The 4th Winter Warmer festival at the Kino was an enormous success, with far larger audiences throughout thanks to the space, although perhaps a little chilly for the Winter Warmer, we thought. Nonetheless a special privilege to host the festival in this iconic, soon-to-be-lost cultural space.
A whirlwindy, delightful two days and superb line-up of local and International poets from seven countries, in three continents, featuring Raina J. Leon, Ross Donlon, Michael Augustin, Josep Lluis Aguilo, Jos Smith, Emily Cullen, Catherine Walsh, Billy Mills, John Fitzgerald, Paul McMahon, Roisín Kelly, Martín Veiga, Eibhlís Carçione, John Ennis, Kerrie O’Brien, Elaine Feeney, Seán Dennehy, Tara Bergin, Gerry Hanberry, Paula Cunningham, Jessica Traynor, Annemarie Ní Churreáin and performance artist Francesca Castellano.
We have 30 videos from the festival (in order of appearance), followed by poems from the closed-mic session poets.
Guest Poet and Open-Mic videos
(also on the Ó Bhéal Youtube channel)
A fantastic jazz-poetry event with Sarah Clancy accompanied by The Jazz Messengers, followed by a vibrant open-mic for our 9th jazz-poetry night. This year’s 28 videos were filmed by Lovisa Cosgrave and include eight of Sarah’s poems and the following open-mic.
The complete video playlist is here
The 3rd Winter Warmer festival at Sample Studios was a great success, with a superb line-up of local and International poets from three continents. We have 33 videos for you to view, one from each guest poet’s reading/performance at the festival (in order of appearance), including poems from the closed-mic session.
(or on the Ó Bhéal Youtube channel).
Guest Poet and Open-Mic videos
(also on the Ó Bhéal Youtube channel)
A class night of jazz-poetry with Afric McGlinchey and Michael Ray accompanied by The Blue Notes jazz trio, and followed by an excellent open-mic for our 8th jazz-poetry night. The videos (filmed by Shane Vaughan) of both the main set and the open-mic follow.
The videos are here
12th October 2015
Congratulations to Cheryl Gross, whose superb film In the Circus of You is the winner this year’s poetry-film award at the IndieCork Festival of Independant Cinema & Music. Cheryl’s film was in competition with thirty shortlisted entries from 13 countries, which you can read about here. Our thanks go to all the filmmakers for submitting, and what a delight to view such a range of world talent and excellent variety of work. Thanks are also due to Zata Banks from PoetryFilm for her marvellous archival work and richly imaginative presentation of avante-garde poetry-film experimentations.
Poem: In the Circus of You by Nicelle Davis
Synopsis – a visceral spectacle of controlled excess; it dismantles the three rings we use to contain our most domestic horrors and shows us the way through vulnerability to release. Nicelle Davis’s poetry mythologizes pain, makes grief, anger, disgust, and fear bearable by transforming them into finely wrought poems. These poems are filled with sharp edges, dissections, illusions, and images of flight; both in their language and in the ways they occupy the page. They are perfectly matched by the animation and drawings of Cheryl Gross, who translates Davis’s poetry into an equally grotesque, equally eloquent visual language.
Director: Cheryl Gross (U.S.A.)
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Cheryl Gross is an illustrator and motion graphic artist living and working in the New York area. She is a professor at Pratt Institute and Bloomfield College.
“I equate my work with creating and building an environment, transforming my inner thoughts into reality. Beginning with the physical process, I work in layers. I am involved in solving visual and verbal complexities such as design and narrative. My urban influence has indeed added an ‘edge’ to my work.” Many have compared Cheryl’s work to “Dr. Seuss on crack.”
“Too many poetry films apply great cinematography to bad poetry and sometimes great poetry is left down by less than fully committed visuals. Here is a poetry film where the aesthetic accomplishment and craftmanship of the cinematography and the poetry are equal. Gross’s animation remains faithful to Davis’s text while not compromising its own ambition. Gross has demonstrated great taste and discernment in investing her talent as a cinematographer in poems which demand your attention with captivating subject matter and their awareness of language as a musical medium.”
Our hearty congratulations go to Derek Sellen, winner of the second Five Words competition for his poem Survivor. Derek will be the guest poet at Ó Bhéal’s 8th anniversary event in April. Our best wishes go to all the shortlisted entrants, and for highly commended entries from Afric McGlinchey and Adannaya Igwe. Thanks to everyone who took part this year, and to judges Billy Ramsell and Jennifer Matthews for their excellent choices.
| Survivor | by Derek Sellen (England) winner |
| Sonnet in B Major | by Afric McGlinchey (Ireland) highly commended |
| Home Cooking | by Adannaya Igwe (UK) highly commended |
| Saved | by Liz Smith (England) |
| Breakfast | by Sheena Blackhall (Scotland) |
| At the Hair Clinic | by Derek Sellen (England) |
| The Snooze Button | by Margaret McCarthy (Ireland) |
| The Sectioning | by Bernadette McCarthy (Ireland) |
| I Coin a Line | by Mary Fahy (Ireland) |
| The Stereogram | by Anthony Scott (England) |
| Black Mountain Rebel | by Tess Sheridan Adams (Ireland) |
| False North | by John W. Sexton (Ireland) |
These poems will appear in Five Words Vol VIII, to be launched at Ó Bhéal on Monday the 13th of April 2015, along with an award presentation and readings from available contributors. The 3rd Five Words International Competition will commence at noon on Tuesday the 14th of April, 2015.
followed by the open-mic
For those who missed our end of year reading with Liz Lochhead (the Scots Makar / National poet of Scotland), we have all 13 of Liz’s poems on video for you. Liz gave a fabulous reading and an excellent open-mic followed to end off the year. With thanks to Rab Urquhart for capturing the footage.
(or on the Ó Bhéal Youtube channel).
The 2nd Winter Warmer festival at Sample Studios was a resounding success, with a mighty array of exceptional poets drawing fantastic crowds throughout. It’ll be more than difficult to match next year, but that won’t stop us trying! We have one video from each guest poet’s reading/performance at the festival (in order of appearance), including the closed-mic.
(or on the Ó Bhéal Youtube channel).
Guest Poet and Open-Mic videos
(also on the Ó Bhéal Youtube channel)
A class night of jazz-poetry with Patrick Cotter accompanied by Mo O’Connor, Pat Barrett and Niall Dennehy, and followed by an excellent open-mic for our 7th jazz-poetry night. The videos (filmed by Stephen O’Riordan) of both the main set and the open-mic are here.
[L-R] Adam Steiner, Saleha Begum, Adam Wyeth, Kathy D’Arcy and Cal Doyle
Poetry Exchange
with photos and reviews from
Cork and Coventry poets
[L-R] Saleha Begum and Adam Steiner at Béal na Bláth
This year’s Cork-Coventry Twin Cities poetry exchange welcomed five new and talented voices. Representing Coventry were two exciting young poets: Adam Steiner and Saleha Begum, while Cork returned with three well-known local poets: Adam Wyeth; Kathy D’Arcy and Cal Doyle. Over three days in July the Coventry poets gave readings at Ó Bhéal, the West Cork Literary Festival and at the Whitehouse in Limerick. They visited Lord Mayor Cllr. Mary Shields at City Hall and travelled through counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick, making various detours to visit historical monuments and rare curiosities like The Time Traveller’s Bookshop in Skibbereen. In November the Cork poets gave readings at The Big Comfy Bookshop in Coventry and also in Burton-on-Trent, visited Lord Mayor of Coventry Hazel Noonan who accompanied them on a tour of the old Cathedral ruins. They were interviewed live by Kate Hills on Hillz FM Radio and also visited Stratford and Birmingham.
“I am finishing now and I say this; I cannot think of a better place to bring this state visit to a close than among the Irish community; with the Irish of Britain active for 40 years with groups like the St. Patricks Club, Leamington Spa, the Coventry Irish Society, the Coventry County Association and the Coventry Cork Poets.” – President Michael D Higgins at the Guild House, Coventry, April 2014
For the full review from the participants, with photos, click here.
