening and brilliant” by Dan Chiasson in… Read more: Southword Poetry Podcast: Joyelle McSweeney - 2025 Mentorship Bursary Recipients selected
Mentorships, applied for through open submission, have been awarded to twelve writers living in Munster as part of our yearly Munster Literature Centre mentorship programme, as well as mentorship bursaries through our Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellowship programme. We have one more poetry mentorship opportunity this year with Mary Noonan, with a closing date… Read more: 2025 Mentorship Bursary Recipients selected - Apply for a poetry mentorship with Mary Noonan
The mentorship will consist of four face-to-face, two-hour sessions. This year, past recipients of mentorships with the Munster Literature Centre may apply again. Apply at southword.submittable.com Deadline: 10 October (midnight) Mentorship in Poetry Mary Noonan’s first collection, The Fado House (Dedalus Press, 2012) was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize and the Strong/Shine Award.… Read more: Apply for a poetry mentorship with Mary Noonan - Southword Creative Non-Fiction Award Results
The first prize winner of the inaugural Southword Creative Non-Fiction Award is Judy Crozier, whose winning story will be published in issue 49 of Southword (winter 2025). Nine others were shortlisted and their work will be published in Southword over the next three issues. Southword 49 (winter 2025): Remember November 1963 by Judy Crozier, How… Read more: Southword Creative Non-Fiction Award Results - Southword Editor’s Poetry Award: Two weeks till deadline
The Southword Editor’s Poetry Award Competition is open for entries until the end of September €1000 FOR THE BEST ENTRY OF THREE POEMS Each entrant for their €24 entry fee will receive a complimentary postage-free, one-year subscription to Southword. Poems will be read and judged anonymously. Poems must be previously unpublished. The winning poet will have… Read more: Southword Editor’s Poetry Award: Two weeks till deadline - Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition Results
The first prize winner of the 2025 Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition, Tim Collyer, will read his winning story on 18th October at the Cork International Short Story Festival. The first prize, second prize, and shortlisted stories will be published in Southword (summer 2026). Laura Jean McKay was the judge and she kindly… Read more: Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition Results - Dean Browne to judge O’Donoghue Poetry competition
Competition prize and submission details here Dean Browne is an award-winning poet from Co. Tipperary, Ireland. His debut collection After Party is published by Picador and is a Poetry Society Recommendation. Browne received the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2021, and his pamphlet, Kitchens at Night, won the Poetry Business International Pamphlet Competition; it is published… Read more: Dean Browne to judge O’Donoghue Poetry competition - Apply for mentorships in poetry, fiction & memoir
Candidates may apply to a maximum of two mentors, but no successful candidate can receive more than one mentorship. Mentorships will consist of four face-to-face, two-hour sessions. This year, past recipients of mentorships with the Munster Literature Centre may apply again. Apply at southword.submittable.com Deadline: 15 september (midnight) Mentorship in Memoir David McLoghlin is a… Read more: Apply for mentorships in poetry, fiction & memoir - Southword Poetry Podcast: Traci Brimhall
Episode 23 with Traci Brimhall is now available anywhere you get podcasts. Traci Brimhall is a professor of creative writing and narrative medicine at Kansas State University. She is the author of five collections of poetry, including Love Prodigal (published November 2024 by Copper Canyon). Her poems have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The Nation,… Read more: Southword Poetry Podcast: Traci Brimhall