March Issue Call for Submissions

We live in what the ancient Chinese used to call ‘interesting times’, and it’s not over yet (whatever ‘it’ might be).

Sometimes it feels like we are crawling from a car wreck, with no idea of how it happened or where we are now. All we know is that we cannot simply carry on doing what we used to do, or what we wanted, to do without further consideration.

This has happened before; it will happen again.

It is not a time for grand visions, yet every crisis is also an opportunity. In  all the bewildering noise, remember the definition of information – any difference that makes a difference.  It is a time to sort out what is truly important, and to start taking those steps will that will enable it to flourish. Not a return to the normality that once was, but a humble groping towards something possibly better.

So the theme of this Spring’s Corncrake is Small Beginnings. We are looking  up to about 800 words of any kind of writing – whether it be poetry, flash fiction, folktale, legend, memoir or other non-fiction. Previews and reviews of recent and upcoming Arts events are also welcome, particularly those in Fermanagh and the surrounding area, as are images and links to relevant media.

Submissions to editor@corncrakemagazine.com

Deadline: March 15th

Thank You for your Patience

I fully intended to have the new issue out by Halloween, but last week I went down with a streaming cold that turned out to be COVID. I’m almost recovered now and catching up again.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the upcoming issue; it should be another good one. In particular, congratulations to Fermanagh Writer Robert Elliott, whose debut poetry book The Colebrooke Collection is being launched today in  Lisnaskea Library at 1.00 pm and in Enniskillen Library at 3.00 pm.

Submissions for October Issue

It’s been strange summer. Covid is still very much  with us, but people are starting to get together, again and diaries are filling up. Some are looking forward to the Autumn with anticipation, some with dread, and some, perhaps, with a measure of nostalgia for the enforced peace and quietness of the last two years.
Peace and quietness are good, of course, when they are actively chosen – but there is much more to peace than simply being left alone. What are ‘the things that make for peace’ – peace between rivals, strangers or friends; peace with the natural world, or simply peace with yourself?
That is the theme for the Autumn edition of Corncrake.
Think of an incident of compassion, a custom or ritual, a means of working or, a work of art.  Tell us of what it means to you in less than a thousand words. Write a poem or parable, a monologue or memoir, a piece of flash fiction or creative non-fiction – whatever you need to say what you mean. Images and links to video or music are also welcome.
Deadline 30 September

Submissions for March Issue

Dinnseanachas or placelore was one of the earliest forms of Irish vernacular writing. Every hill, river and road had its story. They still do. Corncrake is looking for such stories – the stories that make a particular place, which would otherwise seem ordinary and insignificant – special. Whole books can and have been written about a particular village or townland, but think of the places that are special to you that are even more specific than that: this crossroads, this bend in the river, this building, this clump of trees. Perhaps it is a place where you often visit in these difficult times, or somewhere you would like to  be, but cannot go.
Though the magazine covers Fermanagh and the adjoining area, the corncrake is a migratory bird. so we will accept submissions about other places.  However, it must be a real, physical place that can be found on a map. Tell us exactly where it is, add an image if appropriate, and then write about it in 800 words or less. It may be prose or poem – myth, legend, memoir, fiction, or simply a descriptive evocation of your unique place.
Deadline 28 February