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Archived Announcements
- 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: 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 - Cork Short Story Festival (15-18 Oct)
The 2025 Cork International Short Story Festival programme is now live on our festival website—and watch out for the print brochure which will start to appear all over the city in September! As one of the few festivals in the world dedicated to the short story, we devote much space to debut authors such as… Read more: Cork Short Story Festival (15-18 Oct) - Episode 22 of the Southword Poetry Podcast
Episode 22 with Michael O’Loughlin is now available anywhere you get podcasts. Michael O’Loughlin was born in Dublin in 1958 and studied at Trinity College Dublin. He has published six collections of poetry, including Another Nation: New and Selected Poems (1996), In This Life (2011) and Poems: 1980–2015, published by New Island Books (2017). O’Loughlin is a regular contributor to The… Read more: Episode 22 of the Southword Poetry Podcast - Fiction Mentorships Bursaries with Frank O’Connor Fellow Laura Jean McKay
Australian author Laura Jean McKay is the 2025 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow. The fellowship is very kindly funded by Cork City Council and is an initiative of the Munster Literature Centre. There is the opportunity for four Munster fiction writers to be mentored by Laura, tuition fees covered, between October and December of… Read more: Fiction Mentorships Bursaries with Frank O’Connor Fellow Laura Jean McKay - Southword Editor’s Poetry Award OpenThe Southword Editor’s Poetry Award Competition is now open for entries. €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 their three poems published… Read more: Southword Editor’s Poetry Award Open
- Southword Subscribers’ Competition Results
Every year we hold a free-to-enter flash fiction competition and poetry competition exclusively for subscribers to Southword. In April all current subscribers are emailed a link and may submit up to three poems and/or three pieces of flash fiction; winners are published in our summer issue and receive the following: 1st Prize €150, 2nd prize… Read more: Southword Subscribers’ Competition Results - Southword 48 out this month, join us for the launch 15th July
€12.00, Southword Editions, 2025, 118 pages, ISBN: 978-1-915573-15-5 * Issues will be posted at the end of June Southword is a literary journal featuring new writing from around the globe. Issue 48 includes the winning short stories of the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition (judged by Camilla Grudova), the winning poems of the… Read more: Southword 48 out this month, join us for the launch 15th July - Creative Non-fiction workshop starting 16 July, four weeks only €120
How to Improve Our Memoir or Personal Essays by Learning and Practicing the Core Elements of Creative Non Fiction: a Craft Workshop with David McLoghlin This is an online course through Zoom for those writers who are beginning or revising a project, whether memoir or personal essays. Each two-hour class will be equally divided between… Read more: Creative Non-fiction workshop starting 16 July, four weeks only €120 - Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition Open
The Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition is now open for entries. Page limit: 16 – 24Closing date: 31st August (midnight)Entry fee: €25 per manuscript The competition is open to new, emerging and established poets from any country. At least one of these winners will be the highest scoring manuscript entered by a poet with no solo… Read more: Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition Open - 2025 Fool for Poetry chapbooks in our bookshop
The winning chapbooks of the most recent Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition, Superposition by Lauren O’Donovan and Drought / Diagnosis by Liza Katz Duncan are available now.