Munster Literature Centre
Ionad Litríochta an Deisceart

Author: James O’Leary

  • All festival events in theatre today

    All festival events in theatre today

    There is a misprint in the Cork International Short Story Festival brochure which says our 4.30pm event is in Cork City Library. This event, and all events today Saturday 17th October are in the Cork Arts Theatre.

  • Library events Wednesday 14th Cancelled

    Library events Wednesday 14th Cancelled

    Due to industrial action at Cork City Library on Wednesday 14th only, the 2.30pm and 4.00pm events have been cancelled. All other events for the Cork International Short Story festival are unaffected. The festival is in full support of the union and their demands for a fair wage.

  • Southword Poetry Podcast: Stephen Sexton

    Southword Poetry Podcast: Stephen Sexton

    Episode 32 with Stephen Sexton is now available anywhere you get podcasts Stephen Sexton’s first book, If All the World and Love Were Young was the winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2019 and the Shine / Strong Award for Best First Collection. He was awarded the E.M. Forster Award from…

  • Change in festival line-up

    Change in festival line-up

    Unfortunately, Bret Anthony Johnston is unable to attend the Cork International Short Story Festival as previously advertised. However, we are happy to say that John Patrick McHugh will now be reading alongside Marie-Helene Bertino on 16th October at 9.00pm in the Cork Arts Theatre. John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His work has appeared in…

  • The Farmgate Café National Poetry Award

    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. In a year where…

  • Southword Poetry Podcast: Máighréad Medbh

    Southword Poetry Podcast: Máighréad Medbh

    Episode 31 with Máighréad Medbh is now available anywhere you get podcasts Máighréad Medbh is a poet and prose writer with nine published books. Most of her poetry books are long-form sequences or narratives, and her ecological verse novel, Parvit of Agelast (Arlen House), was shortlisted for the 2017 Pigott Prize. After her first book…

  • Short Fiction Workshop with Zsuzsi Gartner

    Short Fiction Workshop with Zsuzsi Gartner

    This four-session workshop offers a deep dive into the geometry of short fiction. We will look the use of time in narrative prose, for what is the structure of a story, its form, but a way of arranging and rearranging time – of deciding what to divulge and when? You will learn how to give…

  • Creative Non-Fiction Workshop with David McLoghlin

    Creative Non-Fiction Workshop with David McLoghlin

    How to Improve Your Memoir or Personal Essays by Learning and Practicing the Core Elements of Creative Non Fiction: a Craft Workshop with David McLoghlin This is a course for those writers who are beginning or revising a project, whether memoir or personal essays. Each two-hour class will be equally divided between creative writing workshop…

  • Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition Results

    Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition Results

    The first prize winner of the 2026 Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition, Martin Jackson, will read his winning story on 17th October at the Cork International Short Story Festival. The first prize, second prize, and shortlisted stories will be published in issue 52 of Southword (summer 2027). Louise Hegarty was the judge and…

  • Southword Poetry Podcast: Jericho Brown

    Southword Poetry Podcast: Jericho Brown

    Episode 30 with Jericho Brown is now available anywhere you get podcasts Jericho Brown is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from The Academy of American Poets, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown’s first book, Please…