Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Honorary Mention in the Fish Short Story Prize

Miscellaneous

I’m delighted that “The Púca’s Share” is one of the 10 prize-winning stories in this year’s Fish Short Story Prize. (There were 1256 entries to the competition 🙂

Judge Sarah Hall said of “The Púca’s Share”: “Loved the creativity and playful inventiveness of this story, which lands somewhere between adult & children’s fiction and has a real sense of folkloric verve and moral engagement to it.”

I’m looking forward to the launch of the 2024 Fish Anthology at the West Cork literary Festival on July 15.

Alone, Together

Eco-Writing Workshops, Miscellaneous, Writing, , ,

I wrote this poem at an Ecopoetry workshop in the Glens Centre last August. My prompt was a line from Amanda Gorman’s poem Earthrise: “Floating like a silver raft in space… “

Thanks to Loretta Brennan of Africa Magazine for finding the marvellous image.

Alone, Together

It is possible that we are alone
in all the quantum flip and spin,
the quark and charm
of the many-stanzaed universe,
the beginning with no beginning,
the grey entropic end.


It is possible that we are alone,
we wrens and salamanders
we spinning sycamore helicopters,
we beluga and narwhal and fungi,
we humans, entangled
with apples and worms and plastic,
with dark matter and black holes,
with fracked shale and feral fires.


It is possible that we are alone, together,
in all the sparkling riptide of stars.

One more week to enter the Allingham competitions!

Miscellaneous

The deadline has been extended until midnight on Friday, October 6.

It only costs €5 to enter – less than a cup of tea and a scone – or a cappuccino and a cookie – or a pint of Guinness.

Polish up your best poems (max 40 lines) and flash fictions (max 700 words – flash fictions are especially welcome)

And submit (or offer – writers never submit) through http://www.allinghamfestival.com/competitions

Deadline Extended for Allingham Poetry & Flash Fiction Competitions

Miscellaneous,

The deadline for entries to the 2023 Allingham Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions is being extended to Friday, 29 September. On-line and postal entries must be received by 23:59 on the 29th. Competition rules and entry forms are found at www.allinghamfestival.com.

In addition to the cash prizes of €300, the first-place winner in the 2023 Allingham Poetry Competition will also receive the newly-created Francis Harvey Poetry Award, and the first-place winner in the Flash Fiction Competition will receive the Keane Family Award.

First-, second- and third-place winners will be invited to read their work in the on-line Awards Ceremony on Friday, 10 November. Poetry entries are being judged by Kate Newmann of Summer Palace Press; Flash Fiction by Alan McMonagle (Ithaca, Laura Cassidy’s Walk of Fame).

The 2023 Allingham Festival (Nov 8-12 in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal) will include a conversation with best-selling domestic noir author Liz Nugent, readings by acclaimed children’s author Shane Hegarty, and a regional meeting of the WORD organisation of professional and aspiring writers.

Sunlight rained down…

Miscellaneous

A short extract from LeafLight Moon, the novel I’ve just finished writing. If anyone reading this blog knows of an agent who’s looking for a unique and compelling novel :-), here’s the pitch: Sligo, 4000 BC: the world of the hunter-gatherers is threatened to its core by the arrival of Ireland’s first farmers...

Published in Africa Magazine, layout Loretta Brennan.

Documenting 100 Years of History and Heritage in Co Leitrim

Miscellaneous

Artists Grainne McMenamin and Catherine Bourne are facilitating a series of public drop-in sessions, to document objects & stories from Leitrim at the time of Irish independence. They especially hope to create a fuller picture of women’s lives, so personal/domestic items and crafted/ everyday heirlooms are of great interest, especially if they have a story to tell…  Grainne and Catherine are also available for one-to-one appointments, in person or online, if the library sessions are unsuitable. They can be contacted at northworksireland@gmail.com.

The Cursing Stone, a free serialized novel from Tom Sigafoos

Literary Events, Miscellaneous

Many people who follow my blog will have met my partner – my beloved, my editor, my co-facilitator – Tom Sigafoos.

In the spirit of Charles Dickens, Margaret Atwood and Stephen King, Tom has serialized his novel “The Cursing Stone” and is making it available online for free – click here to subscribe. Here’s Tom’s message:

www.tomsigafoos.com

I’ve published The Cursing Stone, an Irish historical novel, and I’d like to invite you to read it at no cost.

County Donegal, Ireland, 1884. Your island home is threatened with evictions. How far would you go to stop them?

The fates of two men – Ruari Mullan of Tory Island, and Sub-Lieutenant William Gubby of HMS Wasp – intersect in the disastrous arc of the Irish Land Wars.

If you’ll sign up to my mailing list, I’ll send you The Cursing Stone in weekly instalments. I’ll also send Bonus Materials – photos, maps and unusual background information.

There is no cost to sign up or read the instalments. If you enjoy the novel, I’ll appreciate it if you’ll write a review. That’s the entire proposal – no strings attached.

To subscribe to The Cursing Stone, please follow this link and sign up at www.tomsigafoos.com. If you change your mind, you’ll always have the option to un-subscribe.*

Paperback and ebook versions of The Cursing Stone are also available from Lulu and Amazon.

If you know others who’d enjoy reading a lively historical novel, please forward this invitation to them as well. Questions? Please contact me at tomsigafoos@gmail.com.

Thanks and best wishes,

Tom Sigafoos

*You’ll receive an email in your primary inbox within an hour of your subscription. Others will follow every 3-4 days. If you don’t see them, please check your alternate email folders, like Social, Promotions and Spam. If you can’t find the emails, please let me know.”