27 January 2026
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
From the Well 2026 Short Story Competition Open for Submissions – 20 stories to be published in the annual From the Well anthology; winners showcased at West Cork Literary Festival
Cork County Council’s Library and Arts Service is urging budding writers and authors to submit entries for the ‘From the Well’ Short Story competition 2026. ‘From the Well’ is a long-standing short story anthology published annually and it continues to provide an opportunity for writers in the short story genre to have their work published.
Entrants are invited to submit a short story of no longer than 2,000 words. Twenty stories will be selected for inclusion in the 2026 edition of the short story anthology. Selection will be based on the quality of writing, structure, and suitability to the anthology. The judge will read the stories without knowledge of who the writer is in order to have a fair process.
This year, entries will be selected once again by Patrick Holloway. Patrick Holloway is the winner of The Bath Short Story Prize, The Allingham Fiction Contest, The Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize, among others. His debut novel, ‘The Language of Remembering’, was published in 2025 to critical acclaim and was described in The Irish Times as “an utterly readable book of real depth”, in the Irish Independent as “modern Irish writing at its finest”, and in The Irish Examiner as a “powerful, original family story from a wonderfully talented writer.” It was listed in RTE’s top 10 Irish books of 2025. His work appears in The Stinging Fly, The Moth, The London Magazine, Carve, and Southword, among others. He is an editor of the literary journal, The Four Faced Liar.
The Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Mary Linehan Foley welcomes the launch of the competition, saying, “We are delighted to have Patrick Holloway return as judge this year. The chance to have your story edited by Patrick is a wonderful addition to the 2026 competition. With a record number of entries last year, we hope to see even more submissions this year. It’s a fantastic opportunity to have your story published by Cork County Council Library and Arts Service.”
The winning story and two others will feature in the 2026 West Cork Literary Festival as part of the anthology launch event in Bantry Library. The winning writer will be offered a place on a short story workshop at the West Cork Literary Festival in July and will receive a €300 contribution towards accommodation. They will also have the opportunity for a one-to-one with the editor. All 20 stories will be edited by Patrick Holloway.
Conditions of entry and details for online applications are at www.corkcoco.ie. The competition opens at 9am on Friday, the 16th of January 2026 and will close at 5pm on Friday, 27th February 2026.
For further information about the competition, contact Cork County Council Library and Arts Service by emailing corkcountylibrary@corkcoco.ie.
ENDS
Editors Notes:
Captions for Image:
Image 1 – “From the Well 2025 Jellied Minds Cover. From the Well 2026 Short Story Competition Opens for Submissions.”