March 5th, 2017 at 4:10 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

 
 

4th Five Words Poetry Competition Winner and Shortlist Announced

 
Our congratulations to John Baylis Post, winner of the 4th Five Words competition, for his poem Identifications. John will read at Ó Bhéal’s 10th anniversary event on April 10th 2017, along with other contributors to Five Words Vol X. Our congratulations also to all of the shortlisted entrants, and for highly commended entries from Siobhan Campbell (who will also attend) and from Five Words Alumna Tamara Miles. A huge thanks to everyone who took part this year, and to judges Afric McGlinchey and John W. Sexton for their selection of excellence.

Shortlist

Identifications by   John Baylis Post (Ireland) winner
Milk   by   Siobhan Campbell (Ireland) highly commended
The Safety  by   Tamara Miles (U.S.A.) highly commended
Eve   by   Siobhan Campbell (Ireland)
LOVELOCKS  by   Jane Boxall (U.S.A.)
Only Connected   by   Margaret McCarthy (Ireland)
Perspective   by   Ted O’Regan (Ireland)
THE ZOMBIE-MAKER   by   Derek Sellen (England)
Minor Deities   by   Tamara Miles (U.S.A.)
A fickle god   by   Margaret McCarthy (Ireland)
STITCHES  by   Jane Boxall (U.S.A.)
The Buttonhole   by   John D. Kelly (Northern Ireland)

Judges: Afric McGlinchey and John W. Sexton

These poems will appear in Five Words Vol X, which will be launched at Ó Bhéal on Monday the 10th of April 2017, along with an award presentation and readings from available contributors. The 5th Five Words International Competition will commence at noon on Tuesday the 11th of April, 2017.


January 16th, 2017 at 1:03 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

Ian Duhig on Video

followed by the open-mic

12th December 2016

For anyone who missed our phenomenal end-of-year event with Ian Duhig, we have all 11 of his poems on video plus 16 more from the open-mic, with huge thanks to Lovisa Cosgrave! What a night!

And a big thanks to all on the open-mic, Bernadette McCarthy, John Mee, John Nyhan, Mary O’Connell, Seamus Harrington, Ray Hanrahan, Jason Fisher, Patricia Walsh, Michal Weber, Charles Clarke, Pat Cotter, Mary Sutton, Rab Urquhart, Cédric Bikond, Michelle Delea, Janie Sparks, Patrick Loughnane, Teresa Honan and Ciarán MacArtain (with Michal).

All 27 videos are on our End of Year 2016 with Ian Duhig YouTube playlist.

(or via the Ó Bhéal Youtube channel).


October 17th, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

 

4th Ó Bhéal Poetry-Film Competition Winner Announced
 
16th October 2016

 
Congratulations to Marie Craven, whose brilliant film Dictionary Illustrations has won Ó Bhéal’s 4th poetry-film competition award at the IndieCork Festival of Independant Cinema & Music. Marie’s film was in competition with twenty-eight other shortlisted entries representing 15 countries, which you can read all about here. Our thanks to all the filmmakers and poets for submitting, there was a record entry of 163 films from twenty-eight countries this year. We’re already looking forward to what 2017 will bring!

Dictionary Illustrations (2:13)

Poem: Dictionary Illustrations by Sarah Sloat

Synopsis – Searching for a word, I set off browsing the dictionary illustrations.

Director: Marie Craven (Australia)

Marie Craven assembles short videos from poetry, music, voice and moving images by various artists around the world. Created via the internet, the pieces are collaborative in a way that belongs to the 21st century. Social networking and open media licensing are key to the process. Since 2014, Marie has put together many video poems, most often in association with The Poetry Storehouse and Pool creative group.

She has also collaborated for several years as a vocalist with electronic musicians globally, also via the internet. During the 1990s and early 2000s she wrote and directed short narrative and experimental films that were screened and awarded widely at international film festivals. Her earliest involvement in media was in the mid-1980s with super 8 film-making in Melbourne.

http://vimeo.com/mariecraven


 
 
 
 
 
 
“Dictionary Illustrations was a perfect film poem because, remembering it, we can’t distinguish which parts were the words, which the images, which the sounds: each element harmonised perfectly with the others to create one discrete artwork. This effect is so rare, and so rewarding.”

Kathy D’Arcy & Rossa Mullin

Submissions will open for the 5th Ó Bhéal Poetry-Film Competition from May 2017 at this link.


March 2nd, 2016 at 3:50 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

Community Foundation for Ireland
grant awarded to Ó Bhéal

to host eight Commemorative Centenary Events throughout 2016, celebrating the poetry of 1916 through contemporary response

Ó Bhéal is thrilled to announce becoming the recipient of a generous, once-off, ‘Belonging ’16’ grant from The Community Foundation for Ireland, to host a series of eight events throughout the year, each dedicated to celebrating the centenary of The Rising, through poetry in Irish and English. The majority of these evenings will feature a number of poets who have developed work in response to 1916, celebrating poets and poetry from the time, and contemporary significance.

Poets will be mostly accompanied by one or more musicians and silent film from 1916. Additional verse written during the period will be read by local poets at each event. The schedule beneath will be updated on an ongoing basis. The Five Word Challenge is likely to be influenced by the prevailing themes and members of the public are encouraged and welcome to share related poems during the usual open-mic session.

11th JanuaryBreakfast with Padraig

28th March (Easter Monday) – Blood on the Rose / Fuil ar an Rós

23rd MayEastrogen Rising: A Rebel Cabaret

18th JulyOur Proclamation

22nd August1916 Women the World Over

10th OctoberThe Memory of the Present

7th NovemberRising to the Rising (bonus event)

25th NovemberWinter Warmer Festival poets reading centenary poems

5th DecemberMo Pheann Ag Rince: Tionscadal An Ríordánaigh (IMRAM)

This grant has also enabled Ó Bhéal to purchase its own digital video projector, so we’ll be able to return the temporary projector on loan, generously provided by the Cork Film Centre.


February 28th, 2016 at 10:14 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

 
 

3rd Five Words Poetry Competition Winner Announced

 
Our congratulations to John W. Sexton, winner of the 3rd Five Words competition, for his poem The Dancehall on the Summit of the Bloodiest Head of the Twenty Six Headed Giant. John will be the guest poet at Ó Bhéal’s 9th anniversary event on April 11th. Our congratulations also to all of the shortlisted entrants, and for highly commended entries from Beth Somerford and Janet Lees. Thanks to everyone who took part this year, and to judges Marie Coveney and Colm Scully for their careful and considered selection.

Shortlist

The Dancehall on the Summit of the Bloodiest Head of the Twenty Six Headed Giant by   John W. Sexton (Ireland) winner
Tuesday on a Fulcrum   by   Beth Somerford (England) highly commended
Commuter   by   Janet Lees (England) highly commended
The Night of the Nightjar   by   Mary Anne Smith (England)
Tribes   by   Pam Szadowski (England)
An awful hush   by   Jenny Pollak (Australia)
Chinese Zodiac:
Year of the Fire Monkey
 
by   Tamara Miles (U.S.A.)
An unread novella in a
charity shop
 
by   Janet Lees (England)
Igloo   by   Shirley Bell (England)
Ragwort   by   Derek Sellen (England)
A Coin in the Soft Machine   by   John W. Sexton (Ireland)
Sky, an Open Window   by   Tamara Miles (U.S.A.)

Judges: Marie Coveney and Colm Scully

These poems will appear in Five Words Vol IX, which will be launched at Ó Bhéal on Monday the 11th of April 2016, along with an award presentation and readings from available contributors. The 4th Five Words International Competition will commence at noon on Tuesday the 12th of April, 2016.


February 7th, 2016 at 3:52 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

Regular Poetry-Film screenings
at Ó Bhéal

– How can Poetry-Films widen the intersection shared by captive literature and film audiences?

(since 11th Jan 2016)

It’s perhaps too early yet to tell, but there’s a strong indication that punters have been arriving earlier since Ó Bhéal invited the poetry-film muse of audio-visual word dimensions into its weekly event: a high-quality, discretely mounted … (dervish whirl now) … DV projector and ceiling screen (the screen in the image appears quite large in reality). Which means, that beyond opening the programme to an array of previously inaccessible poetry-based multimedia works, and since Ó Bhéal’s first film-with-live-poetry event was held on January 11th (Breakfast with Padraig), we’re now confident that we’re suitably able to present poets who concentrate in the ekphrastic and/or concrete realms (we have confirmed readings with poets who excel in both of these genres for later in 2016).

Ó Bhéal’s by now buRSTing! archive of poetry films, steadily growing since 2010, includes over 300 poetry films ranging from thirty seconds to ten minutes in length, and these are being screened in random from 8.30pm, every Monday played on reduced volume as people arrive. They run for an hour, until the usual proceedings commence, at 9.30pm. A single poetry film is also highlighted on the night to start off the open-mic section, the final part of the event. These include all shortlisted films entered into the annual Ó Bhéal/IndieCork International Poetry-Film Competition.

Are there any enthusiasts, entities or fans out there we wonder, who would consider sponsoring the annual Ó Bhéal poetry-film award? We’re seeking to implement a single cash prize for the winner of Best International Poetry-Film, presented at the IndieCork awards ceremony to accompany the physical award. This will attract more entries and further validate Ireland’s first such accolade. The rapidly growing genre is gradually taking hold locally too, with more and more regional entries arriving to compete each year with the world’s leading innovators in the dance of film and word. One of the two 2015 competition judges: local filmmaker Padraig Trehy {Shem the Penman Sings Again (2015); Seamus Murphy: A Quiet Revolution (2014-)}, has been having his film students translate poems into poetry-films at the Crawford College of Art and Design. Poetry and Film? It’s a truly remarkable combination of forces. When it works, it is something to behold. With two multilayered art forms working their magic in rhythm, it does seem like anything’s possible.


November 12th, 2014 at 9:24 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

 

2nd Ó Bhéal Poetry-Film Competition Winner Announced
 
19th October 2014

 
Our congratulations go to Marleen van der Werf whose beautiful film Wadland, a breathtaking portrayal of sea-life found in tidal areas, is this year’s poetry-film competition winner at the IndieCork Festival of Independant Cinema. Marleen’s film was under strong competition from the other thirty shortlisted entries, which you can see here. This year the films were screened in the main Firkin Crane theatre on Shandon where the huge screen and cultural location made it the perfect venue. Thanks also to the participating filmmakers and poets who travelled from afar for the screenings: Svitlana Reinish (Ukraine), Silvie Wolff (Netherlands) and Kevin Barrington (Dublin). We’re already looking forward to next year!

Wadland (9:19)

Poem: Wadland by Marleen van der Werf

SynopsisWadland is a poetic wildlife documentary about the life in the sand of a tidal plain, and the search for a lost childhood memory.

Director: Marleen van der Werf (Netherlands)

After finishing her Masters in Biology and Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, Marleen van der Werf specialized in filming nature.

www.marleenvanderwerf.com


 
 
 
 
 
 
Judges Comments

“A sensitive and poignant study of an ecosystem by a filmmaker whose knowledge and appreciation of the subject matter shines in each finely crafted shot.” – Stephen O’Riordan

“Wadland invites us into a liminal landscape, to experience that intimate place where sea meets sand, where the strength and fragility of living is inhabited and washed away in tidal cycles. The imagery, beautifully captured is poetic in it’s own right, while the poem is heart felt and intelligent. Wadland is a true marriage of poetry and film.” – Rosie O’Regan

“Wadland comes pretty close to being a perfect poetry film.” – Rab Urqhart

“Exploring the metaphor of tidal-land sea-life as symbolic of our own lives, is both frightening and enlightening, and this delicate subject matter has been treated beautifully here. The balance between poem, image and music in Wadland is terrific and absolutely captivating. It does the best of what both poetry and film can do – it takes you somewhere new, within yourself.” –
Paul Casey

Submissions will be open for the 3rd Ó Bhéal Poetry-Film Competition from May 2015.


March 1st, 2014 at 3:09 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

 
 

Five Words Poetry Competition Winner Announced

 
 
Our congratulations go to Don Nixon, winner of this inaugural five words competition for his poem, Fado in a Lisbon Bar. And congratulations to all the shortlisted entrants, and for highly commended contributions from Afric McGlinchey and Janet Lees.

Shortlist

Old Maps and Books by Don Nixon (England)
Fado in a Lisbon Bar by Don Nixon (England) winner
Gipsy Girl by Eithne Reynolds (Ireland)
The Magician’s Hat by Linda Mills (USA)
Matinée Idol by Richard Hawtree (Ireland)
Postcard by Joy Howard (England)
A boy of six thousand parts by Janet Lees (England) highly commended
Palimpsest by Janet Lees (England)
Frozen moment by Afric McGlinchey (Ireland) highly commended
Life on Mars by Colm Scully (Ireland)
The Choice by Tom Dredge (Ireland)
At the Banquet by Máire Wren (Ireland)

Judges: Cal Doyle and Paul Casey

These poems will appear in Five Words vol VII, to be launched at Ó Bhéal on Monday the 14th of April 2014, along with an award presentation and readings from available contributors.


December 22nd, 2013 at 8:56 pm
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

 

Jazz-Poetry Night 2013

21st October

 
 

Oh what live jazz and poetry can create – our 6th jazz-poetry night in October saw Dimitra Xidous team up with musicians Gary Baus, Jack O’Rourke, Mo O’Connor and Michael O’Callaghan. So we won’t harp on about the magic when the videos (filmed by Stephen O’Riordan) of both the main set and the open-mic, are right here.


April 15th, 2013 at 1:41 am
Posted by pc in Poetry Events and News

Ó Bhéal launches the

Five Words International Poetry Competition 2013-14

Each Tuesday around midday (GMT), from the 16th of April 2013, five words are posted at this link. Entrants have one week to compose and submit one (or more) poem(s): poems that must include all five words.

At noon next Tuesday, these words will no longer be eligible, and replaced with five new words. The competition will run for a total of forty weeks, until the last week of January 2014. One winner will win 500 euro and a reading.

For this week’s words, submissions and guidelines click here.