The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
The 2013 Frank O'Connor Award Competition
is now closed to entries.
Longlist to be announced soon.
The Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award is an annual award of €25,000 and is currently the world's richest prize for the short story form. The award is in memory of the late Frank O'Connor, one of the world's most renowned short story writers. The award, organised by the Munster Literature Centre and funded by Cork City Council, is presented in O'Connor's hometown of Cork, Ireland, at the end of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival. The prize is awarded to the author of the book judged to be the best collection of stories published in English for the first time anywhere in the world in the twelve months between a first publication date of between July 1st of the prior year and June 30th of the current year. If a translated book wins, the purse is shared equally between the author and translator. For more information please visit our dedicated award website:
http://www.frankoconnor-shortstory-award.net/
Past Winners of the FOC Award
2012 Winner Nathan Englander
Photo © John Minihan
Winner: Nathan Englander's What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank
Judges: James Harpur, Mary Leland & Anne Luttrell.
The 2012 Shortlist
 |
|
 |
| Dark Lies the Island by Kevin Barry | What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander | The Beautiful Indifference by Sarah Hall |
 |
 |
 |
| Suddenly a Knock on the Door by Etgar Keret | The Trouble with Fire by Fiona Kidman | Happiness is a Chemical in the Brain by Lucia Perillo |
Winner: Edna O'Brien's Saints & Sinners
Judges: Alannah Hopkin, Thomas McCarthy, & Chris Power
The 2011 Shortlist
 |
 |
 |
| Gold Boy, Emerald Girl by Yiyun Li | Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod | Saints and Sinners by Edna O'Brien |
 |
 |
 |
| Death is Not an Option by Suzanne Rivecca | The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín | Marry or Burn by Valerie Trueblood |
Winner: Ron Rash's Burning Bright
Judges: Mary Morrissy, Nadine O'Regan, & Diana Reich
The 2010 Shortlist
 |
 |
 |
| Mattaponi Queen by Belle Boggs | Wild Child by T.C. Boyle |
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black |
 |
|
 |
| The Shieling by David Constantine | Burning Bright by Ron Rash | What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura Van Den Berg |
Winner: Simon Van Booy's Love Begins in Winter
Judges: Lloren Foster, Milka Jankowska, & Vincent McDonnell
The 2009 Shortlist
 |
 |
 |
| An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah | Singularity by Charlotte Grimshaw | Ripples and Other Stories by Shih-Li Kow |
 |
 |
 |
| The Pleasant Light of Day by Philip Ó Ceallaigh | Everything Ravaged, Everything Burnedby Wells Tower | Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy |
Winner: Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth
Judges: Eileen Battersby, Rosalind Porter & Liam Ronayne.
No shortlist was announced in 2008.
Read Guardian article 'Jhumpa Lahiri jumps the shortlist to the world's richest prize'.
Winner: Miranda July's No One Belongs Here More Than You
Judges: Segun Afolabi, Rick Moody and Nuala Ní Chonchúir
The 2007 Shortlist
 |
|
 |
| Opportunity by Charlotte Grimshaw | No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July | Missing Kissinger by Etgar Keret |
 |
 |
 |
| The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue by Manuel Muñoz | Valentines by Olaf Olafsson | The Separate Heart by Simon Robson |
Winner: Haruki Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
(Award shared with translators Jay Rubin & Philip Gabriel)
Judges: Claire Keegan, Maurice A. Lee, Toby Litt, Thomas McCarthy, and Silke Scheuermann
The 2006 Shortlist
|
 |
 |
| Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami | Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse by Philip Ó Ceallaigh | The First Hurt by Rachel Sherman |
 |
 |
 |
| In the Strange Gardens by Peter Stamm | The Darkness of Wallis Simpson by Rose Tremain | The Royal Ghosts by Samrat Upadhyay |
Winner of the inaugural Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award:
Yiyun Li's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Judges: Desmond Hogan, James Lasdun, Mary Leland, Val McDermid, and Hansjörg Schertenleib
The 2005 Shortlist
 |
 |
 |
| Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozig | Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman | Corpus Christi by Bret Anthony Johnston |
|
 |
 |
| A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li |
The Secret Goldfish by David Means | The Turning by Tim Winton |
The Seán Ó Faoláin Prize
In 2002, the Munster Literature Centre introduced the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize, an annual short story competition dedicated to one of Ireland's most accomplished story writers and theorists. This too is presented during the FOC festival. This year's judge is writer Joyce Russell. The competition will open for submissions in May 2013, and deadline for entering the will be 31 July. The winner will be announced at this year's Cork International Short Story Festival. For more information, please visit the Munster Literature Centre homepage.
Past Winners of the SOF Prize
(Click here to view all shortlisted
& commended authors from past competitions.)
2012 Seán Ó Faoláin winner Sophie Hampton
Sophie Hampton's 'White Socks and Weirdos' (2012)
Click here to read story in Southword.
P.G. O'Connor's 'The Haggard' (2011)
Click here to read story in Southword
Nikita Nelin's 'Eddie' (2010)
Click here to read story in Southword
Alexa Beattie's 'Cold Cut' (2009)--Click here to read story in Southword
Julia Van Middlesworth's 'Daddy Dead' (2008)
Click here to purchase Southword #15.
Toby McGrath (2007)
Click here to purchase Southword Issue #13.
Joyce Russell (2006)
Click here to purchase Southword Issue #11.
James Moynihan (2005)
Click here to purchase Southword Issue #9.
Jon Boilard (2004)
Click here to purchase Southword Issue #7.
William Wall (2003)
Click here to purchase Southword Issue #5.
