Renowned author to judge Mayo short story competition

Booker Prize nominee Mike McCormack has been named as judge of this year’s Wild Atlantic Words festival’s short story competition.

The Mayo man is the author of two collections of short stories, Getting it in the Head and Forensic Songs, and four novels, Crowe’s Requiem, Notes from a Coma, Solar Bones and This Plague of Souls.

In 1996, he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Literature and Getting it in the Head was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In 2006, Notes from a Coma was shortlisted for the Irish Book of the Year Award. In 2016, Solar Bones was awarded the Goldsmiths Prize and the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Novel of the Year and Book of the Year; it was also long-listed for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. In 2018, it was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award. He is a member of Aosdána.

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 of €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. The closing date for entries is Wednesday, July 31, at 5pm.

Founded in 2016, the Wild Atlantic Words festival takes place every autumn in Castlebar. This year’s festival will run from Monday, October 7 to Sunday, October 13 and will once 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. Previous guests have included former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, plus a host of acclaimed national and international authors, including Katriona O’Sullivan, Donal Ryan, Sally Rooney, Billy Keane, Professor Diarmaid Ferriter, Dominic Price, Senator Marie Louise O’Donnell, Maureen Gaffney, Paul Brady, Michael O’Connor, Tommie Gorman, John Healy and many, many more.