Cork has four significant literary festivals; Cork International Poetry Festival, Cork World Book Festival, Cork International Short Story Festival and the Winter Warmer Festival. These festivals are key elements of Cork literary calendar, attracting quality writers and engaged audiences. This is the first of what we hope will be regular editions of a Cork anthology, to include limited print editions, with a selection of contemporary writers. In the city there are many supports for creative writing and writers. The libraries are popular spaces for book launches for both established and emerging writers. ‘Ó Bhéal’ and ‘Fiction at the Friary’ host regular sessions for writers and readers to meet and interact. There is the range of supports offered by the Munster Literature Centre, and the MA in creative writing in University College Cork. Despite all this and while the interested public are well aware of what is happening, much needs to be done to have Cork recognised nationally and internationally as a writers’ city. For project, we asked Cork writers, some well-known, some not so, to contribute poems and prose pieces to this first anthology.  It is the first step in having our city recognised as a city of writers and one where new writing is encouraged and supported.

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.