December and January


5th December

Ó Bhéal in association with Foras na Gaeilge presents a bi-lingual evening with

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

You can listen to Doireann’s reading here.

Doireann Ní Ghríofa grew up in County Clare. She holds a Masters Degree in Modern Irish Literature. Her poetry has been published in Feasta, Comhar, Ropes Anthology, Revival, An tUltach, Crannóg, The Stony Thursday Book and An Gael. Further poems are forthcoming in Prairie Schooner Contemporary Irish Writers Issue and Cyphers. Doireann was among the prize-winners in the emerging writer category at the Oireachtas literary awards 2010 and was shortlisted in Comórtas Uí Néill 2011. The Arts Council has awarded her a literature bursary. Her debut collection, Résheoid, is published by Coiscéim.

Is as Co an Chláir do Doireann Ní Ghríofa ó dhúchas. Bhain sí amach céim mháistreachta sa Nua-Ghaeilge. Tá filíocht léi foilsithe i bhFeasta, Comhar, Ropes Anthology, Revival, An tUltach, Crannóg, The Stony Thursday Book agus An Gael. Beidh tuilleadh dánta á fhoilsiú go luath i Prairie Schooner Contemporary Irish Writers Issue agus Cyphers. Bhain sí duais amach san Oireachtais Liteartha 2010 i rannóg na Scríbhneoirí Úra agus bhí dán léi ar ghearrliosta Comórtas Uí Néill 2011. Bhronn an Chomhairle Ealaíon sparánacht uirthi. D’fhoilsigh Coiscéim an chéad cnuasach léi, dár dteideal Résheoid.

 



12th December

Ó Bhéal presents an end of year reading with

Carol Ann Duffy and musician John Sampson

Author of at least fifty books and plays, nine of which are poetry collections, Glasgow-born poet Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of The Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has written for both children and adults, and her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children’s Verse, the Whitbread and Forward Prizes, and the Lannan and E. M. Forster Prize in America. In 2005, she won the T. S. Eliot Prize for Rapture. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Britain in 2009, succeeding Andrew Motion.

Carol Ann is a former editor of the poetry magazine Ambit and is a regular reviewer and broadcaster. Her adult poetry collections are Standing Female Nude (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; Selling Manhattan (1987), which won a Somerset Maugham Award; The Other Country (1990); Mean Time (1993), which won the Whitbread Poetry Award and the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year); The World’s Wife (1999); Feminine Gospels (2002), a celebration of the female condition; New Selected Poems (Picador, 2004) and Rapture (2005), winner of the 2005 T. S. Eliot Prize. Her children’s poems are collected in New & Collected Poems for Children (2009). Her most recent book of poetry is The Bees (Picador, 2011), shortlisted for the 2011 Costa Poetry Award and the 2011 T. S. Eliot Prize. Read about The Bees at the Picador website here.

She also writes picture books for children. Anthologies edited by Carol Ann Duffy include Out of Fashion (2004), in which she creates a vital dialogue between classic and contemporary poets over the two arts of poetry and fashion; Answering Back (2007); and To The Moon: An Anthology of Lunar Poems (2009). Carol Ann Duffy is also an acclaimed playwright, and has had plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse and the Almeida Theatre in London. Her plays include Take My Husband (1982), Cavern of Dreams (1984), Little Women, Big Boys (1986) and Loss (1986), a radio play.

She received an Eric Gregory Award in 1984 and a Cholmondeley Award in 1992 from the Society of Authors, the Dylan Thomas Award from the Poetry Society in 1989 and a Lannan Literary Award from the Lannan Foundation (USA) in 1995. She was awarded an OBE in 1995, a CBE in 2001 and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999.

– Biography compiled from Picador and the British Council.

John Sampson is an Edinburgh-based professional musician, composer and actor. A well known and loved performer on the UK music scene for nearly thirty years and a respected actor for almost as long, he has also appeared extensively on the continent, particularly in Germany where his accomplished brand of musical comedy and cabaret is held in great affection, and his classical and jazz performance skills are highly regarded. He has been working with Carol Ann Duffy for more than nine years.

Two years ago he played at Seamus Heaney`s 70th birthday at the Pavilion in Dún Laoghaire and has performed many times at the Dublin theatre Festival in the 1980`s. He was in the Celtic Story at the Gaiety theatre in 1998. Long an admirer of poetry, John has in recent years collaborated with poets in performance, combining his atmospheric music with the recitation of the work of a number of poets. Two of these collaborations stand out – his extremely successful work with poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, and his performances with Stewart Conn. With Carol Ann Duffy and her daughter Ella, John has helped to create shows such as The Princess’ Blankets, which has been described as “A magical blend of poetry, music and fairytale”.

NB* Seating upstairs will be limited to no more than seventy people, thirty-five of whom will have places reserved as regular Ó Bhéal attendees. There will also be live video broadcast to televisions in the downstairs Long Valley bar during the performance, where there is space for at least seventy more – for those who miss out on seats upstairs.

 



9th January

Helena Nolan

You can listen to Helena’s reading here.

Helena Nolan won the Patrick Kavanagh Award for 2011, having come second in 2010. She has been shortlisted and commended in a number of competitions including Fish and Strokestown. Her work has been published in a range of anthologies and journals including The Stinging Fly, The Moth and Abridged. She is a regular contributor to Poetry24. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from UCD and is a member of the WEB writing group. In recent years, Helena has read at The Dublin Book Festival, The West Cork Literary Festival, The Poetry Now Festival Fringe, The Strokestown Poetry Festival and The Dalkey Book Festival.

You can read Helena’s article Third Time Lucky in Poetry Ireland’s latest newsletter right here.

 



16th January

George Harding

You can listen to Daw’s reading here.

George Harding is a Corkonian whose poems have appeared in Stony Thursday, The Moth, Southward, Revival etc., and is a former director of The Munster Literature Centre. He divides his time between Cork and Kinsale. Has been a regular at Ó Bhéal since its beginning and has read at the Whitehouse in Limerick, An Féile Beag in Ballyferriter, “On the Nail” at the Limerick Writers Centre and Kinsale Arts Week. His first collection, My Stolen City was published by Revival Press in May 2011.

“Harding’s native Cork becomes a prism through which the world’s stupidities, joys and injustices are unflinchingly revealed. This refereshingly bittersweet collection introduces Irish poetry to a rich and unexpected voice.” – Billy Ramsell

 



23rd January

Ó Bhéal in association with Foras na Gaeilge presents a bi-lingual evening with

Louis de Paor

You can listen to Louis’ reading here.

Cork-born Louis de Paor’s most recent collections are agus rud eile de/and another thing, and Uimhir a seacht: ón gcroí nach dtuigeann, both published in 2010. A selected poems in Irish is due shortly from Coiscéim. He edited a bilingual edition of the selected poems of Máire Mhac an tSaoi, An paróiste míorúilteach/The miraculous parish which was published by Cló IarChonnacht and O’Brien Press in November 2011.

His first collection, Próca solais is luatha (BÁC: Coiscéim, 1988), won Duais an Ríordánaigh, a prize which he has won several times since. Among his other collections are 30 dán (BÁC: Coiscéim, 1992) and Corcach agus dánta eile (BÁC: Coiscéim, 1999).

He is the Director of the Centre for Irish Studies at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

 



30th January

Adam Wyeth

You can listen to Adam’s reading here.

Adam Wyeth was born in Sussex in 1978, and has lived in Co. Cork for ten years. His debut collection Silent Music (Salmon Poetry) has been highly commended by The Forward Poetry Prize. He was a prize winner of The Fish International Poetry Competition, 2009; and a runner-up of The Arvon International Poetry Competition, 2006. His poems have appeared in several anthologies including, The Forward Prize Anthology 2011, The Best of Irish Poetry 2010, Dogs Singing: A Tribute Anthology (2010), Landing Places (2010), Something Beginning with P (2004), and The Arvon 25th Anniversary Anthology (2006).

Publications in magazines and journals include: The Stinging Fly, The SHOp, Southword, Poetry London and Magma. Wyeth was a featured poet in Agenda, 2008 and 2010, and selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series, 2007. He has made two films on poetry, A Life in the Day of Desmond O’Grady, first screened at The Cork Film Festival, 2004; and a full length feature, Soundeye: Cork International Poetry Festival, 2005. Wyeth is a member of the Poetry Ireland Writers in Schools Scheme and runs an ongoing online Creative Writing workshop: www.creativewritingink.ie. He is also a freelance journalist with a regular column in The Southern Star and contributes book reviews and features for the The Irish Times.

“Adam Wyeth’s work is fresh and intriguing, alive with imaginative riffs, grave humour and more besides – it rewards close attention.” – Derek Mahon

Adam will also be holding a workshop entitled Exploring personal and cultural memory in writing from 7.00pm to 8.30pm at Ó Bhéal. For more details click here.