Archived Announcements
- Southword Creative Non-Fiction Award
1st Prize €1,000 Word Limit: 4,000 wordsClosing date: 31st JanuaryEntry fee: €20 We are looking for compelling writing, as memoir or as innovative essays or as an admixture of both. Simon Van Booy, Sandra Beasley, Thomas Lynch, Kim Addonizio & Yoko Tawada have all published creative non-fiction in Southword, why not join that illustrious company? Full guidelines here. - Southword Editor’s Flash Fiction Award
Enter: 3 flash fictionsClosing date: 31st January (midnight)Entry fee: €24 Prize €1,000 for the best entry of three flash fictions submission details here Each entrant for their €24 entry fee will receive a complimentary postage-free, one-year subscription to Southword. Flash fictions will be read and judged anonymously. Flash fictions must be previously unpublished. The winning writer will have… Read more: Southword Editor’s Flash Fiction Award - Southword 51
€12.00, Southword Editions, 2026, 152 pages Southword is a literary journal featuring new writing from around the globe. Issue 51 includes short stories from Ron Rash and Jon Boilard, poems from Audrey Molloy and Dermot Bolger, essays from our Southword Creative Non-Fiction Competition including from Nuala O’Connor, and a photo essay from John Minihan. Subscribe… Read more: Southword 51 - Aneas 7
€12.00, Southword Editions, 2026, 84 leathanach Iris 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 is… Read more: Aneas 7 - 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… Read more: Southword Poetry Podcast: Stephen Sexton - 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… Read more: Change in festival line-up - 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… Read more: The Farmgate Café National Poetry Award - 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… Read more: Southword Poetry Podcast: Máighréad Medbh - 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… Read more: Short Fiction Workshop with Zsuzsi Gartner - 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… Read more: Creative Non-Fiction Workshop with David McLoghlin - 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… Read more: Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition Results - 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… Read more: Southword Poetry Podcast: Jericho Brown - Culture Night: Munster Literature Centre Readings
This Culture Night (18 September, 6-9pm) join us at the Munster Literature Centre in Frank O’Connor House, 84 Douglas street, for a series of readings, first from the 2026 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow Zsuzsi Gartner and later from poets Gerry Murphy and Patrick Cotter. - O’Donoghue Poetry Competition Open
The Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition is now open for entries. Line limit: 40Closing date: 30th NovemberEntry fee: €7 per poem The competition is open to original, unpublished poems in the English language of 40 lines or fewer. The poem can be on any subject, in any style, by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. We are… Read more: O’Donoghue Poetry Competition Open - Visible Poetry Competition
Kemi George-Simpsons is running a poetry competition in collaboration with Cork City Libraries, an overflow from her excellent Black History Month literary events, and conducted in response to the rise of anti-immigration and anti-multicultural sentiment and violence. It opened on August 1st and closes on September 11th, and the link for competition details is via… Read more: Visible Poetry Competition - Mentorships with O’Connor Short Story Fellow Zsuzsi Gartner
Canadian author Zsuzsi Gartner is the 2026 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 Gartner, tuition fees covered, between September and November of this… Read more: Mentorships with O’Connor Short Story Fellow Zsuzsi Gartner - Southword Editor’s Poetry Award Open
Enter: 3 poemsClosing date: 30th September (midnight)Entry fee: €24 Prize €1,000 for the best entry of three poems submission details here 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 in Southword.… Read more: Southword Editor’s Poetry Award Open - Zsuzsi Gartner: 2026 O’Connor Short Story Fellow
Zsuzsi Gartner has been appointed as this year’s Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow, which includes a three-month residency in Cork and the delivery of workshops and mentorships. The opportunity to apply for mentorships with Zsuzsi Gartner will be posted on our website and Submittable in the coming months. Zsuzsi Gartner is the author of… Read more: Zsuzsi Gartner: 2026 O’Connor Short Story Fellow - 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 - Louise Hegarty to judge this year’s Ó Faoláin Competition
Louise Hegarty will judge this year’s Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition, which is open for submissions until 31st July. First prize includes €2000 and a featured reading at the Cork International Short Story Festival (14 – 17 October 2026). Last year’s winning and shortlisted stories can be read in our latest issue of Southword. Louise Hegarty’s… Read more: Louise Hegarty to judge this year’s Ó Faoláin Competition