RT Radio Francis Mac Manus competition shortlist announced

RT Radio 1 Francis Mac Manus competition shortlist announced RT Radio 1 today announced a shortlist of 25 stories for the Francis Mac Manus Short Story Competition 2015.

There were almost 700 entries for the 2015 competition and the judges commented that this year's shortlist features an eclectic range of styles and voices' and is of an exceptionally high standard'. The shortlisted authors are listed below.

The overall winner will be announced on Tuesday 29 September. The author of the overall winning story will receive 3,000. Prizes of 2,000 and 1,000 will be awarded to the authors of the second and third winning stories respectively.

All 25 shortlisted stories will be broadcast on RT Radio 1, beginning with the overall winning story on Monday 5 October at 11.10pm.

The competition for original short stories for radio was established in 1986 in memory of the RT broadcaster and novelist, Francis Mac Manus (1909-1965). Since then it has been a source of encouragement and support for new and emerging writers. Previous winners include Claire Keegan, Ciar n Folan, Ivy Bannister, Nuala N Chonch ir and Martin Malone.

The judges for this year's competition were Evelyn Conlon, Katy Hayes and Cormac Kinsella.

About the Judges

Evelyn Conlon

Evelyn Conlon is a novelist, short story writer and editor whose novels include Stars in the Daytime, A Glassful of Letters, Skin of Dreams and her latest novel, Not the Same Sky, published by Wakefield Australia, due in Ireland in 2015. Her three collections of short stories include Telling, New and Selected Stories, many of which have been translated and anthologised worldwide, the latest into Tamil. She lives in Dublin.

Katy Hayes

Katy Hayes' first book was a collection of short stories, Forecourt, published after the title story won the Mercier Press Golden Jubilee Award in the Francis Mac Manus Awards in 1994. She has since published three novels: Lindbergh's Legacy and comic novels Gossip and Curtains. She has written a number of stage adaptations and plays, including The Sun Always Rises for RT Radio 1's Drama on One. She has been Writer-in-Residence with DLR County Council and also for the MA in Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at University College Dublin. She teaches creative writing with the University of Iowa Summer Program. She also works as a journalist.

Cormac Kinsella

Cormac Kinsella is Publicity Director of book sales and marketing company, Repforce Ireland Ltd. He promotes books in Ireland for a number of UK-based and Irish publishers as well as promoting the C irt International Festival of Literature and the Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival. He is a former bookseller and is on the advisory committees of The Folio Prize and The BGE Irish Book Awards.

Aoife Nic Cormaic (non-voting Chair)

Aoife Nic Cormaic is the series producer of The Francis Mac Manus Short Story Competition. During her time with RT she has worked on a wide variety of programmes, including Rattlebag, The Arts Show, Arts Tonight, Off the Shelf, The Poetry Programme and Today with Pat Kenny. She currently produces RT Radio 1's long running Sunday morning programme, Sunday Miscellany.

Website: www.rte.ie/radio1/francis-macmanus-short-story/

WRITERS SHORTLISTED FOR THE FRANCIS MAC MANUS SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2015 (listed in alphabetical order)

Irish Gothic: Waiting for Samhain' by Kathryn Burke

The Lobster Pot' by David Butler

Keyhole Cut' by Mary Butler

Bleep' by Thomas Connolly

Half-A-Boy' by Anne Walsh Donnelly

The Prodigal' by Tanya Farrelly

Flame' by Fiona Gartland

The Bridge' by Joanne Hayden

All in my Head' by Aideen Henry

When Blue Snowflakes Fall' by Eoin Lane

Lan Zhou Lost' by Jim Lydon

Checkpoint' by Pat J. Mullan

Waiting' by Damien Murphy

The Kiss' by Riona Judge McCormack

The Act' by Colm McDermott

Sweep Low and Scatter the Birds' by Kevin Mary McDermott

Transference' by Joe McKiernan

Envelopes' by Neasa McHale

The Border Fox' by Billy O'Callaghan

Stoppin' the Silence' by Eleanor O'Reilly

Song of the Seals' by Silke O'Reilly

In Mrs. D's' by Alice Redmond

Dates' by Joseph Smith

Small Yellow Sun' by Dolores Walsh

Down Watery Lane' by Alan Weadick

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2015/0921/72928...
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