Afric McGlinchey

NEW on our website | Ellen Orchard reviews 2025 Irish poetry collections:

🍙Morsels by Susanna Galbraith @machapress.bsky.social
🏝️The Oasis by Charles Lang @skeinpress.bsky.social
🎈After Party by Dean Browne (Picador Poetry)
💧Infinity Pool by Vona Groarke (Gallery Press)

Lovely lovely Salmon Poetry has just nominated my collection for the Piggott Prize. Fingers crossed!

A narrative sequence of poems in the imagined voice of Jeanne Baré, a young French peasant and herbalist, who became the first woman in the world to circumnavigate the world, a feat she accomplished by disguising herself as a boy in order to act as assistant to the botanist, Philibert Commerçon, on a global expedition during the Age of Exploration. Her story would have been almost lost to history, if it weren't for a brutal assault that took place, after exposure of her gender. Credited with introducing thousands of exotic new plants to Europe, she has now earned her place in history. This is her story.

HOWL opens for subs for New Irish Writing once every two years, and that window is quickly approaching! From Feb 13th - Feb 23rd you can submit your poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to HOWL 26 at howlwriting.ie

We hope we are lucky enough to receive your work!

Only a few days left to submit your short story to our anthology.

We are seeking short stories for our upcoming anthology, Modern Decadent, which embraces the fin de siècle literary and arts of the decadents, along with 19th century symbolism & aestheticism.

#booksky #writingopportunity 👇

Novel competitions 2026 Somewhat later in the New Year than I intended, but it’s taking a while for this year’s novel competitions to wake up. Nonetheless, the crop that is currently or soon to open for entrie…

New blog post: a list of upcoming novel competitions for 2026 anneolearyblog.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/n...

Short story competitions 2026 And so, we launch into another writing year with positive intentions. There are so many competitions out there it can be bewildering, but selecting even one or two to aim for can be a useful spur i…

New blog post: a shiny new list of UK and Ireland short story competitions for 2026 anneolearyblog.wordpress.com/2026/01/08/s...

László Krasznahorkai in conversation with Colm Tóibín | London Review Bookshop Our first Literary Friendships event brought together Colm Tóibín with his friend László Krasznahorkai. Described by the Guardian as a ‘visionary writer’,…

Krasznahorkai has said of his work: ‘You will never go wrong anticipating doom in my books, any more than you’ll go wrong in anticipating doom in ordinary life.’

In 2012, we recorded a 94-minute conversation with Colm Tóibín for our Bookshop podcast:

www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-vid...

László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes · Story: ‘There Goes Valzer’

László Krasznahorkai has won the Nobel prize in literature.

In our archive, from 2014:

‘My name​ is Róbert Valzer and I like walking, not that I have anything to do with the famous Robert Walser, nor do I think it strange that walking should be my favourite hobby.’

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v3...

Cartoon. Two people standing on a stage looking at a third person who is jumping down through a trap door. In the foreground we see the backs of the audience’s heads. One standing people observes “It’s just a stage he’s going through”

I have a cartoon in the current Private Eye

Ah, I managed until May! Fish has slipped in since...

2 days to go until our Publishing Day Online event! 🥳

Jam-packed with insights & advice from industry experts like publishers, agents, and publicists, don't miss out if you're thinking of publishing your work! 📖

Booking & more info: irishwriterscentre.ie/autumn-publi...

Whatever she writes, I'll be reading it.

Such a pleasure to participate in a Q &A event at the Words by Water Literary Festival in Kinsale, along with Matthew Geden and Katherine Beug. Insightful questions from our moderator, Kate Barry, and a wonderful audience! Thank you for having me.

Spotted this morning on Washington St!
♥️

#Cork #Corcaigh #Speirgorm

Happy to announce that my poem "Perish and Live Forever," which first appeared in MEXICANS ON THE MOON, has just won the @sfpoetry.bsky.social 's Dwarf Star Award for poetry. This award is for best micro poem of 10 lines or less. Many thanks to members who voted. It is a big honor. Much love!

A narrative sequence of poems in the imagined voice of Jeanne Baré, a young French peasant and herbalist, who became the first woman in the world to circumnavigate the world, a feat she accomplished by disguising herself as a boy in order to act as assistant to the botanist, Philibert Commerçon, on a global expedition during the Age of Exploration. Her story would have been almost lost to history, if it weren't for a brutal assault that took place, after exposure of her gender. Credited with introducing thousands of exotic new plants to Europe, she has now earned her place in history. This is her story.

Thanks Deborah!

Book Cover

Reading ‘One-eyed Leigh’ by Katharine Kilalea is like breaking into an empty house through an unlocked door and seeing all of the people who aren’t there in every room.

'What every poet starts from is his own emotions.' TS Eliot

Thanks for the add, Róisín. Good to be here! Nice vibe!

First post? Hmm. Just sent off my ms to my publisher. Oh, and 2025 is the beginning of my vegetarian life. So far so good!