THE FRANCIS MacMANUS Short Story competition has been running for 32 years.
Described as “a window into Irish society” because of the variety of topics the entries have explored over three decades, it has also introduced the Irish public to some of its most acclaimed writers (as well as paying artists for their work at a time before Arts Council grants).
The 2018 competition has just opened for entries - but who was Francis MacManus, the RTÉ broadcaster whose work became an inspiration for the long-running competition?
Born in 1909 in Kilkenny, Francis MacManus was a teacher in Dublin for 18 years before joining Radio Éireann in 1948, which at the time was based in the GPO.
He was its Director of Features and was a novelist who mainly wrote history-based stories. However, he was also credited with doing “an awful lot to develop short-story writing” and young writers.
In 1986, the first year of the competition, RTÉ’s executive producer Paddy O’Neill told Morning Ireland about why the competition was set up and why it was named after MacManus.
“Michael Littleton [RTÉ's head of features at the time] wanted to do something to develop the short story writing for radio… and the natural name that he associated with radio short stories was that of his old boss, the late Francis MacManus, the writer.”
We thought that it was fitting on the 21st anniversary of his death, that his name should be associated with this competition.
Speaking about broadcaster James Stephens in a 1951 documentary, MacManus describes the process of recording Stephens reading his work, describing him as “a little bird perched at the edge of his seat”.
“We gave him the red light, and he began. He didn’t lose his place, not once. There were no awful silences. Instead, there were pauses just when and where he wished.
Always delightful
“Not only did he read his poems in that magical chant of his, but he also made up lovely little introductions to each poem, edged with mischievous humour, simple. Always delightful.”
People gathered into the control room to listen, and they listened quietly not moving. They were all bewitched.
The little man wasn’t in the studio, he was in their minds, singing away to his heart’s content, like a bird on a morning bow.
Upon McManus’ death, poet Austin Clarke said this of MacManus:
“When he became head of general features, we had of course our general arguments as everyone has, but they always ended happily. And he was always ready with suggestions for new programmes and new ideas.”
Séamus Hosey, a retired features and arts producer with RTÉ produced the competition for over 20 years. Speaking to TheJournal.ie, he said that in MacManus’s capacity as the head of RTÉ features, he encouraged and brought on writers like Patrick Kavanagh and Brendan Behan.
[Broadcasting those writers and their work] made it more accessible to people – it would have been the only medium through which the voices of writers would have been heard.
Plus in an era before Arts Council grants, [artists] needed a few bob. That wasn’t the aim of the competition, but it wouldn’t have gone astray.
The competition started off small, and there wasn’t absolute certainty that it would be the annual event that it has become.
A lot of the things that start off small survive because they were small.
“We were putting the feelers out, inviting stories, there was no age limit, no specific subject matter. There was just a word limit of 2,000 words and that was because the stories were to be broadcast into a 15-minute slot.”
They received 1,000 stories in the first year, which was whittled down to a shortlist of 20/25 stories, and actors were then chosen to act out the writers’ work.
Some of the writers who have won awards over the years include Claire Keegan, Molly McCloskey, Ivy Bannister, Anthony Glavin and Nuala O’Connor, Austin Duffy, and Martin Malone.
A lot of emerging writers got their first encouragement from the competition.
“The competition arrived at a time when the big renaissance in the Irish short story was at a lull, but this gave it an impetus again. The competition has to take some credit for keeping [Irish short stories] going.”
He said that looking back, it was one of “the rare windows where people could look out and look in on” Irish society:
Since 1986, the competition has mirrored the issues of the day. The foot-and-mouth disease, issues that were political, the border, coming of age stories, immigration, sexual violence, people living with depression…
I would say you could look back and say that since its foundation, there’s hardly a subject that featured in Irish life that wasn’t explored in the Francis MacManus Competition.
The winner of the competition gets a cash prize of €3,000; second place gets €2,000 and third place €1,000. Closing date for this year’s competition is Friday 8 June and both the shortlist and winners will be announced in September.
The competition is open for entries now; for details on how to enter, click here.
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