Writing.ie

Competition deadline: 31st July 2026 The International Dark Poets Prize, the flagship competition from Dark Poets Club, is now open for entries, inviting poets from around the world to submit work that explores the beauty, complexity and emotional depth found within darkness. Now in its fifth edition, the competition has grown into an international platform for dark poetry, attracting thousands of submissions from poets across more than 45 countries.

Beneath the Twist: Lindsay Kent, author of My Twin the Murderer, on the challenges of writing a thriller with an emotional core . . . To me, every great thriller shares one essential trait: beneath the twists, revelations, and pulse-quickening suspense, there is something deeply human at stake. The stories that linger aren't memorable simply because of what happened, but because of why it mattered. Beneath the danger lies grief, love, betrayal, longing.

Eason, Ireland's leading book retailer, is thrilled to announce a significant partnership with Macmillan Children's Books and Children's Books Ireland to launch a heartwarming "Buy One,...

Competition deadline: 1st September 2026 The Milk House and The Daily Yonder invite submissions to the Best in Rural Writing Contest. $700 in Prizes $10 Entry Fee Fiction and Nonfiction (7,000 word...

Book versus Phone My debut novel is a young adult murder mystery set in Co. Cork, written specifically to address one of the biggest challenges facing reading culture today: the dramatic fall-off in young readers. On the surface, this book is a fast-paced, humorous whodunnit. At its heart, is an attempt to put a book back in the hands of those teenagers (mine included!) who have put books down. I could see it every day - a screen killing my daughters' capacity to sit with just words on a page.

There are not many days that are as exceptional or as captivating or evocative as Bloomsday. This year heralds the celebration of its 122 nd anniversary. It proclaims the most extravagant celebration of a unified relationship. It is a deep expression of a perennial love that still blooms with every passing year. It is a product of the relationship that developed between Nora Barnacle and James Joyce.

Competition deadline: 31st August 2026 The James Tate Poetry Prize is open to new, emerging and established poets from any country writing in English. We prefer innovative, experimental, surrealist...

Things we say: author Mo Fanning on the writing of his grown-up romantic comedy about love, Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine. Nobody asking how you are expects you to say anything other than 'fine' or some variation on that specific theme. 'Fine' is our universal safe word. An indication the subject isn't up for discussion. When AI eventually comes up with a way to reverse-engineer everything I've ever said and done in my life, I expect to be presented with one of those word-cloud diagrams.

Laurel Corona, author of Aloha Wanderwell Takes the Wheel: What It's Like to Write Another Book When Ten Years Ago I Swore I Wouldn't I said I was done writing historical fiction. I originally had four ideas for novels, and I had written them all. I felt so beaten up by everything about the publishing process that I wouldn't subject myself to it again. I wasn't willing to make the sacrifices to health, relationships, and overall well being that getting deeply engrossed in writing a book entails.