Deadline: January 31, 2023
Entry fee: $18
About the competition
Everyone has a memoir in them. Go for it! Write a piece of your life, send it to Fish. This contest is an opportunity to have your memoir published.
Sean Lusk, novelist and short story writer, (author of The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley,) will select 10 short memoirs to be published in the Fish Anthology 2023, which will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival, July ’23.
Publication in the annual Fish Anthology (Fish Books) has, for many authors, been a stepping-stone to a successful writing career. (See Alumni)
Anyone’s memoir can be worthy if written in a way that captivates the reader. You need not have had a life of fame, fortune, or tragedy to make the grade as the ordinary can be woven into a masterpiece. It’s all in the writing. If you would like to refine your Memoir writing skills, take advantage of the Memoir Writing Course.
Critique Service provides an appraisal of your work prior to entering a writing contest, or at any time.
Competition guidelines
- No entry form is needed.
- Entry is online, or by post if required.
- You may enter as many times as you wish.
- The competition is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.
- There is no restriction on theme or style.
- Maximum number of words is 4,000.
- The winning memoirs must be available for the Fish Anthology and, therefore, must not have been published previously.
- Fish holds publishing rights for one year after publication, after which publishing rights revert to the author. (Please acknowledge Fish in any subsequent publications.)
- Notification of receipt of entry will normally be by email.
- The judges’ verdict is final. No correspondence will be entered into.
- Memoirs cannot be altered or substituted once they have been entered.
- Judging is anonymous. Name and contact details must not appear on the memoirs, (in the box provided if entering online, on separate sheet if entering by post).
- In order to give opportunities to emerging writers: (a) Writers who have had two memoirs published in Fish Anthologies may not enter for three years after their second publication. They may enter other Fish competitions. (b) Previous first prize winners may enter again, but will not be eligible for the first prize.
- Entry fees will not be returned if memoirs are withdrawn after entering.
- Entry is taken to be acceptance of these rules
- Enter the competition here.
