October and November


12th October

Kobus Moolman


You can listen to Kobus’s reading here.

Kobus Moolman is Professor of Creative Writing in the department of English Studies at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. He has published seven collections of poetry, two collections of plays, and edited a collection of poetry, prose and art by South African writers living with disabilities. He has won numerous local and international awards, including the Ingrid Jonker prize, the PANSA award, the South African Literary Award, the DALRO poetry prize, the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry award and the 2015 Glenna Luschei Award for African Poetry for his collection A Book of Rooms.

His first collection of short fiction, The Swimming Lesson and Other Stories, was published in 2018. He recently edited a special issue on contemporary South African poetry for the American journal, Illuminations and in 2019, he published a chapbook of meditative poetry with drawings by Shubnum Khan, All and Everything (uHlanga Press). His new collection of poetry, The Mountain behind the House, from which he will read, is due to be released in early November.

 


You can watch a video of the event here


Virtual Ó Bhéal Session

The event will be hosted on Zoom and limited to 100 people. We will also live-stream the session on Ó Bhéal’s facebook page. Note to Participants: As the events are recorded, they remain viewable as videos on our FaceBook/YouTube channels.

We are no longer posting the link via our social media channels. Upon written request to info@obheal.ie with a sentence outlining your reason for participation, a link to join the session will be emailed to you on the evening of the event. The session is expected to run for between 2-3 hours.

The evening will feature three parts:

8.30pm: Five Word Challenge (max 30 – after the allotted 15 minutes writing time);
9.30pm: Featured Guest Poets (20 mins each);
10:20pm: Open-Mic Session for original poetry (max 30).

(Entering a Zoom meeting is all explained here >>>. This link provides you with a step-by-step guide and YouTube tutorial if necessary. You should check this out if you’re unfamiliar with the Zoom platform – it also shows you where to download the zoom client/app for your computer/phone. Please Make sure to know where the chat box is and how to mute yourself to reduce background sound.)



9th November

Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe with Mícheál McCann, and Ashley O’Neal


You can listen to Nidhi & Micheál’s combined reading here.

Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe is a poet, pacifist and fabulist. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Banshee, Poetry Ireland Review, Rattle, The Stinging Fly and Winter Papers, among others. Her debut collection of poetry is forthcoming in July 2021. She is currently co-editing a commemorative anthology with The Ireland Chair of Poetry, celebrating creative relationships between established and emerging poets, forthcoming with UCD Press.
 
 

Mícheál McCann is from Derry. His poems appear in Banshee, fourteen poems, Poetry Ireland Review and The Manchester Review. His first pamphlet of poems Safe Home is published by Green Bottle Press. He is currently co-editing a commemorative anthology with The Ireland Chair of Poetry, celebrating creative relationships between established and emerging poets, forthcoming with UCD Press.

 


You can listen to Ashley’s reading here.

Ashley O’Neal is an award winning poet, artist, and philosopher who lives in the Gaeltacht area of Ballyvourney. She was the winner of the 2014 Michael Hartnett Original Poem award, the winner of the 2018 Kanturk Poetry Slam Competition and she has read her poems for the 2018 Sliabh Luachra Scully’s Fest. She was officially selected for the 2018 Biennial Edition of Women Cinemakers for her work in film and writing. Her début colection The Wren is Near – An Dreoilín in ár Measc (Eridanus Press, 2019) has been shortlisted for the 2020 Shine Strong Poetry Award.

O’Neal’s poetry focuses on the ancient language of the land and the mythology of Ireland. She is deeply interested in the revival of poetry in relation to its ancient purpose, which is to unite people in their traditions, while also reconnect them to their noble heritage.

For more visit: www.thewrenisnear.com and Poethead


You can watch a video of the event here


Virtual Ó Bhéal Session

The event will be hosted on Zoom and limited to 100 people. We will also live-stream the session on Ó Bhéal’s facebook page. Note to Participants: As the events are recorded, they remain viewable as videos on our FaceBook/YouTube channels.

We are no longer posting the link via our social media channels. Upon written request to info@obheal.ie with a sentence outlining your reason for participation, a link to join the session will be emailed to you on the evening of the event. The session is expected to run for between 2-3 hours.

The evening will feature three parts:

8.30pm: Five Word Challenge (max 30 – after the allotted 15 minutes writing time);
9.30pm: Featured Guest Poets (20 mins each);
10:20pm: Open-Mic Session for original poetry (max 30).

(Entering a Zoom meeting is all explained here >>>. This link provides you with a step-by-step guide and YouTube tutorial if necessary. You should check this out if you’re unfamiliar with the Zoom platform – it also shows you where to download the zoom client/app for your computer/phone. Please Make sure to know where the chat box is and how to mute yourself to reduce background sound.)



26th-29th November

the 8th Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer Festival of Poetry

The programme will appear here during mid-October

Ó Bhéal’s 8th Winter Warmer (and 1st online) festival presents 36 poets live from fifteen countries, from Thurs 26thSun 29th November. The festival will feature poetry workshops, music from Tionscadal na nAmhrán Ealaíne Gaeilge (the Irish Language Art Song Project) devised by Dáirine Ní Mheadhra and John Hess, the shortlist screening and prize-giving for Ó Bhéal’s International Poetry-Film Competition, a Many Tongues of Cork session and a closed-mic set for new voices – poets who have featured regularly in Ó Bhéal’s online open-mic sessions during 2020.


 

We are thrilled to announce that this year’s stellar line-up includes Imtiaz Dharker, Jacob Polley, Sinéad Morrissey, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Nuar Alsadir, Robert Sullivan, Dunya Mikhail, David Wheatley, Mary Jean Chan, Ranjit Hoskote, Julie Morrissy, Musawenkosi Khanyile, Natalya O’Flaherty, Susan Musgrave and William Wall.

Ó Bhéal gratefully acknowledges its sponsors, The Arts Council, Cork City Council, Foras na Gaeilge, Dunnes Stores, Forum Publications, Colmcille, Arc Publications, Cork City Libraries, Poetry Ireland and the UCC School of English and Digital Humanities.

All events are free, with a €3 suggested online donation.

 


You can watch the entire festival here