Hennessy New Irish Writing

The Hennessy literary award for new Irish writing rewards excellence in writing short fiction and poetry. The Irish Times is its new home

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How to enter Hennessy New Irish Writing

Hennessy NIW

Are you a new Irish writer? We want to read your work

Hennessy Story of the Month: Feburary

The Favour, a short story by Clare O’Dea

Clare O'Dea
February 27, 2016

This month’s Hennessy New Irish Writing winning story explores the hidden cost in giving a great gift

Hennessy Poem of the Month: Feburary

Turlough and Overseen, two poems by Paul McMahon

Paul McMahon
February 27, 2016

February’s two Hennessy New Irish Writing winning poems

Hennessy Story of the Month: January

The Taking of Mrs Kennedy, a short story by Rachel Donohue

Rachel Donohue
January 30, 2016

This month’s Hennessy New Irish Writing winner, the story of a love affair and a betrayal, with its origins under the Caravaggio at the National Gallery of Ireland

Hennessy NIW poems of the month

The Whitethorn Tree, by Nora McGillen

Nora McGillen
January 30, 2016

This month’s Hennessy New Irish Writing poetry winner

Hennessy Story of the Month: December

Hennessy New Irish Writing: Dreams of Flying by Celine Naughton

Celine Naughton
January 2, 2016

There’s bad karma about as guy can’t decide if he misses his girl in this month’s winning Hennessy New Irish Writing short story by Celine Naughton

Hennessy NIW poems of the month

Liz Quirke

Poems: Nurture and Juno

Liz Quirke
January 2, 2016

Two poems, Nurture and Juno, from poet Liz Quirke

Hennessy Short Story of the Month: November

Hennessy New Irish Writing: How to float by Niamh Donnelly

Niamh Donnelly
November 28, 2015

Two girls drift through a polluted paradise in this month’s winning Hennessy New Irish Writing short story by Niamh Donnelly

Hennessy poem of the month

Poem: Hunger’s mother

Alan Weadick
November 28, 2015

November's Hennessy New Irish Writing winning poems

Hennessy Short Story of the Month: October

Hennessy New Irish Writing: 19 Ways to Say ‘I Love You’

Niall McArdle
October 31, 2015

A literary love affair turns sour in this month’s winning Hennessy New Irish Writing short story by Niall McArdle

Hennessy poem of the month

Poetry: Is this what I do?

Books
Lynda Tavakoli
October 31, 2015, 02:00

By Lynda Tavakoli

Hennessy Short Story of the Month: September

Hennessy New Irish Writing: The Lodger

Natalie Ryan
September 26, 2015

In this month’s winning story in the Hennessy New Irish Writing competition, by Natalie Ryan, a mother is surprised by an unlikely object of affection

Hennessy poems of the month

Paul Balfe
September 26, 2015

September’s Hennessy New Irish Writing winning poems

Hennessy Short Story of the Month: August

Short Story: On Cosmology, by Róisín O’Donell

Books
Roisin O'Donnell
August 29, 2015

Hennessy New Irish Writing – August’s winning story: A lecturer in astrophysics wonders about the ‘gooey, alien-like creature’ which may be growing inside her

Hennessy Poems of the Month: August

Hennessy Poems of the month: Monasteraden microclimate

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Jessamine O Connor
September 1, 2015, 11:07

Hennessy Short Story of the Month: July

Hennessy short story of the month: In the trees. In the rain. All around.

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John Murphy
July 25, 2015

This month’s winning short story in the Hennessy New Irish Writing competition is by John Murphy

Hennessy Poems of the Month: July

Aoife Lyall, who is from Dublin, lives in the Scottish Highlands. Dividing her time between teaching and writing, she received a commendation in the Neil Gunn Writing Competition 2015 and has established a poetry group for adult writers

Hennessy poems of the month: For Sale, Dublin Puzzle and Hooks & Eyes

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Aoife Lyall
July 25, 2015

Hennessy Short Story of the Month: June

Hennessy short story of the month: Fixing Things

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Ruth McKee

In this month’s winning story, by Ruth McKee, not all things that are taken apart can be put back together again

Hennessy Poems of the Month: June

Darren Donohue is a poet and playwright based in Co Kilkenny

The Crucified Christ and other poems

Books
Darren Donohue
July 16, 2015, 16:26

Darren Donohue is the joint winner of the Hennessy poems of the month for June

Hennessy story of the month May

Hennessy short story of the month: Caseload

Hennessy NIW
Justin MacCarthy

This month’s winning short story in the Hennessy New Irish Writing competition, by Justin McCarthy, is about a bizarre proposal

Hennessy poem of the month May

In my mother’s house nothing went to waste

Books
Siobhán Flynn

Three poems by Siobhán Flynn, May’s Hennessy New Irish Writing poet of the month

Hennessy story of the month April

Hennessy short story of the month: Grace

May 5, 2015

One time I had myself a friend but she was not so nice to me in the end, so I’d as soon not bother. She stole from me; she took my book, some money too, but to this day I can’t forgive her for taking that book from my bedside locker

Hennessy poem of the month - April

Hennessy New Irish Writing poetry winner: Medal, by Daniel Wade

Daniel Wade
April 25, 2015

The poetry winner for April in this year’s Hennessy New Irish Writing competition

Hennessy story of the Month - March

Chris Connolly’s fiction has been broadcast on RTÉ radio and appeared in Southword, Boston Literary Magazine and the National Flash Fiction Day anthology, and will also appear in The Hennessy Book of Irish Writing 2005-2015. This is his second story to appear in Hennessy New Irish Writing

Hennessy short story (March): Right or Good

Chris Connolly
April 2, 2015

This month’s winning short story in the Hennessy New Irish Writing competition, by Chris Connolly, is about coping with loss and deception

Hennessy poems of the month - March

A native of Shanagarry, Co Cork, Victoria Kennefick was a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in 2007 and completed her PhD in Literature at University College Cork in 2009. In 2013 she won the Red Line Book Festival Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize 2014. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Stinging Fly, Southword and The Irish Examiner. Her pamphlet, White Whale, won the Munster Literature Centre Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition 2014.

Hennessy NIW
Victoria Kennefick
April 2, 2015

This month’s Hennessy New Irish Writing winning poems

Short story of the month February

Some Strange Moon

Ríona Judge McCormack
March 25, 2015

Henessy New Irish Writing: A climb into a mountainous South African landscape triggers memories and questions for a father and daughter. But why are there so many butterflies, and where are they going?

Poems of the month: February

Evan Costigan won the 2012 Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award and was shortlisted for the 2014 Hennessy Literary Awards. He received a poetry bursary from Kildare County Council arts office in 2012.

Men who work in menswear shops

Evan Costigan
March 25, 2015

Evan Costigan
March 25, 2015

The Hennessy New Irish Writing awards 2015

The Hennessy Literary Award winners – from left to right: Paula Meehan, who was inducted into the Hennessy Literary Awards Hall of Fame; Simon Lewis, who won the Emerging Poerty award; overall winner and Emerging Fiction winner Sara Baume; and Henrietta McKervy, who won the First Fiction award. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill / The Irish Times

Sara Baume named Hennessy New Irish Writer 2015

March 25, 2015

Honours for Henrietta McKervey and Simon Lewis; Paula Meehan joins Hall of Fame

Hennessy Emerging Fiction winner: Dancing, or beginning to Dance by Sara Baume

Hennessy Emerging Fiction winner: Dancing, or beginning to Dance by Sara Baume

March 25, 2015

Hennessy Emerging Poetry winner: Simon Lewis for Creosote; The Zoo, Cork, 1881; Two Sisters

Hennessy Emerging Poetry winner: Simon Lewis for Creosote; The Zoo, Cork, 1881; Two Sisters

March 25, 2015

Hennessy First Fiction winner: The Dead of Winter by Henrietta McKervey

Hennessy First Fiction winner: The Dead of Winter by Henrietta McKervey

March 25, 2015

Hennessy Short Film 2015: Work by Siobhan Mannion

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Hennessy New Irish Writing 2015 - The judging process

0:54 Hennessy New Irish Writing 2015 - The judging process

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Hennessy New Irish Writing 2015: the Hall of Fame

1:36 Hennessy New Irish Writing 2015: the Hall of Fame

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Hennessy New Irish Writing 2015 : Short Film 'Work'

3:48 Hennessy New Irish Writing 2015 : Short Film 'Work'

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Hennessy Short Film 2014 - Dog Pound

4:00 Hennessy Short Film 2014 - Dog Pound

Short story of the month: January

The Ghent Altarpiece

Hennessy NIW
Tony McGuinness
March 25, 2015

A nun prepares for a meeting with a former pupil’s son who was given up for adoption, which triggers memories about her own past

Poems of the month: January

Jane Clarke. Illustration: Dearbhla Kelly

Hennessy poems January 2015: For Isobel; The Blue Bible; Every Tree

Hennessy NIW
Jane Clarke
March 25, 2015

Hall of fame: (Clockwise from left) Patrick McCabe; Frank McGuinness; Deirdre Madden; Colum McCann; Neil Jordan; Joseph O’Connor; Sebastian Barry and Dermot Healy

New Irish Writing comes to ‘The Irish Times’

Books
Ciaran Carty
January 24, 2015

The page founded by David Marcus, which launched the careers of many of our best known writers, has found a new home

Hennessy New Irish Writing page is one of the world’s great literary incubators

Hennessy New Irish Writing page is one of the world’s great literary incubators

Hennessy NIW
Fintan O'Toole
March 25, 2015

Its principles are simple and unwavering - a short story and some poems every month, written by writers who have not yet published books, chosen merely because they are good, writes Fintan O'Toole

Rosita Boland recalls impact of winning a Hennessy New Irish Writing award

Rosita Boland recalls impact of winning a Hennessy New Irish Writing award

Hennessy NIW
Rosita Boland
March 25, 2015

‘I am very grateful to have won a Hennessy Award, even if I feel a bit of a fraud in that I didn’t go on to have a career as a fiction writer, which many people do’

New Irish Writing – Hennessy Literary Awards: Winners through the decades

New Irish Writing – Hennessy Literary Awards: Winners through the decades

Hennessy NIW
January 24, 2015

The list of recipients and judges of the prize – now in its new home at ‘The Irish Times’ – reads like a kind of ‘Who’s Who’ of modern Irish writing

The latest Hennessy nominees

The latest Hennessy nominees

Hennessy NIW
Ciaran Carty
March 25, 2015

Eighteen writers chosen from entries submitted in the last 12 months in three categories: First Fiction, Emerging Fiction and Emerging Poetry

How to enter Hennessy New Irish Writing

How to enter Hennessy New Irish Writing

Hennessy NIW
March 25, 2015

Are you a new Irish writer? We want to read your work

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In pictures

The judges and the winners: (From left) Judges Xiaolu Guo, Ciaran Carty, Paula Meehan (Hall of Fame). Simon Lewis (Emerging Poetry winner), Sara Baume (Emerging Fiction and Writer of the Year winner), Henrietta McKervy (First Fiction winner) and judge Martina Devlin, at the 44th Annual Hennessy Literary Awards which recognise and reward emerging Irish writers and poets in the literary sphere.
Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill / The Irish Times

Hennessy Literary Awards 2015

How to enter Are you a new Irish writer? we want to read your work

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