Causeway/Cabhsair

02/10/2023

It's here! The new issue of Causeway/Cabhsair is out and jam-packed with great writing. Click on the link to get your copy:

Causeway / Cabhsair: A Magazine of Irish and Scottish Writing Volume Thirteen, Issue One (2023)

31/05/2023

Today is the last day to submit to the next edition of Causeway/Cabhsair. Send us a story (

26/05/2023

Only five days left to submit to Causeway/Cabhsair. Send us your poems, reviews and short stories.

Causeway/Cabhsair publishes new writing by Irish and Scottish writers in all the languages of both countries. The editors seek to publish both new and established writers, and the magazine so far has published work by Paul Muldoon, James Kelman, Alan Spence, and Gerald Dawe, as well as many others.

03/05/2023

Causeway/Cabhsair is open for submissions until 31st May. Send us a story (

26/04/2023

More news! The fabulous new issue of Causeway/Cabshair is out now and available to buy from https://www.abdn.ac.uk/aup/individual-issues-64.php . We hope you enjoy the work of our contributors as much as we did.

Causeway / Cabhsair: A Magazine of Irish and Scottish Writing, Volume 12.2 (2023), Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, pp47+x, ISSN-2044-2688

04/04/2023

Great news from Causeway/Cabhsair! Volume 12 Issue 2 will be out soon, which means we are now open for submissions for our next issue! Send us your poems, stories, flash fiction and reviews to [email protected]. We can't wait to read your work!

12/12/2022

Causeway/Cabhsair Winter Edition Submissions
Deadline 18th December 2022
We take up to 3000 words of prose and up to 6 poems.
We are also looking for book reviews.
Send your entries to: [email protected]

13/10/2022

If anyone would like to the current edition (or backdated copies) of Causeway/Cabhsair, please follow the updated link below.

Causeway / Cabhsair, Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies, University of Aberdeen

22/07/2022

It's been a long time coming, but we think it's been worth the wait. Edition 12.1 of Causeway/Cabhsair and there are some wonderful things to be found between its covers

02/11/2021

The deadline for the winter edition has now closed. Thank you to everyone who has submitted work. We are very much looking forward to reading it and will get back to you all in the next couple of weeks.

For those who missed the deadline, watch this space for information on submissions for the spring 2022 edition.

01/11/2021

Today, artist and writer Phyllis McGowan talks about her poems 'Dalhousie Street' and 'In Synch' both of which appear in the current edition of Causeway/Cabhsair.

"I wrote the poems when doing an undergraduate sculpture degree at Glasgow School of Art. They’re both observational pieces about women I passed, carrying shopping bags. I had taken a poetry class with Donny O’Rourke some time before and so it was something I could add to my work.
I’m currently back there studying for an MFA. Writing is still a big part of my practise, but tends to be more abstract and connected the feminist writers I am researching."

The photo of Phyllis McGowan and the Causeway bird was taken in Troon.

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30/10/2021

Ngan Nguyen tells the story behind the story, 'The Red Berry Tree' which appears in the current edition of Causeway/Cabhsair.

"I was born after the Vietnam war but grew up with its consequences. Each Vietnamese person can tell their own story as a direct or indirect victim of wars. As a writer, I always want to use my pen to raise awareness of war. When people have to leave their fatherland behind to search for a new life in another country, they suffer from nostalgia and tons of other issues. On my visit to Manchester my partner’s friend took me to a Vietnamese restaurant as I always miss my country’s cuisine. In this very city I saw a homeless man outside the Whitworth Art Gallery with a sign – I don’t use drugs and alcohol. These experiences followed me back to Aberdeen. On my way from home to the University of Aberdeen to study my master’s degree in Creative Writing, I saw trees with red fruits and how Aberdeen changed its colours through the seasons.
Why does nobody ask what the colour of the city is?
An idea sparkled in my head. At that very moment my story about war, nostalgia and homelessness began. "

Ngan has published 10 books of fiction and nonfiction in Vietnamese, and is currently looking for an agent for her first collection of short stories in English about Vietnamese people at home and abroad.

You can read another of her stories, DRY EYES OF FROZEN FISHES, inspired by the tragedy of Vietnamese travellers who died in a truck in England in 2019, in the recent edition of Northwords Now.
https://www.northwordsnow.co.uk/issue41/Dry-Eyes-of-Frozen-Fishes

28/10/2021

“I love deadlines," Douglas Adams once said, "I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

Well...don't let this one whoosh by.

The deadline for the winter edition of Causeway/Cabhsair is Monday 1st November!

We take up to 3000 words of prose and up to 6 poems.
We are also looking for book reviews.
Send your entries to: [email protected]

28/10/2021

Today Gráinne Daly talks about her story 'Wild Atlantic Way', which can be found in the current edition of Causeway/Cabhsair.

Her photo of the Causeway/Cabhsair bird was taken from the 'viewpoint' close to where she lives, overlooking Dublin city.

Gráinne was recently longlisted for the Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year Award, a list that includes some of her favourite writers such as Roddy Doyle, Nuala O'Connor and Bernard McLaverty. She also has a short story for children due for publication in an anthology, Culture Matters, in November.

On 'Wild Atlantic Way'

"I spent a few days (right before covid took hold) in one of my favourite locations in Ireland, Mulranny, Co Mayo. The hotel overlooks Clew Bay and gives a stunning view across the bay to the slope of Croagh Patrick, a renowned 'holy' mountain in the west of Ireland. There was a storm while I was there (more like a windy rainstorm, but if you'll allow me to gild the lily a little...) , and happily sitting in my room, stormgazing, I noticed the little pier at Mulranny being engulfed by waves. This image stayed with me and when I went home the story came to life."

20/10/2021

Here's Anthony Wade talking about his poem 'Waking The Traveller' in the latest edition of Causeway/Cabhsair.

And a pic of the Cabhsair bird in his hand, by Rostellan Lake in East Cork, Ireland.

"The poem “Waking The Traveller” was inspired by an experience in Denver, Colorado, just as dawn was about to break and hearing that distinctive sound of the horn of an American freight train pulling out on its long voyage south. My wife and I were on a long and rewarding trip across the northern states and that sound brought a wave of nostalgia for home."

To see more of Anthony's work, follow the links below.

Drawn To The Light Press (Ireland) Issue 4, October 2021
https://issuu.com/orla.a.fay/docs/drawn_to_the_light_press_issue_4_october_2021.docx

Poetry Wivenhoe (England) October 2021
https://poetrywivenhoe.org/it-is-the-poem/

14/10/2021

A few words from Craig Lamont, whose story, "Whirled" is in the current edition of Causeway/Cabhsair. And thank you Craig for this pic of the Causeway cover bird landing in Overtoun Park, Rutherglen.

“My short story 'Whirled' was several years in the making. I'd been wanting to write a story set in a much older period, preferably at sea. I had all these images in my head of a small boat in the waves. And I thought it might be a love story dressed as an edge-of-the-earth tale. But the real spark was the song 'Familiar' by Agnes Obel. The chorus in particular, and the lyrics, helped me get the words down, and it grew from there.”

If you’d like to see more work by Craig Lamont, follow these links:

‘Measuring Time’ (Idle Ink: 2020)
[https://idleink.org/2020/07/04/measuring-time-by-craig-lamont/].

‘Trying’ (silk + smoke: 2020)
[https://silkandsmoke.com/2020/07/19/silk-smoke-issue-2-is-live/].

‘Motherless’ (ekphrastic.net: 2020) [https://www.ekphrastic.net/ekphrastic/motherless-by-craig-lamont].

07/10/2021

Happy National Poetry Day! To mark the occasion, here’s a wee excerpt from ‘’Denial Laevin" by Shetland poet Maxine Rose Munro, one of the many wonderful poems featured in the current issue of Causeway/Cabhsair.

04/10/2021

We are now seeking submissions for our winter issue!
Deadline is the 1st of November .
We take up to 3000 words of prose and up to 6 poems.
We are also looking for book reviews.
Send your entries to: [email protected]

16/09/2021

After a long delay the latest Causeway/Cabhsair has finally arrived, and we think it's been worth the wait!
It's a bumper edition with some fantastic work from both established and emerging writers. (See photos for details)

You can get a copy here...

https://www.store.abdn.ac.uk/product-catalogue/publications/aberdeen-university-press/causeway-cabhsair-volume-112

10/09/2021

Hello everyone! Some exciting news soon, on the long delayed edition 11.2.

Meanwhile here's one of the highlights from edition 11.2,

Lucy Dougan reading her poem Sudbury's Wilds

19/01/2021

Happy New Year everyone, and apologies for the delay (for a variety of Covid-19 related reasons) in the publication of Causeway/Cabhsair issue 11.2. We are almost there and looking at the quality of the writing, we are sure that it will have been worth the wait.

16/11/2020

Continuing our series of poets featured in the recent edition of Causeway/Cabhsair (edition 11.1), here is Edinburgh based, Australian poet Skye Loneragan performing her Les Murray inspired poem 'I Won.'

https://vimeo.com/93245873

What on earth is winning anyway? Q-POETICS series (poetry in places & spaces of waiting) - a response to Les Murray's beautiful poem 'Performance'....…

12/11/2020

As you know, Causeway/Cabhsair is "dedicated to publishing work in all the languages of Ireland and Scotland."

So, continuing to focus on the work of Scottish Gaelic poet Niall O’Gallagher/Niall Ó Gallchóir (currently Bard Bhaile Ghlaschú / Glasgow’s poet in residence), here he is talking to the Irish 'Headstuff' podcaster Darach Ó Séaghdha about - among many other things - his decision not to translate his own work into English.

[You can read Niall's poem 'Sreathan' in edition 11.1 of Causeway/Cabhsair]
https://www.headstuff.org/motherfocloir/135-secrets-of-the-dandelion-the-scots-gaelic-poetry-of-niall-ogallagher/'

Niall O’Gallagher is a journalist for BBC Alba by day and a poet by night, as well as being Glasgow’s poet in residence.

12/11/2020

A blast from the - recent - past.

In the lead up to Causeway/Cabhsair issue 11.2 we'd like to draw you attention to some of the writers whose work appeared in our last issue.

We begin with the Scottish Gaelic poet & BBC Alba journalist, Niall O’Gallagher/Niall Ó Gallchóir. Niall is currently the Bard Bhaile Ghlaschú (Glasgow poet in residence). Here is he is reading 'Ubhal' ('Apple') at the 2020 StAnza poetry festival.
https://youtu.be/9DsF0evnGjM

Ubhal, by Niall O'Gallagher.Footage from BBC Alba, 'Trusadh', taken at Stanza Poetry Festival in March 2020.

09/11/2020

Hello everyone!

Welcome to our brand new Causeway/Cabhsair magazine page.

We'll be posting regular updates on submissions, deadlines, and other news that might be of interest to our Causeway/Cabhsair readers and writers.

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For purposes of archiving and chronicling the old page will remain live for the forseeable future. Click on link below.

https://www.facebook.com/CausewayCabhsair