A little while ago, I mentioned a new literary journal from Northern Ireland which was planning to launch online in June and aimed to champion the short story. Well, it is June 1 today and I am pleased to say that after a lot of hard work from The Incubator team, the first journal has gone live.
Featuring a mixture of reviews, short stories, flash fiction and memoir, issue one can be read here, and is crammed full of eclectic writing – all of which derives from Ireland – north and south. It is now open for submissions for the September issue (being a quarterly publication), but is, I should point out, only accepting work from those living in, or originally from, Northern or Southern Ireland. Let this not put you off however – there are many journals which accept work from worldwide submitters, so ample opportunity to submit elsewhere – just enjoy reading some of the new writing originating from Ireland in this great new resource.
Ireland, it should be said, has myriad writing journals, but Northern Ireland has, in recent years, been lacking such outlets for contemporary writing. What with The Incubator, however, and the recently re-launched Honest Ulsterman – now on its second online edition and featuring features, poetry, prose and more – the north is cultivating a new era for local writers, and it is exciting.
I am delighted to be involved with both of these publications – with a book review and short story published in The Incubator and a feature article in The Honest Ulsterman. The former is a fresh new journal exhibiting work four times a year on a variety of themes (memoir, one-scene plays, essays, poetry), but with short stories at its core, whilst the latter is a
Honest Ulsterman, issue two, is now online
well-established publication which once bore the names of Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Paul Muldoon and Ciaran Carson…. (I could go on), featuring poets, critics and prose writers. Both, however, aspire to provide a platform for writers to showcase their work – to share their writing with new audiences, with global internet audiences, and to hone their craft in an encouraging literary environment.
Hopefully, readers will be inspired by the writing, writers will be boosted by their feedback and the life of these two literary delights will flourish for many years to come…