LATEST NEWS

May 7, 2012
William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen Short Story Prize

Wes has been shortlisted for the William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Prize 2012 in Ireland, judged by Ita Daly

Ita Daly is an Irish novelist and short story writer. Born in Co. Leitrim, she now lives in Dublin. Her short stories have won the Hennessy Literary Award and the Irish Times short story competition, and are collected in The Lady with the Red Shoes. Novels include Unholy Ghosts (Bloomsbury, 1997) which was longlisted for the Impac Dublin Literary Award, All Fall Down (1992), Dangerous Fictions (1991), A Singular Attraction (1987) and Ellen (1986). She has written two books for children, Candy on the Dart (1989) and Candy and Sharon Olé (1991). In 2000 Oxford University Press published her Irish Myths & Legends

The William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen prize (3000 euros) is sponsored by William Trevor and administered by the Mitchelstown Literary Society

William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork in 1928. At 84, he is one of the 'elder statesmen of the Irish literary world'. A critically acclaimed novelist and short story writer, his awards include, the Hawthornden Prize, the Whitbread Novel Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year; the Sunday Express Book of the Year Award, the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award for Short Stories, the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction, the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2002 for 'The Story of Lucy Gault'. He was awarded an honorary CBE for his services to literature, and was made a Companion of Literature in 1994. He was awarded the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award in Irish Literature 2008. His latest novel 'Love and Summer' was shortlisted for the 2011 Impac Dublin Literary Award. An Irish émigré since the 1950s, he lives in Devon

The winner will be presented with their prize in July at the Trevor/Bowen Literary Weekend in Mitchelstown

May 1, 2012
Landfall 223

‘The Clown in You' has been accepted for publication in Landfall 223: Fantastic!, edited by NZ critic, poet and non-fiction writer David Eggleton

‘From the gothic and the carnivalesque to the speculative and beyond, this issue of Landfall pushes the bounds of the real and delves into worlds just-sideways of ours.’

Featured work includes Siobhan Harvey's shortlisted essay from the 2011 Landfall Essay Competition; fantastic fiction from Nina Seja, Raewyn Alexander, Anna Smith, and art by Barry Cleavin, Peter Madden, Sriwhana Spong, Ruth Cleland

Landfall is New Zealand's foremost and longest-running arts and literary journal. Published by Otago University Press, it showcases new fiction, poetry, essays, and cultural commentary

Landfall 223 will be published in May


April 17, 2012
The Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award

Wes has been chosen as one of the final five on the shortlist for The Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award in Ireland, selected by the judge Christine Dwyer Hickey


Christine Dwyer Hickey is an award-winning Irish novelist and short story writer. She is the author of the Dublin Trilogy: The Dancer; The Gambler, and The Gatemaker (1995-2000). Her bestselling novel Tatty was chosen as one of the 50 Irish Books of the Decade, longlisted for the Orange Prize and shortlisted for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Award. Her novel Last Train from Liguria was also a bestseller, and was nominated for the Prix L’Européen de Littérature. Her latest novel The Cold Eye of Heaven (Atlantic Books, 2011) has received wide critical acclaim and has been shortlisted for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year, and the Kerry Group Irish Novel Award

The Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious Irish prizes for an individual short story, and is administered by Listowel Writer's Week. Since its inception in 1970 the Listowel Writer's Week festival has been recognised as the primary event in Ireland's literary calendar

The award is named in honour of one of County Kerry's most beloved writers, the novelist, playwright and short story writer, Bryan MacMahon (1909 - 1998). The award is sponsored by the MacMahon family


The Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award (2,000 euros) is offered alongside the Kerry Irish Novel Award for a published novel by an Irish author, which delivers a prize of 15,000 euros. The 5 shortlisted novels for 2012 are: The Forgotten Waltz, Anne Enright; The Dead Eight, Carlo Gebler; Solace, Belinda McKeon; City of Bohane, Kevin Barry; The Cold Eye of Heaven, Christine Dwyer Hickey. The adjudicators for the Kerry Group Irish Novel Award are John Boland and Rita Ann Higgins

The shortlist for the Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award was chosen by Christine Dwyer Hickey from over 500 entries

The winner of the Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award will be announced at a festival event in St John's Theatre & Arts Centre, May 31

April 17, 2012
The Single Poem

'Xers' has been chosen as one of the final five on the shortlist for The Single Poem (Listowel Writers' Week) in Ireland, selected by the judge John McAuliffe


John McAuliffe was born in Listowel, County Kerry. He is the co-director of the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester. In 2000 he won the RTE Poet of the Future Award and, in 2002, the Sean Dunne National Poetry Award. He has published three collections to critical acclaim, his first collection ‘A Better Life’ received a major bursary from the Irish Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaion and was shortlisted for the Forward First Collection Award. His latest collection ‘Of All Places’ (Gallery Books, 2011) was an Irish Times Book of the Year, and a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. In 2010 he was Visiting Heimbold Professor of Irish Studies at Villanova University. His poems have appeared in Best Irish Poems 2008 & 2010, TLS, Poetry Ireland Review, Metre, PN Review, Poetry London and Poetry Review. He is the editor of the Manchester Review, and the online poetry digest The Page

The prize for The Single Poem (700 euros) is administered by Listowel Writer's Week

The shortlist for The Single Poem was chosen by John McAuliffe from a huge number of entries worldwide. The winner will be announced at a festival event in St John's Theatre & Arts Centre, May 31

March 26, 2012
Grist Anthologies (University of Huddersfield)

Grist have launched 'A Complicated Way of Being Ignored', the companion anthology to 'Outside the Asylum: Best Short Fiction 2012'


'Writing poetry can sometimes feel like a complicated way of being ingnored.' - CJ Allen

The poetry anthology introduces 36 new poems from established and emerging writers

'Phones, parenthood, parking permits, Grayson Perry, office cleaners, chamomile tea, cheese on toast and throwing mothers into skips. This anthology features some of the boldest, freshest and best poetry around today. Darkly humorous, spine-tinglingly poignant, and compellingly readable. A Complicated Way of Being Ignored: contemporary, original and unpretentious.' - Grist

The anthologies can be purchased from selected bookstores; Amazon; or directly from the University of Huddersfield

February 12, 2012
The Café Writers Open Poetry Competition

'Surgery Dog' has been awarded third prize in the Café Writers Open Poetry Competition in the UK by the judge Pascale Petit


Pascale Petit has published five poetry collections. Her latest, What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo, published by Seren in 2010 (UK) and Black Lawrence Press in 2011 (US), was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and was a Book of the Year in The Observer. Two of her previous books, The Zoo Father (Seren, 2001) and The Huntress (Seren, 2005), were also shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and were Books of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement and Independent. She was Poetry Editor of Poetry London from 1989 to 2005. In 2004 the Poetry Book Society selected her as one of the Next Generation Poets

Café Writers hosts monthly events at Take 5 in Norwich, 'presenting a wide range of writers performing a variety of styles: Poetry, Prose, Drama.'

'If all readings were like the Café Writers night I took part in then I'd do readings every night.' - Ali Smith

Café Writers received over 2,000 entries for the prize

The prize-giving took place at Take 5 on February 13, where the winning poets read with Pascale Petit

The winning poems are published on the Café Writers website

February 2, 2012
The Plough Prize

'A Ski for You' has been shortlisted for The Plough Prize in the UK

The prize was judged by Andrew Motion


Andrew Motion was Poet Laureate from 1999 until 2009. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was knighted for his services to literature in 2009. From 1980 to 1982 he edited the Poetry Review, and from 1982 to 1989 he was Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus. He is now a Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. His new collection of poems The Cinder Path, and his latest collection of essays Ways of Life: Places, Painters and Poets, are published by Faber

The Plough Prize (£1000 for the Open Poetry & Short Poem) is an annual prize administered by The Plough Arts Centre in Torrington, Devon. Each year it is judged by a prominent poet

'A Ski for You' was shortlisted in the Short Poem Category

January 23, 2012
Reviews of The Sleepers Almanac have started to appear:

Onya Magazine - 'The Almanac has become an institution in the space of 7 years, nurturing a who's who of Australian fiction. These works are guided by a mortal urgency, themes of mortality and efforts to remain vital . . . each possesses a voice you've never encountered before, an almost wilful evasion of the tropes and postures expected. There are names here to note for future reference.' - Nick Marland, January 23

The Sydney Morning Herald - 'Like earlier collections, this year's Almanac is another hefty contribution to the good health of short fiction in Australia' - January 21

The West Australian - 'Everyday triumphs and tragedies are briefly illuminated, the secret places of relationships laid bare. Melancholy or mischievous, elegant or experimental - together these tales showcase the variety and vibrancy of the modern short story.' - Jennifer Peterson-Ward, January 17

The Canberra Times - 'Meet Some of Australia's Best: (The Sleepers Almanac No.7 & The Best Australian Stories 2011) 'There's a satisfying variety in the subject matter and tone of the stories, and there's a nice variation in structure that keeps the reading experience here always fresh and never dull, and that makes for a very impressive anthology of writing . . . Wes Lee's 'Saul' explores death with a light touch - its oblique examination of what it means to live and what it means to die is strikingly perceptive.' - Diane Stubbings, December 17

The Age - 'This bright new instalment.' - Owen Richardson, December 3

December 10, 2011
Aesthetica Magazine

'Sinéad (1962 - 2011)' appears in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual published by Aesthetica Magazine in the UK


Aesthetica is one of the UK's foremost arts and culture magazines. Founded in 2002 by Cherie Frederico and Dale Donley, Aesthetica Magazine covers literature, visual arts, music, film and theatre

'Aesthetica engages with the arts both in the UK and internationally, combining dynamic content with compelling critical debate and pushing boundaries while exploring the best in contemporary arts and culture.'

Aesthetica is stocked in all of the major galleries, Tate Modern, Serpentine, ICA, Pompidou; distributed nationally in the UK through WH Smith, it has over 60,000 readers and is exported to 20 countries worldwide including New Zealand

Aesthetica received over 5,000 entries worldwide for the Creative Works Competition

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual presents 'a diverse anthology of short fiction and poetry from 50 international writers'

December 3, 2011
The Sleepers Almanac


'Saul' appears in The Sleepers Almanac No. 7

Based in Melbourne, Sleepers Publishing was founded by Zoe Dattner and Louise Swinn in 2003. Since its inception, Sleepers has continued to garner critical acclaim and awards for its publications which include Steve Amsterdam's Things We Didn't See Coming, winner of the Age Book of the Year, and David Musgrove's Glissando, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards in Australia

Alongside the novels, Sleepers publishes The Sleepers Almanac, an annual collection of short fiction which has met with wide acclaim

'Sleepers continues to work a crucial nerve in Australian writing.' - Nam Le (winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize for his short story collection The Boat )

The Sleepers Almanac No. 7 was launched at the Bella Union bar in Melbourne on December 1

November 29, 2011
The Troubadour Poetry Prize

'My Spanish Friend Says Yes While Watching 'Death Takes a Holiday'' has been chosen as a finalist in the Troubadour Poetry Prize in London by the judges David Harsent and Susan Wicks


David Harsent is a Visiting Professor at Sheffield Hallam University and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has published ten collections of poetry, and has received a number of awards, including the Eric Gregory Award, the Geoffrey Faber Award and the Cheltenham Festival Prize. Legion, won the Forward Prize for best collection 2005 and was shortlisted for both the Whitbread Award and the T.S. Eliot Prize. His Selected Poems was published in June 2007, and was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. His most recent collection, Night (Faber, 2011) was a Poetry Book Society Choice and is currently shortlisted for the Forward Prize, and the T.S. Eliot Prize


Susan Wicks is the author of five collections of poetry, including Singing Underwater (1992), which won the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Prize, and The Clever Daughter (1996), which was shortlisted for both T.S. Eliot and Forward Prizes; she was selected as a Poetry Society 'New Gen' poet in 1994. She is the author of two novels, The Key (1997) and Little Thing (1998). Roll Up for the Arabian Derby, her collection of short stories, was published in 2008. Her latest collection of poetry is House of Tongues (Bloodaxe, 2011)

The Annual Troubadour Poetry Prize (£2,500) is administered by Coffee-House Poetry, and receives a huge number of entries from around the world

The Troubadour, in Brompton Road, Earls Court, London, was founded in 1954 as a writers' and artists' cafe:

'Stanley Kubrick had his favourite table in the early '60s, & it soon became the hub of a folk-poetry-jazz-&-r'n'b revolution. And while acts as varied as Paul Simon, Joan Baez, Eric Clapton, Martin Carthy, the Stones, the Dubliners & Bob Dylan flourished in the cellar-club's bohemian setting, it was poetry that made the cluttered, eccentric & always-lively coffee-house a magnet for London's writers over the past 55 years.'

'The Troubadour is a towering bohemian monolith held together by the glue of time. Its purpose? To undo the tangled web of frustrated London life that barks and breeds outside its door.' - Daily Mail

David Harsent read 'My Spanish Friend Says Yes While Watching 'Death Takes a Holiday'' at the prizegiving ceremony at the Troubadour on November 28

The prizewinning poems are published on the Coffee-House poetry website

November 27, 2011
Melbourne Poets Union

'Wednesday' has been commended in the Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Prize in Australia by the judge Lisa Gorton


Lisa Gorton lives in Melbourne. Her first poetry collection, Press Release was shortlisted for the Melbourne Prize Best Writing Award and the Mary Gilmore Award, and won the Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry. She completed a doctorate at Oxford University on John Donne's poetry and prose, winning the John Donne Society Award for Best Publication in Donne Studies. She received the inaugural Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize. Her novel for children, Cloudland was one of The Age Books of the Year 2009. In 2010 she was the inaugural Poet in Residence at the Australian Poetry Centre

The Melbourne Poets Union was established in 1977. It has over 350 members, and is dedicated to 'the development of the art of poetry and its promotion.'

The award ceremony took place in Melbourne on November 25

Sponsors for the prize include Black Inc. Books, publishers of The Best Australian Poems & The Best Australian Stories series

November 23, 2011
Landfall 222

'New Brighton 1962' appears in Landfall 222: Christchurch and Beyond, edited by NZ critic, poet and non-fiction writer David Eggleton

Landfall 222 features 'post-earthquake work from Christchurch artists and writers', and writing from around New Zealand that addresses the submission call: Christchurch and Beyond

Featured work includes a special tribute to Allen Curnow on the centennial of his birth, and art portfolios by Julia Morison and Miranda Parkes

Landfall is New Zealand's foremost and longest-running arts and literary journal. Published by Otago University Press, it showcases new fiction, poetry, essays, and cultural commentary

November 17, 2011
Lightship Anthology, University of Hull

'Kabuki Eye' appears in The Lightship Anthology published by the University of Hull in partnership with Alma Books in the UK

'Kabuki Eye' was one of ten finalists chosen by Toby Litt for the Lightship Publishing Short Story Prize


Toby Litt grew up in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. He is a Granta Best of Young British Novelist and a regular on Radio 3's The Verb. He is the author of three collections of short stories and seven novels including Corpsing, deadkidsongs and King Death. His short story 'John and John' won the 2009 Manchester Fiction Prize

'I think now is a very good time for short stories. Right this moment, the heavyweight novel looks a little paunchy and flat-footed. Stories, which have always punched above their weight, seem to be able to cope better with a bludgeoning world. Jab, jab, and then wham!' - Toby Litt

Lightship Publishing is an independent publisher based in Kingston-upon-Hull, established by Irish novelist and lecturer at the University of Hull, Simon Kerr


Honorary patrons of the Lightship Publishing Prizes are: Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate and Chairman of the Man Booker Prize 2010; Christopher Reid, winner of the 2009 Costa Book Of the Year Award; Lindsay Clarke, winner of the Whitbread Prize 1989; Hilary Mantel, winner of the Man Booker Prize 2009; Cynthia Ozick, finalist in the US National Book Award 1987

'Lightship is an exciting venture, which will inspire and reward; it's a very welcome addition to the literary calendar.' - Sir Andrew Motion

'We aim to illuminate exciting literary talents and publish the best new writing in English.' - Simon Kerr, Lightship Publishing

The launch and awards ceremony was part of the University of Hull's Philip Larkin Centre series of showcase events

November 2, 2011
Outside the Asylum: Best Short Fiction 2012

'Alexander McQueen On Your Birthday', winner of the Grist New Writing Prize, appears in Outside the Asylum: Best Short Fiction 2012, published by the University of Huddersfield

Featured contributors include: Alexei Sayle, Melvin Burgess, Toby Litt:

The anthology will be launched on November 22 at the Rhubarb bar in Huddersfield, to the lively rhythms of a 15 piece samba band

READ MORE on the News Page . . .