Boyle Arts Festival Readings

Boyle Arts Festival event on Saturday next 1st August at 5.30pm in King House, Boyle, Co Roscommon. Entry: €5.

Join the Moylurg Writers as they give selected readings of poetry and prose.

The results of the Boyle Arts Festival 2015 Poetry Competition will also be announced. Winners' poems will be read and judge, Joseph Woods, will be reading from his own work. This will be followed at 6.30pm by the launch by Geraldine Mitchell of Jane Clarke’s debut poetry collection, The River.

Joseph Woods is a poet and  former director of Poetry Ireland who lives in Rangoon, Burma with his wife and daughter. He has published three collections of poetry and his first, Sailing to Hokkaido (2001), won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award.

Dublin-born Geraldine Mitchell lives on the Co. Mayo coast. She has published two collections: World Without Maps (Arlen House, 2011) and Of Birds and Bones (Arlen House, 2014).

Jane Clarke was born in Roscommon and now lives in Wicklow. Her debut poetry collection, ‘The River’ is published by Bloodaxe Books.

Writers Gerry Boland and John Mulligan will also be hosting workshops earlier on Saturday 1st August.

Full details on the Festival Website.

Hanna Greally Literary Awards

The SiarScéal Festival is held every year in Roscommon, Ireland. The 2015 festival will take place 5, 6, 7 November.

SiarScéal celebrates the lives and history of the people of Roscommon, both nationally and globally, through the medium of poetry, prose, short stories, music and dance.

Included in the Festival's proceedings are the annual Hanna Greally Literary Awards. I was lucky enough to win a prize here a couple of years ago.

The competition theme this year is: Centenary in Reflection. Submissions of poetry, prose, short stories on this theme are invited.

The Overall Prize Winner will receive a cash prize of €200. Runners-Up prizes will also be awarded in categories that include: International Poetry; International Prose/Short Stories; National Poetry; National Prose/Short-Story; Local Winner in both Poetry and Prose/Short Stories categories; Prizes for Highly Commended and National Schools.

The winner of the Ger Hanly Memorial Cup will also be selected from among the entries received.

Selected entries from this year and past submissions will be published in the new SiarScéal / Hanna Greally Literary Journal, to be launched in April 2016.

Full Competition Rules on the Website.

Enter online or by post. Entry Fees: €5 per entry; €10 for three entries

Dromineer Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions

Details of the 2015 Dromineer Literary Festival competitions. The festival will take place 1 to 4 October, 2015.


2015 POETRY COMPETITION
(Entrants over 18)
Judge: Thomas McCarthy (picture right).
Number of entries: Unlimited. Maximum Number of lines per poem: 40

Prizes: 1st. Prize €500.00; 2nd. Prize €350.00; 3rd. Prize €150.00
Entry Fee: €5 per poem. Closing date: August 25 2015
Last year's prizewinning poems (including mine!) are here.

2015 FLASH FICTION COMPETITION
(Entrants over 18)
Judges: SARAH DAVIS-GOFF and LISA COEN (Tramp Press)
Number of entries: Unlimited. Maximum Number of words per story: 500
Prizes: 1st. Prize €500.00; 2nd. Prize €350.00; 3rd. Prize €150.00
Entry Fee: €10 per entry. Closing date: August 25 2015

Aesthetica Creative Writing Award and Art Prize

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is open for entries. Now in its eighth year, the award is internationally renowned and judged by industry experts including Arifa Akbar, literary editor of The Independent.

Prizes include: £500 prize money – Poetry winner. £500 prize money – Short Fiction winner. Publication in the Creative Writing Annual. A selection of books from Vintage and Bloodaxe. Subscription to Granta. A complimentary copy of next year's Creative Writing Annual

The Aesthetica Art Prize is now open for entries! Submit your work for an opportunity to win £5,000 courtesy of Hiscox, group exhibition, publication in an anthology of 100 top international artists and other great prizes that will get your work noticed by industry, galleries and thousands of art lovers.

Prizes include: £5,000 Main Prize courtesy of Hiscox. £1,000 Student Prize courtesy of Hiscox. Group exhibition in partnership with York Museums Trust. Publication in the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology. Editorial in Aesthetica Magazine (186,000 readership worldwide)

Early Bird Entry Offer: To save 25% CLICK HERE and enter discount code SAVE5

OFFER ENDS FRIDAY 10 JULY

Boyne Berries Submissions

The submission period for Boyne Berries 18 will close on Saturday 11 July 2015. Boyne Berries 18 will be published in September 2015.

Submit no more than three poems at a time. Fiction should be 1500 words or less. Times New Roman 12 and single spacing are preferred.

Please include your submission in the body of the email and as a single word document attachment and include a short bio.

Send your work via email to orla.a.fay@gmail.com with the subject line 'Boyne Berries 18 Submission Poetry/Prose' or via post to Orla Fay, Editor, Retaine, Dunderry, Navan, Co. Meath.

Copies of Boyne Berries 17 can be ordered online here