News and Competitions

Poets from the North of Ireland: Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Derek Mahon, Paul  Muldoon, Medbh McGuckian and Ciaran Carson

 

Is the importance of Northern Irish writers all down to 'the Troubles'? 'Certainly not!' the 'Muldoon' generation would answer.

And was that next-generation's post-modern detachment the only possible response to the serious, committed poetry of the 60s/70s? Was the shift to 80s/90s wit, surrealism, tricksterism and obscurity simply a reflection of a wider shift in poetry in general, or a product of local difficulties? And how much is contemporary poetry in English influenced by both phases of that particular Renaissance.

A chance to spend Sunday discovering and discussing six major Irish poets! For more information go to:
coffee-house poetry at the troubadour

Derrybawn Bridge on the Glendassan River in County Wicklow, Ireland by Timothy J. Barron

Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition 2013

Judge: Esther Morgan

Closing date: Tuesday 9th July 2013

First Prize: £1000 and a residential writing course at Tŷ Newydd

Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competitions opens this month with a great first prize of £1000 cash and a residential course at Tŷ Newydd, The National Writers’ Centre for Wales. Tŷ Newydd is renowned for its excellent writing courses, taught by outstanding poets, in a beautiful setting.

We are delighted that Esther Morgan has agreed to judge all entries: Since winning an Eric Gregory award in 1998 Esther has produced three collections of poetry. The first, Beyond Calling Distance, was published in 2001 by Bloodaxe Books and went on to win the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and was also shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and the third, Grace, was shortlisted for the TS Eliot award in 2011. She has taught at UEA and was editor of Reactions Magazine.

Adults:  First Prize       £1000 and a week at Tŷ Newydd

            Second Prize    £500

            Third Prize       £250

See website www.poetry-festival.co.uk for details of the Young People and Children’s competition section.

Winners have the opportunity to read their poems at next year’s Ledbury Poetry Festival.

Go to www.poetry-festival.co.uk for further details of our poetry competition and to download an entry form, or telephone 0845 458 1743 and we will put a leaflet in the post for you. Entry fees: first poem £5, for each subsequent poem £3. Children and Young People enter free for first poem.

Ledbury Poetry Festival date for the diary 5 – 14 July 2013. If you wish to join our email list and receive a programme in May email: boxoffice@poetry-festival.co.uk

Ledbury was home to poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Seasiders Write!

Hello!

We hope that you and your group find something interesting at Seasiders Write! which is about to visit various coastal towns around the country.

You will also find a number of useful resources on the site at: www.seasiderswrite.co.uk

You and your members can also obtain a free copy of "How I became a highly paid writer" by simply identifying the resorts from the images on the On Tour page of the site. Starting top left and going down the left hand side of the 17 images and then top right and down to the bottom just tell us (using the contact form onsite) the name of each resort from 1-17. We`ll give you a little help and tell you that No 6 is Morecambe!

Have fun!

Kind Regards,

Neil
Neil Bromage
Freelance Writer

Morecombe, Lancashire UK

The Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing 

We would like to let you know that The Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing, sponsored by Headline and MBA Literary Agents, is calling for entries now.

New for 2014

This year we are very excited to announce that as well as our established novel writing prize we are breaking new ground and have a fantastic new flash fiction prize.

The winner of our novel writing prize will receive a cheque for £1000, an in-depth editorial consultation and exclusive lunch with publishing experts. While our flash fiction winner will see their work published online and receive £100.

Recognised by the publishing industry, The Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing was launched in 2000 and is an established award for talented new writers. Many of our previous winners have signed successful publishing deals as the result of winning this prize, including our two most-recent winners. We hope to continue our successful track record of finding talented new storytellers, who can inspire and entertain us, just as Harry Bowling did in his bestselling novels.

Visit www.harrybowlingprize.co.uk for all the information you need about the prize, including details of how you can enter, top tips on how to succeed and inspiring stories from previous winners.

Entries close on 30 September 2013 and you can follow us on twitter (@harrybowling) or on Facebook to keep up to date with all our latest news. The winner will be announced in February 2014.