North West Words Arts Night November

Tonight is North West Words Arts Night at 8pm in Cafe Blend, Letterkenny.

Absence, grief, writing

I truly believe that the books and writing we are meant to read find us. Even in the great chaotic morass of the internet, we can stumble upon beauty, truth and resonance. This piece by Colm Toibin reached out and grabbed me by the throat yesterday, and although my reaction is shaped by very specific circumstances and events that have been going on in my life recently, you need to read it too.
You need to read it because he is intelligent and insightful about what writers do. You need to read it because every author and book he mentions in the piece is unmissable....you have read Mary Lavin, haven't you? Julian Barnes? Joan Didion? If not, what are you waiting for?
You need to read it because you are human, and grief and loss touches us all, and great writing helps us heal. My copy of 'Nora Webster' is ready, waiting to be read. What are you waiting for?

November - some submission opportunities

For a variety of reasons, mostly work related, I couldn't manage my usual round up of submission opportunities last month. I noticed too that my fiction writing slipped far into the background of my life. These little postings help to motivate me; they keep me thinking about what might come next. And, it's nice to share them. So, I'm back with another one. Maybe it will motivate me, as much as anyone, to write and send out work soon.

Here's a list of what I've found to be open currently.

North West Words Magazine - they have just released Issue 2 and are seeking submissions for Issue 3.  Send up to three poems, or up to 2000 words of fiction, or up to 800 words of memoir to editornww@yahoo.ie For further details see inside the magazine.

Shortlists, Long Lists and To do lists

My cousin Caroline in Rossnowlagh Oct 28th by my Aunty Marie 

I love October, I love autumn air, its colour and autumn clothes, back to school routine is established, I know the names and a fair bit about the students sitting in front of me and they have got their heads around their English teacher’s penchant for turning rainy day classes and days when half the class is at a match into impromptu creative writing lessons. It’s a busy month but I always feel I’m making progress in October after the go slow of August and the disorientation of back to school.

This October I've had the added satisfaction of seeing my name on the shortlist and then my Shelter placed third in the Bailieborough Poetry Festival Competition as well as seeing another poem and a flash fiction make it on to the longlists of the Allingham Festival competitions. 

North West Words on Halloween Night

North West Words Arts Night is on Friday this week, 31st October at 8pm in Cafe Blend.

Martine Madden was born in Limerick, educated in Dublin and spent her early married life working in the Middle East. From some of the Armenian Diaspora there, she learned of the Armenian Genocide which took place in the Ottoman Empire or modern-day Turkey, in 1915. A much later discovery of the photographs of German officer, Armin Wegner, prompted Martine to write about the Genocide and her novel, Anyush, was published by Brandon in May 2014.

Michael Wilson’s has been writing and performing poetry for ten years and has been published in various formats, from magazines and anthologies, to collections of his own work and CDs. He is a graduate of the Islington Mill Art Academy, a group of self-directed artists who ran residencies in various locations including Glasgow, the Lake District, and Berlin. He has just released a new CD of his poems called All Life’s Settler’s Come at Dawn, and his performance at North West Words is part of a month long Irish tour to launch the record. He has also been asked, as previous winner of the Cheltenham Literature Festival UK All Stars Slam to compete in their final slam this Autumn, as a wildcard chosen from over a decade of the long running slam’s past winners.

On the same night at 7pm is the prize award ceremony for the NWW 2014 Schools Poetry Competition.

And, don't forget that the NWW adult poetry competition is currently open for entries. The deadline is 14th November 2014, and the judge is Kate Newman from Summer Palace Press. For more details see here 

Donegal Creameries North West Words Poetry Prize 2014

This is the third year of the annual poetry prize from North West Words. They are seeking submissions of poetry both nationally and internationally. The judge, as in previous years, is the poet and Summer Palace Press co-founder, Kate Newman. Full details are available from the NWW website

The deadline for submissions is 14th November 2014, and entries must not have been previously published or have won a competition. There is an entry fee of €5 for a maximum of 3 poems, and submission must be by post. The address for entries is North West Words Poetry Prize 2014, 54, Thornberry, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. First prize is €250 and a perpetual cup. 

Good luck to anyone entering - I might be lucky enough to hear you read the winning poem at NWW Arts Night in January 2015.

Some opportunities in writing for children

If you write for children, here are a few things that might be of interest.

The Looking Glass - this is an online magazine from of Trinity College, Dublin. It is currently looking for submissions for children's or YA writing, deadline 26th September. See here  and past issues. They will accept poetry, short stories, plays, novel extracts, and also illustrations and comic strips. 

The Caterpillar - this is a hard copy, quarterly magazine of children's writing (7 -11 years apporoximately) from the same publishers as The Moth. They accept poetry and short story, see submission details here

The Caterpillar also have a poetry competition running currently with a deadline of 31st March 2015. There is a prize of €1,000 for the winning poem for children aged 7 - 11. And, on the topic of children's writing, here are some tips from the writer Sheena Wilkinson at the writing.ie website

Oh, and I've just noticed another competition on the website Writing.ie A.M. Heath Irish Children's Prize 2014 deadline 20th October, win €1,000 and an agent.

Free online courses (MOOC's) on writing related matters this Autumn

I've posted before here on MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses) in higher education, and other open resources. Below are details of a number of upcoming courses. They are free and online, or some provide accreditation if you pay a course fee. You can follow the course and all activities in the timescale set, or you can simply dip in and out of the resources given.

 

From edx - The Art of Poetry see here  This starts 30th September 2014 from  Boston University.

Another from edx - English Grammar and Style here  This one starts 22nd September 2014 and is 9 weeks in duration from University of Queensland.

Open Courses at University of IOWA  has a homepage here  They have a MOOC called How Writers Write Fiction details here  It starts 26 September and is  6 weeks long.

So, some good opportunities.

Allingham Arts Festival 2014

This year, the Allingham Arts Festival in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal runs from 6th-9th November 2014. It has a website and a facebook page with programme details, and there are lots of differing events across the four days on the theme of Creativity Across Borders. To name but a few, there is a literary evening on Saturday 8th with Theo Dorgan, Paul Lynch, Donal Ryan, Winifred  McNulty, and the Poetry Divas. For those interested in workshops, there are a diverse range including poetry, creative writing, animation, felt making and epublishing.

I'm proud to say that I won the Allingham Arts Festival Short Story Competition in 2011 with a story called With Matchsticks Not Money (now published  at The Linnet's Wings, Winter 2013). And this year again, they are running a number of adult and child art and writing competitions. See their competition page for full details. There are free to enter children's poetry, fiction and art competitions with the deadline 10th October 2014 (primary and secondary school). And, adult poetry and flash fiction competitions with a deadline 30th September 2014. The judges for the adult flash and poetry competitions are Donal Ryan and Monica Corish.

I must say, there are plenty of opportunities and events for all age groups - a real community effort.

Culture Night 2014

Next Friday, 19th September, is Culture Night. This is an annual event with free cultural activities all around the country. The website shows a list of what is going on in various cities, towns and villages. There are lots of events to choose from, wherever you live. 

In Letterkenny, North West Words is running an Arts Night in Cafe Blend from 8pm. There are readers and music. See NWW website and below.