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About Us
Founded in 1993, The Munster Literature Centre is a strategic Irish literary organisation. We produce international poetry & short story festivals, offer awards and prizes, mentorships and workshops, residencies and exchanges. Southword Editions is our publishing imprint. We publish a series of poetry chapbooks/pamphlets, Southword is our journal of new international writing in English and Aneas a corresponding journal for the Irish language. Poems from Southword have been included in the Forward and Best American Poetry anthologies. We actively seek to support new and emerging writers and are assisted in our efforts through funding from Cork City Council and the Arts Council of Ireland. Originally located in Sullivan’s Quay, the centre moved to its current premises in Frank O’Connor House (the author’s birthplace) at 84 Douglas Street, in 2003. We produce two festivals each year, The Cork International Poetry Festival in the May and The Cork International Short Story Festival in October.
Staff
Artistic Director
Patrick Cotter
Patrick Cotter is an Irish poet, born in Cork City where he still lives. His poems have been published in journals such as the Financial Times, The London Review of Books, Poetry and Poetry Review. He is a recipient of the Keats-Shelley Prize for Poetry. His poems have been translated into over a dozen languages and he has given readings of his work across the Northern Hemisphere. Quality Control at the Miracle Factory, his fourth full-length collection, is published by Dedalus Press in 2025.
Publications Officer
James O’Leary
James O’Leary’s first poetry chapbook, There Are Monsters in This House (Southword Editions 2018) lives in the grey areas between addiction and recovery, co-dependence and love. This was followed by Sacrament of the Sick (Well Review Editions 2023), about illness and mysticism.