You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
The Moth and Caterpillar magazines to cease publishing but prizes will continue
Arts and literature magazines the Moth and the Caterpillar will cease publishing next summer, its directors have announced, but the four literary prizes associated with the magazines will continue with increased prize pots.
Directors Rebecca O’Connor and Will Govan said: “We will have had 13 happy years. It feels like the right time to focus on things other than the publications.”
Govan said back issues of both magazines will be sold online so people can complete their vintage collections.
O’Connor described editing the magazine as “a remarkable privilege as well as an enormous pleasure to read new work from all over the English-speaking world”. She said she has watched “careers blossom” and is excited to see how writers such as Gabriel Smith, Katherine Busatto and Jude Whiley will progress.
She also thanked readers, saying: “To them we are eternally grateful and hope that they will continue with us on our journey.”
O’Connor said she was “thrilled” to have secured Michael Rosen as the judge for the Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2023. “We will continue to engage with artists and writers, and of course those interested in their output – online, through social media and in the wider local community. We’ve no intention of leaving all of that behind us”.
The Moth Poetry Prize, which remains one of the biggest in the world, with a pot of €11,000 (£9,590), is judged this year by Nobel Laureate Louise Glück. The shortlisted poems will appear in the final issue of the Moth in the spring and the winner will be announced at a special event at Poetry Ireland. The three other prizes – the Moth Nature Writing Prize, the Moth Short Story Prize and the Caterpillar Poetry Prize will all have increased prize funds next year. O’Connor said this was “good news for writers at a time when literary competitions seem to be dwindling”.
The Irish Times will publish The Moth Poetry Prize shortlist and the winners of each of the other prizes online, and the winner of The Moth Short Story Prize will be published as part of the Irish Times summer fiction series.
