Colum McCann: US National Book Award

Several hundred short stories are submitted to New Irish Writing each year: only 12 are published, one for each month. Making this cut is a considerable achievement, particularly for a first-time writer. The odds against going on to win a Hennessy X.O award and then finding a publisher for a first novel or collection of stories are even greater. Joseph O'Connor made this daunting breakthrough with 'The Last of the Mohicans', as did Colum McCann – winner of last year's US National Book Award for his latest novel – and more recently another Hennessy winner, Philip Ó Ceallaigh, not to mention several other writers published on the New Irish Writing page.

Now it's the turn of Alan Monaghan with The Soldier's Song, a novel developed from his 2002 Hennessy award-winning story of the same name. London agent Geraldine Cooke, a regular at the Hennessy Awards ceremony, spotted his talent and encouraged him through several drafts before selling it to Macmillan. The Soldier's Song has been glowingly reviewed in Ireland and in the Guardian and the Times.

Meanwhile, Kevin Barry, winner of the 2008 overall Hennessy X.O New Irish Writer of the Year Award, is to publish his first novel City of Bohane with Jonathan Cape. His new short story 'Fjord of Killary' appears this month in the New Yorker. Seamus Scanlon, another writer shortlisted for last year's awards, has been selected as a recipient of a 2009 Carnegie Corporation of New York/ New York Times award – a grant worth $5,000 – celebrating librarians from all over the US who have had a significant impact on society.

Poets too are flourishing. Geraldine Mills, winner of the 2000 New Irish Writer of the Year Award, has just published her third collection, An Urgency of Stars, with Arlen House. Her second collection of stories, The Weight of Feathers, is taught on the Irish contemporary literature course at the University of Connecticut. Going Home by Water, a first collection of poems by another Hennessy winner, Alys Meriol, was recently published in Galway.

The New Irish Writing page appears in the Sunday Tribune on the first Sunday of each month and is open to all first-time or emerging writers either born or normally resident in Ireland. All stories and poems published are eligible for the Hennessy X.O awards. Stories submitted should not exceed 2,200 words. Up to six poems may be submitted.

Entries, accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope for return, should be sent to New Irish Writing, Sunday Tribune, 27-32 Talbot Street, Dublin 1, along with the entrant's name, phone number and email address.