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 Failure by the poet to apply by this date will cause the offer to that poet to be withdrawn and allow the contingency of a late funding application by another poet.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.