THE SEÁN Ó FAOLÁIN SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2017

First Prize: €2,000
(approx $2308/£1583 in May 2018), publication in the literary journal Southword, AND a week-long residency at Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat.



Second Prize: €500 and publication in Southword.



Four more shortlisted entries will be selected for publication
in Southword and receive a publication fee of €120.



The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition is an annual short story competition open to writers from around the world, submissions accepted from May to July annually. It is dedicated to one of Ireland’s most accomplished story writers and theorists, sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre. If the winner comes to Cork to collect their prize, we will lavish them with hotel accommodation, meals, drinks and VIP access to the literary stars at the Cork International Short Story Festival (7 - 11 September 2017). The Munster Literature Centre is a not-for-profit organisation; all moneys raised from the competition benefits writers and writing.

Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat www.anamcararetreat.com is again awarding a week-long residency to the first prize winner of the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition. Located just outside the colourful village of Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, Anam Cara is a tranquil spot structured to provide support and sanctuary for people working in the creative arts. It offers private and common working rooms as well as five acres of walking paths, thirty-four nooks and crannies, a river cascades and a river island, gardens, and a labyrinth meadow. Editoral consultation is also available. The prize is valued at €700. (The dates of the residency will be arranged between the writer themselves and Anam Cara, and can be scheduled before or after the week of the Cork International Short Story Festival. Otherwise, the week can be scheduled for another time of the year, at Anam Cara's discretion.)



More about 2016 Judge Danielle McLaughlin







Danielle McLaughlin’s stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines such as The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times, The South Circular, Southword, The Penny Dreadful, Long Story,Short and The New Yorker. She has won various awards for her short fiction, including the William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition 2012, The From the Well short story competition 2012, The Willesden Short Story Prize 2013, The Merriman Short Story Competition 2013 in memory of Maeve Binchy, and the Dromineer Literary Festival Short Story Competition 2013. She was shortlisted for the Writing.ie Irish Short Story of the Year category in the Irish Book Awards in 2013 and 2014, and her story ‘The Dinosaurs on Other Planets’ was shortlisted for the Davy Byrnes Award 2014. Her debut collection of short storiesDinosaurs on Other Planets will be published in Ireland by The Stinging Fly Press in autumn 2015, and in the UK (John Murray), US (Random House) and Germany (Luchterhand) in 2016.

Read her story 'The Dinosaurs on Other Planets' in The New Yorker

New Yorker interview with Danielle McLaughlin