Booker Prize nominee Donal Ryan is to be the judge of this year’s Wild Atlantic Words literary festival short story competition.
Donal Ryan, from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, has won several awards for his fiction, including the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award and four Irish Book Awards.
A law graduate and former civil servant, Donal has lectured in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick since 2014.
The Wild Atlantic Words short story competition is jointly sponsored by Bridge St bar and Mayo Books Press, with a first prize of €500, and second prize, €250. A reading and prize-giving ceremony will take place during the annual Wild Atlantic Words festival in October. Entry forms, along with a full list of competition rules and regulations, are available on the festival’s website, www.wildatlanticwords.ie.
The closing date for entries is Monday, July 31 at 5pm.
Founded in 2016, the Wild Atlantic Words literary festival takes place every autumn in Castlebar. This year’s festival will run from Monday, October 9th to Sunday, October 15th and will again see the welcome return of the Wild Atlantic Words Festival Dome at Bridge Lane in the town centre.
The Wild Atlantic Words festival was created to provide a platform for all literary activities celebrating the connection between the rugged Atlantic coast and the inspiration it provides for the creation of stories which help us to make sense of the world and each other.