Library and Arts Service Announces an Open Call for Aspiring Writers

Opportunities to get your work published are rare and then like buses two come along at once!

Cork County Council Library and Arts Service is inviting new and experienced writers to submit short stories and poems for two collections that will be published later this year. 

From the Well is Cork County Library and Arts Service’s most enduring and popular annual short story publication. The 2022 collection will be the 18th edition in the From the Well series and will feature the best original short stories submitted by adult writers who are registered Library members.  Twenty stories will be selected for inclusion in the 18th edition of the From the Well short story anthology, while the winning story and two others will feature in the 2022 West Cork Literary Festival.  The 2022 editor is the respected author Denyse Woods.

To ensure that aspiring poets would not be neglected Cork County Library and Arts Service, in 2021, launched a new poetry series which has just launched its first edition, Poems from my 5k. For the 2022 edition writers from County Cork are invited to submit newly written poems that consider the topic of A World Transformed. This poetry project is one of the outcomes of Cork County Council’s Writer in Residence programme.  The current holder of this position is Matthew Geden, a highly regarded poet in his own right, and it was through his work in 2021 that this project has taken shape.  The ambition of this new series Matthew Geden says is to give county-based writers an opportunity to compose new poems on a contemporary issue and to see that work end up in a published anthology available for others to read and enjoy.

Launching the open call the Mayor of County Cork, Cllr. Gillian Coughlan said,” We were blessed in 2021 with two fantastic publications, Evening Walk and Poems from My 5K, and I am so pleased to see that we will get two more amazing collections of work from some amazing local and national talents in 2022 too. I am looking forward to immersing myself in a whole new set of tales and tomes this year again!”

Tim Lucey, Chief Executive says “Cork County has always fostered a creative spirit in its people, and we are so pleased to be able to continue to offer outlets for this creativity in 2022 and beyond.”

Applications should be submitted online through YourCouncil.ie by click the links below.

The Closing date for From the Well Short Story competition is  Friday 29th April at 5:00 p.m.

Apply here: From the Well Short Story Competition.

The closing date for A World Transformed is Friday 13th May at 4pm

Apply here: A World Transformed.

For further information about both open calls email us at: arts@corkcoco.ie

Cork County Council grateful acknowledges the support of Arts Council