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The Stony Thursday Book is seeking submissions from local, national and international poets for its next issue, to be published as part of Cuisle, Limerick City International Poetry Festival* in October 2011.

The Stony Thursday Book was founded by Limerick poets John Liddy and Jim Burke in 1975, and has also been edited by Mark Whelan, Kevin Byrne, Patrick Bourke and Knute Skinner and Thomas McCarthy.

Closing date for submissions is August 12th 2011. Submission (and further information) from artsoffice@limerickcity.ie or from The Arts Service, Limerick City Council, 061 407363 or 061 407421

*Cuisle, Limerick City International Poetry Festival will take place in Limerick from 12th – 15th  October and is funded by The Arts Council, Limerick City Council and Shannon Development

Breaking the Mould, a new literary journal, is seeking poetry, prose, short stories, essays and criticism submissions.

For more information, see the journal’s website, www.breakingthemould.org or email editor Peter Doyle  at 09001980@studentmail.ul.ie.

Please send submissions with a S.A.E. and enclosed fee to 10 Ross Castle Grove, Ross Road, Killarney, Co. Kerry. Electronic submissions will also be accepted via email, the address listened above.

The second Creative Writing Summer School, Writing Without Borders, takes place at the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies, UCD Belfield, Dublin from 30th August to 1st September 2011.

The summer school will comprise of morning and afternoon creative writing classes and master-classes and is aimed at writers at all levels.  The faculty comprises Dermot Bolger, Theo Dorgan, Tess Gallagher, Claire Keegan, Nessa O’Mahony and Peter Sirr.

Workshops will be kept to a maximum of 25 participants, and delegates will be charged a fee of €300, to cover costs of tuition and lunch (catered for in UCD). Accommodation in UCD is available on request.

For more information, contact Nessa O’Mahony at nessa.omahony@ucd.ie or visit http://www.ucd.ie/johnhume/summerprogramme/writingwithoutborders/index.html.

Shortlist for the 2011 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award

The six shortlisted books are:

Gold Boy, Emerald Girl by Yiyun Li (Beijing-born, American Resident)
Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod (Canadian debutante)
Saints and Sinners by Edna O’Brien (Irish)
Death is Not an Option by Suzanne Rivecca (American Debutante)
The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín (Irish)
Marry or Burn by Valerie Trueblood (American)

The shortlist has a majority of women including Irish grandee Edna O’Brien and inaugural winner (2005) of the award Yiyun Li. There are two young debutantes, Canadian Alexander MacLeod and American Suzanne Rivecca. American novelist Valerie Trueblood is shortlisted with her first short story collection and the shortlist is completed by the Irish literary heavyweight Colm Tóibín.

It is the first year two Irish authors have been shortlisted for this, the world’s largest and most prestigious award for the Short Story. Established in 2005 the award is in the gift of the Munster Literature Centre and funded by Cork City Council. It is awarded for what is judged to be the best original short story collection published in English between July 1st 2010 and June 30th 2011.

The award will be presented at the culmination of the Cork International Short Story Festival on Sunday September 18th.

The 2011 jury consists of Alannah Hopkin, Irish novelist and short story writer, Chris Power, music and book critic for the Guardian, BBC and London Times, Thomas McCarthy, Irish poet, novelist and librarian.

1. The Registrar of Irish PLR has announced that the final date for receipt of new PLR registration forms for the Irish PLR year 2011 is Friday September 2nd, 2011 at 5:00 p.m.

2. If you are already registered for Irish PLR, please note that the final date for receipt of additional book forms for the Irish PLR year 2011 is Friday September 2nd, 2011 at 5:00 p.m.

Further information on registering additional books can be found at
http://www.plr.ie/2011/07/10/registering-additional-books/

3. Books registered after that date will be included for PLR year 2012.

Project awards – deadline Thursday, 1 September 2011
The Arts Council will offer the following Project awards for activities commencing in 2012.

• Arts Participation Project Award
• Circus Project Award
• Dance Project Award
• Film Project Award
• Music Project Award
• Street Arts and Spectacle Project Award
• Theatre Project Award
• Visual Arts Project Award

The awards support specific project activities under each artform/arts practice area. The Award Guidelines for each award can be downloaded from the available funding section of the Arts Council’s website. The deadline for all the above awards is 5.30pm on Thursday 1 September 2011. Applications will only be accepted through the online services website and all supporting material must be submitted online. Applicants who have not previously used this system must register in advance of making an application.  It is recommended that applicants allow five days for registration prior to making an application. The window for making an online application opens on 1 August 2011. The awards are open to individuals and organisations. Organisations in receipt of funding under any of the main Arts Council grant programmes (Regularly Funded Organisations, Annual Funding, Annual Programming Grant) will not be eligible to apply.

Applications are now invited for the Creative Writing Workshops at the 2011 Mountains to Sea Book Festival. Aspiring writers can look forward to participating in these workshops with tutors from Monday 5th through to Friday 9th September.

Applicants are invited to send in sample pieces of their work for the tutors to assess. Please send to:

c/o Festival Director, Tim Carey
Dun Laoghaire, Rathdown County Council
County Hall, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire

by August 12th, with successful applicants being informed after that date.

Course fees are €95 per successful applicant.

More information at http://www.mountainstosea.ie/

Pat Speight presents a day-long workshop on July 23rd, from 10am -4.30pm at the Camden Palace Hotel Community Centre in Cork City. The workshop will cost €40 ( with a €30 concessions price). There is a limit to the workshop size, so book in advanced by emailing Fiona (fioling@iol.ie) or Jack (quighie@yahoo.com).

This workshop will concentrate on an approach to repertoire from traditional sources and with a range of storytelling techniques. Pat Speight is one of Ireland’s best known storytellers carrying on the timeless art of this oral tradition.

This workshop has been organised with the assistance of a Deis Grant from the Traditional Arts Office of the Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon

Submissions for the next issue of Cartys Poetry Journal are now being saught. The journal accepts all kinds of poetry, from rhyming / new formalist to spoken word / free verse, and all forms of Japanese poetry from Haiku to Tanka.

Translations are also welcome, as are reviews of books published, photos of events, etc.

See www.cartyspoetryjournal.com/ for more information.

The Irish Writers’ Center presents an intensive 5-day course taught by novelist, performer and playwright Mia Gallagher. The course will focus on developing and understanding characters. The course will employ writing exercises, theatre games and a high level of feedback and dialogue. Participants are urged to bring along any particularly recalcitrant, difficult or inaccessible fictional characters they might be working on.

The morning sessions will be tutored by Mia, with a different guest speaker each afternoon. Guest Speakers for this week-long course are Michelle Read, Billy Roche, Denis Kehoe and Deirdre Kinahan.

The course runs 8-12th August from 11.00am-4.00pm and costs a total of €375 per participant.