You may be eligible to apply for a Literature Bursary Award.

The bursary award provides writers with the time and resources to think, research, reflect and write, by releasing them from financial commitments. In other words, writers can apply for bursaries that free them from the costs of mortgages, rent, childcare or other living expenses; or to allow them to take a break from their regular work in order to concentrate on a literary project.

Please note the literature bursary is not intended to cover costs associated with publishing or self-publishing.

More details on the bursary award are listed here.

The Arts Council supports high quality writing in English and in Irish and includes:

• poetry, 
• fiction, 
• literary criticism, 
• creative non-fiction, 
• children's literature, 
• illustrated picture books,
• and graphic novels. 

Literature bursaries are awarded to writers at all stages of their careers, though larger bursaries are typically awarded to writers with an established track record.

Each round, a number of bursaries are awarded to writers who are at the beginning of their careers. Emerging writers are defined as those who, at the time of application, have not yet published a full collection or novel. These bursaries will be awarded at a maximum value of €4,000. 

You can see a list of who we've funded here.

The Arts Council does not support self-publication, but instead offers funding assistance to a number of literary publishers and journals across the country. We do this to ensure that Arts Council funding goes towards works which will be published, distributed and marketed in the most effective way possible by professional publishers with knowledge of the issues and mechanisms involved.

The Arts Council supported 25 publishers and journals in 2018 through its funding programmes. You can download a list of them here:

•  Publisher and Journal List 2018

You can apply for a Literature Travel and Training Award. This is intended to allow writers to undertake international travel to develop their practice. Details of the award are here.

No. You can apply to Culture Ireland, the national body for the promotion of Irish arts worldwide. You can find out more about Culture Ireland and funding opportunities here: http://www.cultureireland.ie/funding

You could consider applying for the Arts Grants Funding.

Arts Grant Funding awards funding to organisations and individuals to carry out a series of activities, including the production of high quality literary books and publications, and their promotion and dissemination to a wide audience. You can read more about the scheme here.

The Arts Council supports a number of resource and service organisations that provide this type of help to writers at all stages of their careers.

The Irish Writers' Centre, located on Parnell Square in Dublin, is the national organisation for writers and writing in Ireland. You can read more about them here: http://www.writerscentre.ie/

Poetry Ireland is the national organisation for poetry in Ireland and is dedicated to developing, supporting and promoting poetry through Ireland. You can read more about them here: http://www.poetryireland.ie/

The Munster Literature Centre, based in Frank O'Connor's former home in Cork City, is dedicated to the promotion and celebration of literature, especially that of Munster. To this end, the organisation organises festivals, workshops, readings and competitions. You can read more about them here: http://www.munsterlit.ie/

Children's Books Ireland is the national children’s books organisation of Ireland. Through its activities and events, the organization aims to engage young people with books, foster a greater understanding of the importance of books for young people and act as a core resource for those with an interest in books for children in Ireland.  You can read more about them here: http://www.childrensbooksireland.ie/

You should also visit http://writing.ie/, an online magazine site for writers and readers of all ages, which provides resources for writers, listings of events, interviews with writers and publishers and general information about reading and writing in Ireland.

The Arts Council supports a number of literary publishers and journals and you can download a list of them here: Publisher and Journal List 2018. This list is by no means exhaustive, however, and you should also consult the resource organisations listed above for further advice, including contacts for literary agents.

You should also consider consulting the Writers and Artists Yearbook, which should be available at your local library.

Yes, the Arts Council founded and funds the Writers in Schools Scheme, one of the longest running arts-in-education programmes in the country. 2017 marked the 40th anniversary of the scheme, which is run by Poetry Ireland on the Arts Council's behalf.

The Scheme part-funds visits by writers and storytellers to primary and post primary schools throughout the island of Ireland. There are over 250 writers and storytellers for schools to choose from on the Writers in Schools Web-Directory of Writers.

You can find out more about the scheme on Poetry Ireland's website, here: http://www.poetryireland.ie/education/writers-in-schools.html

Yes, the Arts Council supports the Writers in Prisons Scheme which offers opportunities for writers to work with groups of students in Irish prisons. This scheme is managed jointly by the Irish Prison Service (through its Education Department) and the Arts Council’s Arts Participation Team, details here.