For those who missed our end of year reading with the national poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, we have 14 poems from the evening on video for you. Gillian delighted the Ó Bhéal audience with an exemplary reading, mainly from her latest collection Ice (Carcanet, 2012), which is shortlisted for the current T.S.Eliot prize. A special Thanks to Stephen O’Riordan for capturing this footage. The videos are here.
(Videos)
Winner: Seán Dennehy (Leinster)
The sixth All-Ireland Poetry Slam Champion is Leinster poet Seán Dennehy. Congratulations! Second place went to Fergus Costello (Munster) and in third place was Peter Francis Fahy (Ulster).
A fantastic night of poetry, with 150 enthusiasts in Cyprus Avenue, three nail-biting rounds of slam ending in a photo-finish between Fergus Costello’s 118 points (out of a possible 150) to Seán Dennehy’s 119. And all this followed by an excellent reading from Billy Ramsell and a vibrant open-mic run by Rab Urquhart.
For all the videos from the night (filmed by Stephen O’Riordan) click here.
[L-R] Janet Smith, Jayne Stanton, Conor McManus and Matthew Geden
Poetry Exchange
with photos and reviews from
Cork and Coventry poets
In 2012 the Twinning exchange was broadened yet again with four new participating poets, representing Coventry: Janet Smith and Jayne Stanton, and for Cork: Conor McManus and Matthew Geden. The Coventry poets visited for four days in August, giving readings at Ó Bhéal and the Whitehouse in Limerick, and were treated to excursions to Lough Gur, Cobh, Myrtleville and the English Market, while during a reciprocal four-day visit the Cork contingency gave readings at both Night Blue Fruit in Coventry and Tamworth, and appeared on HillzFM Radio. Both parties visited their respective host cities’ lord mayors.
For the full review from the participants, with photos, click here.
October saw another fantastic jazz-poetry night at Ó Bhéal, featuring poet Raven and the Dan Walsh Trio. Even though they’d only just met, many remarked on how they seemed to have been playing together for years. To view all the videos filmed by Stephen O’Riordan, including those from the open-mic, click here.
