The Davy Byrnes Short Story Award 2014 - it's back!

Yes, it's back again! Get ready short story writers. The Davy Byrnes Short Story Award is running with a 2014 deadline, and it has a whopping great maximum word count of 15,000. The judges have been announced as Anne Enright, Yiyun Li and Jon McGregor. The deadline is 3rd February 2014, and the prize, as always, is a big one - €15,000 for 1st prize, and €1,000 for 5 runners up. Open to Irish citizens and residents of the 32 counties only. The story must be in English. For more details see here on The Stinging Fly website.

Raising awareness through writing

Here are three writing based initiatives I've noticed recently that seek to raise awareness of health issues.Two are short story competitions and one is a magazine.

For the poets - Paul Casey on small poetry presses in Ireland

I've just found this interesting and informative post from Paul Casey about small poetry presses in Ireland. It's on the blog of the Cordite Poetry Review see here Poets take note. It includes ten presses all around Ireland, and answers a range of questions about their history and what they publish.

Seamus Heaney

The first Seamus Heaney poem that I read,  and still one of my favourites, is "A Kite for Michael and Christopher" I was maybe 12 years old and preparing for a Speech and Drama exam. My piece was Edwin Morgan's poem about lovers eating strawberries, but the one I loved was the Heaney poem being drilled into a classmate. While Morgan's speaker urged his lover to let the storm wash the plates while they, I now assume, had better things to do (who picked that poem for a 12 year old to recite?) my heart was with Michael and Christopher urged to take the kite in their hands.
From the very star of my career I have taught Heaney poems. They are a pleasure to read with students, to let them handle. 

Jon McGregor: The Donegal Connection

Jon McGregor has written three fine novels and a superb collection of short stories.  He has attracted critical acclaim and prestigious awards for his short fiction and novels alike, but his second book, "So Many Ways To Begin" has links with Donegal. Jon kindly agreed to tell me more, answering questions on postcards that were handwritten and sent between his office in the University of Nottingham, where he is Professor of Creative Writing (Writer in Residence), and my Donegal home. It seemed like a good way to communicate with Jon as he is also editor of  'The Letters Page', a literary journal which takes correspondence as its theme, launching this month. He's a busy man....

Here is the first postcard:

"So Many Ways To Begin" is structured in short chapters, each bearing the title of an object or piece of ephemera that has played some part in the life of David, the main character. At the recent North West Words Writing Weekend in Letterkenny, Lisa Frank of Doire Press gave an excellent fiction editing workshop and told us she has studied and admired the structure of "So Many Ways To Begin", and recommended it to the participating writers.

The very first scene of the book depicts a hiring fair in the years before WWII, and introduces us to Mary, a young Fanad woman. When I asked Jon about this, he described the hiring fair as '..a startling piece of history for those who don't know it.' They are a fading part of living memory here. As a child, I heard my uncles tell stories of walking from their home in the mountains to the hiring fair of Letterkenny, working for wealthier farmers in the east of the county when they were hardly more than children themselves. With empathy and insight, Jon McGregor recreates the harshness of the times.

"So Many Ways To Begin" is a wonderful book. You should read it, if you haven't already. If you hurry, you can finish it before Jon's second postcard arrives and you'll know next time what we are talking about when we talk about home, emigration, the changing nature of work, loss, choice, fate or Anna (the most treacherous female museum curator in the history of fiction!)

(A full version of this interview with Jon McGregor will appear in a future issue of North West Words magazine. Keep an eye on this blog for further information and the postcards to follow...)

Tributes to Seamus Heaney (1939 - 2013)

To mark this day, here are some links I came across from reading tributes to Seamus Heaney. The radio podcasts may only be only available for a few days.

Seamus Deane on growing up with Seamus Heaney (The New Yorker) see page 54 here
Videos of Seamus Heaney reading some of his poems (Irish Times) here
Poetry Please, BBC Radio 4 (podcast)  here
Arts Extra Tribute, Radio Ulster (podcast) here
A lovely post from Belinda McKeon in The Paris Review here
Colim Tóibín in The Guardian here
Eileen Battersby in The Irish Times here

The Big Proms Bear Hunt

If you are settled and cosy at home on this blustery Sunday afternoon BBC Radio 3 will be playing live at 4pm 'The Big Proms Bear Hunt' from the Royal Albert Hall with storyteller Michael Rosen, illustrator Tony Ross, the Liverpool Philharmonic Children's choirs and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. I shall be tuning in...

Oscar Wilde: Are you a prose writer who might be inspired by him?

Bohemyth is a bi-weekly online journal run by a team based in Dublin. It is described at the website here and has an open submission policy, so there are normally no deadlines. It publishes short stories (max 2,500) and flash fiction (max 700) see here  for submission policy.

They are currently looking for submissions for a special Oscar Wilde themed issue - short stories, flash, one act plays and photography. See here for more details. For this themed issue there is a deadline of the end of September.

A New Ulster - a new magazine

This new magazine called A New Ulster had its first issue in October 2012, and is now in its eleventh issue. It is available on the website here, and can also be purchased in pdf or hardcopy. It takes submissions of poetry, artwork and prose, for details see here 

A very sad day with news of the passing of Seamus Heaney

We were very saddened to hear this morning of the death of Seamus Heaney. He was a truly great Derry man and Irish man, and we are privileged as a nation for the magnificent legacy he has left us in his poetry. May he rest in peace, and sincere condolences to his family and many friends. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dhílis.