Short Stories Piled in

The hunt is on for the ten best short stories of 2009. 1,650 stories were entered online, and 125 by post, totaling 1775. The stories have come from all over the world, with an increase on previous years from Australia and New Zealand, and a trickle starting from India. This is a wonderful development for Fish. We want to give writers in every country the opportunity to be published and we want the diversity of stories in our anthologies. The shortlist will be read by competition judge Ronan Bennett in February and the winners will be announced on 17 March on www.fishpublishing.com

Meanwhile the Fish Poetry Prize - €1,000 - is underway, with Matthew Sweeney as judge. Closing date is 30 March 2010, and poets can enter online on our website or by post to Fish Publishing, Durrus, Bantry, Co Cork, Ireland. Entry fee is 12 Euro per poem of up to 200 words. The ten best poems will be published in the 2010 Fish Anthology. We welcome poems written in English from all countries.
Clem Cairns

Last days for the Fish Short Story Prize

Its getting into the final two weeks of the Fish Prize, and the website is brimming with stories from writers from all over the world. I'm pleased to say that many of them are from Australia, and a smattering from New Zealand too. This is slightly surprising, as feedback from Australia was that it was too expensive to enter compared with other competitions. Goes to show, though, that writers, like anyone else, will pay for quality. With Ronan Bennett judging, and publication in the Fish Anthology for ten of the stories, and the attractive prize money with a trip to Ireland for the book launch, the Fish net is hauling in some enthralling work from many nations. The closing date is 30 November, so if you have a story, be sure not to miss it.
Clem Cairns

New Book by Martin Malone, Fish Editor

Now that we are into the last few weeks of the 2009 Fish Short Story Prize, (closing date 30 Nov) it is a good time to reflect on why Fish was started all those years ago, and to celebrate some of the achievements of some of the writers we have published.

Fish Publishing was set up in 1994 to promote new and exciting writers by getting them into print. It is always a thrill to see writers take encouragement from the Fish experience and go on to greater things. A look at the alumni page should give new writers hope, with the many accounts there of writers who are still writing well and having work published.

In the 1997 Fish Anthology Dog Days and Other Stories, we included one of the most memorable stories it has been our privilege to publish. It was called Black George and it was written by a soldier from Co. Kildare. Martin Malone was at the time a little known writer with a huge talent. A few years later in the 2000 Anthology From the Bering Strait we published Come To Me Sweet Dementia by Martin, a completely different sort of story, savagely funny and achingly sad. Since then Martin has had much success with four novels and a book of short stories.

Now Chief Editor for Fish, Martin Malone is about to add to his impressive post-Fish tally of publications. The Mango War and other stories is a superb collection from one of the acknowledged masters of the form. 

Fish One-Page Prize (Flash Fiction Competition)

Fish Publishing's flash fiction contest - The Fish One-Page Prize is open for entries.
This competition accepts stories of max 300 words on any theme.
€1,000 First Prize. The best 10 stories will be published in the Fish Anthology 2010.
Full details of this writing competition can be found at 2010 One-Page Story Prize

We are excited and pleased that John Hegley (performance poet, musician, songwriter and producer of 10 books of verse and prose pieces) and Simon Munnery (comedy writer and experimental standup comedian) will be putting their heads together to select 10 stories for publication in the 2010 Fish Anthology.

The Fish Poetry Prize 2010

The Fish Poetry Prize 2010

Fish Publishing runs the poetry competition each year, and publishes the winners in the annual Fish Anthology which will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival, July 2010.
Fish has been running the poetry contest since 2006. Previous judges include Leanne O'Sullivan, Michael McCarthy and Peter Fallon.

Fish's guest poet this year is Matthew Sweeney, who has kindly offered his time and experience to judge the Fish Poetry Prize. Matthew will be reading all the entries so, as long as your poem is written in English and is less than 200 words, you have a chance to catch his eye and have your poem selected to be published along with nine other winners.
For more info on Matthew Sweeney visit Irish Writers Online 

Fish Short Story Prize

Fish Publishing runs a short story competition each year, the winners of which are published in the annual Fish Anthology.
Roddy Doyle, Colum McCann and Dermot Healy, previously judges of the Fish Short Story Prize are now Honorary Patrons. This year, Ronan Bennett has generously agreed to lend his time and wisdom to select ten stories to be published in the 2010 Fish Anthology.
The Fish Short Story Prize welcomes stories on any theme written in English, with a maximum of 5,000 words.
The Anthology will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival, July 2010.
The Fish Short Story Prize has been running annually since 1995. Publication in the anthology has been a stepping stone for many into successful writing careers.