Welcome to the Munster Literature Centre submissions manager

 

Southword

Southword is a print literary journal published twice a year by the Munster Literature Centre. Southword has published the likes of Medbh McGuckian, Helen Ivory, Haruki Murakami, James Lasdun, Kim Addonizio, Tess Gallagher, Colm Tóibín and Vona Groarke.

Our summer issue is composed of prizewinning entries from our Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition, Southword Editor's Poetry Award, Seán O'Faoláin International Short Story Competition, and Subscriber Poetry & Flash Fiction Competitions, as well as specially commissioned work.

Unsolicited submissions of poetry and short fiction (for our winter issues) are open annually as follows:

POETRY: 1st ‒ 31st January 

FICTION: 1st ‒ 28th February

Our Submittable account limit means that we can only receive 1000 submissions per month, so if we reach this limit before the end of January (for poetry) or February (for fiction), the submission link will automatically close and we won't be able to accept any further submissions.

Southword pays contributors €50 per poem and €300 per short story. We welcome submissions of up to four poems or one short story (of up to 5000 words) per submission period. If your work has been selected from an unsolicited submission and published in Southword before, we ask that you please don’t submit for one year before submitting again – for example, if you were accepted in the last open submission period (2024) it means you need to skip this one (2025) and wait for the next (2026).

Subscribe or buy individual issues here.


Aneas

Iris nua 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 fearr atá ag saothrú na Gaeilge inniu, idir óg is aosta. Is é an mana eagarthóireachta a leagadh amach don iris, thar aon rud eile, ná caighdeán ard scríbhneoireachta.

Cuirfidh an iris bhliantúil litríochta Gaeilge Aneas fáilte roimh ábhar don ó scríbhneoirí na Gaeilge idir 1 Aibreán agus 1 Bealtaine 2024. Dánta agus gearrscéalta amháin atáthar ag glacadh leo faoi láthair. Ní mór don ábhar a bheith neamhfhoilsithe. Cuirfear fáilte roimh ábhar ó scríbhneoirí bunaithe agus guthanna nua araon. Díolfar €40 ar gach dán agus €200 ar gach gearrscéal a fhoilseofar. Seol gearrscéal  nó suas le trí dhán.

Dialann a cheannach.

 

Other opportunities for publications, mentorships, readings and more will appear here periodically throughout the year.

 

Annual Competitions

Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition (open for entries 1st May to 31st July).

Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition (open for entries 1st June to 31st August).

Southword Editor’s Poetry Award (Open for entries 1 July – 30 September).

Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition (open for entries 1st September to 30th November).


Questions/troubleshooting on using Submittable system

E-mail support@submittable.com or visit their help centre.

The Southword Festival Review Challenge

The Munster Literature Centre is offering prizes for the best reviews of the 2024 Cork International Short Story Festival, written by a current student of University College Cork.

First Prize €350
Second Prize €150

The review must refer to at least four events, but the more comprehensive the better.
There is no word limit. Either or both of the winning reviews may be reproduced on the festival website: www.corkshortstory.net

Submit by submittable. Deadline: October 31st.

The Munster Literature Centre will provide annual sponsorship of 750 euro as follows:

250 reading fee to a Cork poet
500 euro in funds to PNV to defray accommodation and translation costs connected to the participation by a Cork city or county resident poet in the Velestovo Nights Poetry Festival (each August).

The Cork poet must be a poet who has not read at a Macedonian poetry festival already. The Cork poet must have published at least one poetry chapbook, either published by a reputable publisher or a self-published chapbook reviewed in a reputable outlet.

From all eligible applicants the poet receiving the bursary will be chosen by Juliana Velickovska, director of PNV publishing and Velestovo Nights Poetry Festival.

The chosen poet must subsequently make an application to Culture Ireland for funds to cover travel expenses. The Munster Literature Centre can provide advice in the composition of the Culture Ireland grant application by the poet and will monitor the progress of their application.

 

Applicant poets writing in Irish or English must supply a literary CV and the texts of ten poems (Irish language poems should come with cribs or translations into English, as the applications will be assessed by Ms. Velickovska) combined in a single word document. Ms. Velickovska will select  at least five poems by the chosen poet to be translated into Macedonian for the purposes of presentation at the festival, both as spoken word and in print. The Cork poet must be in a position to grant rights (at no further cost) to their poems for this purpose.

 

Timeline
October 31st Deadline for receipt of applications.
November 30th Ms. Velickovska will communicate her choice of poet to the Munster Literature Centre who will inform the poet. The poet must then prepare an application to Culture Ireland for travel funding for submission by February 6th ( the first funding round of the year). Failure by the poet to apply by this date will cause the offer to that poet to be withdrawn and allow the contingency of a late funding application by another poet.

 

In a social justice initiative, the Munster Literature Centre is offering free entries of two poems each for thirty poets currently residing in a developing country (Africa, Central and South America, South East Asia, the Philippines, in the main) who do not have the financial means to pay the entrance fee for this year’s Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition. The places are offered on a trust basis. If you can afford the fee, we implore you not to use this facility as you will be depriving someone who really needs it. Only one free entry of two poems per person is allowed. Anyone who submits more than one free entry of two poems will have all their entries disqualified.

Submit the following information:

  • Your name
  • Titles of your poems (maximum of two)
  • Your complete postal address
  • Your email address
  • Your complete phone number (including country code)

You will need to upload two documents:

  • Cover letter containing a bio note and the same information listed above
  • Your poems, maximum of two, each with a maximum of 40 lines in Word or other text documents – we cannot accept PDFs. Please use the title of the poem (or the first few words of the title) as the title of each document. As the competition is judged anonymously, we request that you do not write your name or personal details anywhere on this document.

Under no circumstances can any further fees-free entries be accepted once the Submittable portal closes. No changes to entries can be made after they have been submitted.

This portal is for fees-free entries only. For information on how to make a fees-paid entry and for more info on prizes and entry conditions, please go here.