Short Stories

JUDGING ALLINGHAM FLASH

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A little reminder that I am judging the Allingham Flash Comp this year, and winners will be published in a special issue of the e-journal I edit, Splonk. See their Press Release below.

2024 Allingham Flash Fiction Competition

Entries in the 2024 Allingham Flash Fiction Competition will be judged by Nuala O’Connor, acclaimed author of SEABORNE and editor of the e-journal Splonk. Deadline for entries is 29 September.

NORA by Nuala O’Connor was chosen as Dublin’s One City One Book novel in 2022 and was selected as was a Top 10 historical novel by the New York Times. Her sixth novel SEABORNE about Irish-born pirate Anne Bonny has been published in April 2024 by New Island. Nuala O’Connor won Irish Short Story of the Year at the 2022 Irish Book Awards, and she serves as editor of the flash e-journal Splonk. She lives and writes in Galway. www.nualaoconnor.com.

First-, Second- and Third-Place winners of the Poetry and Flash Fiction awards will read their winning entries at the Literary Lunch at noon on Saturday, 9 November during the 2024 Allingham Festival. In addition to the First-Place €300 cash award, winning entries in the 2024 Flash Fiction Competition will also be published in Splonk https://splonk.ie/.

The 2024 Allingham Festival will run from 6-10 November in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal. Highlights of the Festival will include a keynote speech on Artificial Intelligence by RTE broadcaster Richard Curran, and a concert by delta-blues prodigy Muireann Bradley. Details of the Festival, including rules and entry forms for the Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions, are posted on-line at www.allinghamfestival.com.

Winner – Irish Short Story of the Year

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I was genuinely delighted to win Short Story of the Year at the Irish Book Awards for my story This Small Giddy Life about two daughters and their wandering, wonderful mother who gets dementia. My own mother is living with this curious condition, so it is a close-to-my-heart story. You can read the story in the New Island anthology, A Little Unsteadily Into Light, available here.

Thanks so much to An Post (awards sponsors) and writing.ie (short story award sponsors), especially Vanessa O’Loughlin. Thanks to New Island books and editor Jan Carson, for commissioning the story. We had a lovely night of celebration last night at the Convention Centre in Dublin. See my insta for (not many more) pics here.

Shortlisting – Short Story of the Year

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Shortlisted! My dementia story *This Small Giddy Life* from the New Island Books anthology A Little Unsteadily Into Light is up for the writing.ie Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards 2022. We had a lovely shortlisters’ event at the GPO last night. This story is meaningful to me as I took elements of my mother’s dementia to fictionalise. She’s still with us, and doing well, TG.

Voting is open now, see all shortlistees below: Vote here.

Thanks to editors Jan Carson & Jane Lugea and all at New Island & Vanessa of Writing.ie. This is my fifth Book Awards shortlisting, maybe this year I’ll take something home other than memories of a great, chat-filled, glammy night. The big event is the 23rd November and I can’t wait!

Neil Paul of Tertulia Books, Mayo, and Nuala
The 2002 Story of the Year shortlist

SHORT STORY OF THE YR – LONGLIST

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One of my short stories – can’t say which for now – has been longlisted in the An Post Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year category, run by writing.ie, which is lovely.

Shortlist will be announced 20th October. So crossing fingers!

Here are the longlisted writers:

Roisín O’Donnell
Eamon McGuinness
Wendy Erskine
Nuala O’Connor
Tim MacGabhann
Sheila Armstrong
Danielle McLaughlin
David Butler
Neil Tully
Colin Barrett
Twist Phelan
Rebecca Miller

Roddy Doyle interview

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I’m interviewing Roddy Doyle, online at Politics and Prose in Washington, about short fiction. This event celebrates the USA publication day for Roddy’s book Life Without Children, which is a warm, funny, poignant collection of ten stories. Join us! 5pm USA, 10pm Ireland. More here.

11th Dec. – READING WITH MÁIGHRÉAD MEDBH

Birdie, Flash Fiction, News

Máighréad Medbh and I will be doing an online flash fiction and poetry reading on Friday December 11th at 7pm, Irish time. We’d be delighted if you’d join us, to hear us read and celebrate the publication of Máighréad’s new book, Imbolg.

Time: Dec 11, 2020 07:00pm GMT
To join the Zoom Event email in advance: maighreadmedbh@gmail.com

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Nuala O’Connor lives in Co. Galway, Ireland. Her forthcoming fifth novel, NORA, is about Nora Barnacle, wife and muse to James Joyce; it appears in January 2021 in the USA and in Ireland in April. Her new chapbook of historical flash fiction, Birdie, was recently published by Arlen House. Nuala is editor at flash e-zine Splonk.

Máighréad Medbh lives in Dublin. Imbolg, just published by Arlen House, is her eighth book of poetry, and incorporates older work with a sequence written this year. Her previous book, Parvit of Agelast, is a verse fantasy and was shortlisted for the 2017 Pigott Prize. She has also published a prose work, Savage Solitude, with Dedalus Press. She has been known as a performance poet, and is currently working on a creative-critical PhD at DCU.

MMedbh Imbolg Cover 2.jpg
Birdie-Cover-803x1024.png

Imbolg can be bought here:https://www.bookdepository.com/Imbolg…/9781851322473

Birdie can be bought as an ebook here: https://books2read.com/u/mKzXkV
For Kindle here: https://amzn.to/3ogSJLO
Hard copy here: https://www.kennys.ie/shop/Birdie-O-Connor-Nuala or here: https://www.bookdepository.com/