IN JANUARY we asked Irish Post readers to send us an original short story, poem or piece of writing as part of our Listowel Writers’ Week competition. And you did.
Over the last few months we were inundated with entries, and this week we can announce that our 2016 winner is John O’Donoghue from Brighton.
Mr O'Donoghue was born in London in the late fifties to parents who came from Killorglin, Co. Kerry, and Ballinode, Co. Monaghan.
He would go over to Ireland every year as a child and teenager for long summer holidays, and still goes over for holidays and to see his family.
He recently completely his PhD in Creative Writing, a thriller set amongst the murphoisie of eighties Irish London at Bath Spa University, and a book of short stories, The King From Over The Water, about his summers round Ballinode.
He is the author of Sectioned: A Life Interrupted (John Murray, 2009), Mind Book of the Year 2010.
“I'm delighted to win The Irish Post Creative Writing Competition. This a great honour,” the 57-year-old said.
“I've been reading The Irish Post since the seventies and have long dreamed of going to Listowel Writers' Week. Thank you for making this dream come true.”
As our winner John now gets a trip to the prestigious Listowel Writers’ Week in Co. Kerry, which takes place June 1-5.
He also picks up €500 in prize money, two nights B&B in Listowel during the internationally acclaimed literary festival, return flights for two from London City Airport courtesy of CityJet and car hire from Budget Car Rental Ireland.
Read John O'Donoghue's winning entry, The Irish Short Story That Never Ends here....
Our competition partners:
CityJet is Ireland’s independent European regional airline, providing up to nine flights daily from London City Airport to Dublin.
From London City Airport, CityJet also flies scheduled services to Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Florence, Paris Orly and Nantes.
CityJet offers complimentary drinks and snacks and a generous free baggage allowance.
Budget Car Rental Ireland offer low cost car hire at 14 locations throughout Ireland including all major airports and city centres.
Operating as a franchise of the global Budget brand, customers know to expect friendly and efficient customer service and great cars provided at the right price.
Budget has a full range of manual and automatic cars available for hire. We have a nationwide network of offices including Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast.
