Write like Hemingway
The winner of a fiction-writing competition is to have the opportunity to work in the Key West writing studio that was once the sanctum of Ernest Hemingway, one of America’s greatest authors.
Organisers of the Florida Keys Flash Fiction Contest announced the competition at the 34th annual Key West Literary Seminar. The Flash Fiction competition is open to residents of the United States and other selected countries, including the UK and Ireland, who are at least 21 years old. Entries are limited to 500 words or less, and all must be submitted via the contest's official website by March 31st.
The prize includes a $1,500 air travel card and accommodation in a residency cottage at The Studios of Key West for 21 nights between July 5 and July 31, 2016. A $500 US debit card is included for meals and incidentals, as is a Key West Attractions Association VIP pass and admission to various events during the Hemingway Days festival set for July 19th-24th.
But the most treasured part of the prize is an opportunity to spend up to 10 days writing in the studio that Ernest Miller Hemingway used when he lived in the Spanish colonial estate at 907 Whitehead St. in Key West throughout most of the 1930s.
“We have never provided this kind of chance for anyone before,” said Mike Morawski, chief executive officer of the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum. “For a writer to be able to occupy Hemingway’s same space and soak in the same creative atmosphere he did is a priceless opportunity.”
It was in Key West that the winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature penned some of his most famous works including The Green Hills of Africa, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and For Whom the Bell Tolls.
When Hemingway needed a respite from writing, he often went sport-fishing off the Florida Keys or visited Sloppy Joe’s Bar, owned by his friend and fishing companion Joe Russell.
Trinity lectures
Trinity College Dublin’s School of English presents a spring evening lecture series, Literature and Revolutions, inspired by the centenary of the Easter Rising. Some talks will focus on this historic occasion and its impact on Ireland’s literature and culture while the rest will explore other revolutions along with their literary dimensions.
The series begins on Tuesday, January 19th, at 7pm, in the Jonathan Swift Theatre, Arts Building, with Prof Eve Patten on The Novel and 1916. Prof Patten will discuss the representation of the 1916 Easter Rising in fiction, looking at a range of novels from 1917 to the present day, from Eimear O’Duffy to Roddy Doyle, to assess the role of the novel in depicting the revolutionary generation of Ireland’s early twentieth century.
Other talks in the series are: The Beastly Rebels of 1381 by Brendan O’Connell (January 26th); Edmund Burke: Prophet of Doom by David O’Shaughnessy (February 2nd); Nineteenth century scientific revolutions in HG Wells’s The Time Machine by Clare Clarke (February 9th); In the wars: Irish writing, 1914-1945 by Gerald Dawe (February 16th); 1968 and Writing the Troubles by Tom Walker (February 23rd); Revolution, failed: The Spirit of ’68 up against the wall” by Sam Slote (March 1st); Literary and cinematic afterlives of the Prague Spring by Ema Vyroubalová (March 8th); You say you want a revolution? The Beatles in the 1960s by Darryl Jones. (March 15th); and Changed Times: 1916 and Irish Time by Chris Morash (March 22nd).
The cost is €50 for the entire series. Individual lectures are €6 each. It is possible to pay on the door at the night but only those who have pre-booked can be guaranteed admission. A full programme and booking form is available on the Oscar Wilde Centre website.
Frankenstein competition
The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association has announced the call for entries for the 2016 Keats-Shelley Prize. The theme, chosen to mark the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s celebrated novel, is After Frankenstein.
The prize is awarded annually for essays and poems on Romantic themes. It was established to encourage writers to respond creatively to the work of the Romantics, and offers £4,000 in prize money across various categories. The competition is open to all aspiring writers, from the ages of 16 upwards, with adult prizes for poems and essays, and a Young Romantics Prize, inaugurated last year, which also includes a short story category.
The judging panel will be chaired by author and academic, Richard Holmes, well-known for his biographical studies of Shelley and Coleridge, and the jury includes Irish poet Matthew Sweeney; poet, editor and lecturer, Jo Shapcott; and Profs Sharon Ruston and Simon Bainbridge.
The deadline for entries is week beginning February 1st. The winners will be announced in April.
Full details of how to enter the competition are available from the competition website.
Penny Dreadful shortlist
The shortlist for the inaugural Penny Dreadful Novella Prize was announced earlier this month. The writers and their novellas are: Kerrie O’ Brien – Kind of Like Soft Creatures; Fin Keegan – The Third Life; Jasper Douglas Pyne – The Straightforward Complexities of the Past; Tom Sigafoos – Pool of Darkness; Oisin O’Neill Fagan – The Hierophants. The chosen novellas have been sent to the judges – Colin Barrett, Paul McVeigh and Sara Baume. The winner will be announced by the end of January.
Battle of the Bookclubs
David McWilliams hosts the bestseller of all book quizzes, the Battle of the Bookclubs IV, on Friday, February 5th, at 8pm, in Griffith College Bar, South Circular Road, Dublin 8. This is a benefit gig organised by the members of a Dublin bookclub, who are mainly women living in Dublin 8, as a fun way to support the fundraising efforts of one of their members, Adrienne Murphy, whose 12-year-old son Caoimh has severe non-speaking autism. She has set up a fund called the Caoimh Connolly Trust to fund the vital specialist education, therapy, care and support that is helping Caoimh fulfil his potential. All money raised will go to the trust. To reserve a table call Aisling on 087 8278343.
London literary evening
The Irish Literary Society, in association with London Metropolitan University, is to host a special event reflecting on the Irish Literary Revival (1891-1922) at at the Bloomsbury Hotel, Gt Russell St, LondonWC1, on Monday, January 25th, at 7.30pm.
Writers representing various literary forms will join academics in discussion on the artistic legacy of the revival. The playwright Marina Carr, poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and novelist Jennifer Johnston will discuss the influence of the revival on their work and the place of the artist in Ireland after independence.
Prof Declan Kiberd and Dr PJ Mathews of University College Dublin, joint editors of the recent Handbook of the Irish Revival, will present a literary and historical overview of the period. Dr Tony Murray, director of the Irish Studies Centre, will chair the evening. Tickets are free for members, non-members can pay £5 via the ILS website or on the night at the door.
Rob Doyle launch
Gavin Corbett launches Rob Doyle’s new short story collection, This is the Ritual (Bloomsbury), his follow-up to the acclaimed Here are the Young Men, on Wednesday, January 27th, 6.30 pm, at Hodges Figgis, Dawson St, Dublin 2.
