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<\/a><\/p>\n (celebrating 709 nights of Poetry)<\/span><\/p>\n presents Five Words competition winners:<\/i><\/p>\n Lucie Pereira<\/strong> (1st<\/b><\/font>), Dean Gessie<\/strong> (2nd<\/b><\/font>) & Em Egan Reeve<\/strong> (3rd<\/b><\/font>)<\/p>\n featuring Five Words Volume XVIII<\/strong> and an open-mic for Only Other Poets’ Poetry<\/strong><\/span><\/center><\/p>\n <\/em><\/font> Lucie Pereira<\/font>!<\/strong><\/center>\u00d3 Bh\u00e9al’s 18th Anniversary<\/strong> event celebrates the launch of Five Words Volume XVIII<\/em> and the winners of our 12th Five Words International Poetry competition. The winners and shortlist of 12<\/strong><\/a> were selected by judge Lauren O’Donovan<\/a><\/strong>. Shortlisted poets will also read on the night – as will contributors to \u00d3 Bh\u00e9al’s Monday night Five Word Challenges held over the past 12 months. The anniversary open-mic is reserved for poems written by other poets<\/em>, so bring a favourite!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/font> This event will be both in-person<\/strong>, hosted in the Hayloft bar, upstairs in Long Valley, Winthrop St Cork, as well as<\/strong> on Zoom<\/strong> (which is limited to 100 people). Participation in the open-mic session and five word challenge is open to both in-person and<\/em> virtual attendees. The session will be live-streamed at obheal.ie\/live<\/a><\/b> and via \u00d3 Bh\u00e9al’s Vimeo<\/a><\/b>, Facebook<\/a><\/b> and YouTube <\/a><\/b>channels. Note to Participants<\/font><\/em><\/strong>: Our hybrid events are recorded and remain viewable on video via these same channels. <\/p>\n We are no longer posting the zoom link via our social media channels. Upon written request to info@obheal.ie<\/a> 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, which is expected to run for between 2-3 hours.<\/p>\n 7-7.45pm: Poetry-Films<\/strong> (random play from \u00d3 Bh\u00e9al’s Poetry-Film comp archives – NOT STREAMED<\/strong>); (Entering a Zoom meeting<\/strong> is all explained here >>><\/b><\/a>. 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.<\/i>)<\/font><\/p>\n <\/a> The launch of <\/font>The Unfinished Book of Poetry 2025<\/font><\/a><\/strong><\/font> takes place at Cork City Library on Grand Parade, on Wednesday 30th April at 1pm<\/strong>. The launch will be attended by transition year (TY) student writers (who will read their poems from the book), participating teachers, library staff and assisting writers (tutors). The book will be launched by the Lord Mayor of Cork. A limited number of free copies will be available to the public at the city library.<\/p>\n Twelve young poets from the book will also have their poems displayed in Cork City Library\u2019s Poetry in the Parks project during the summer, via installations at Fitzgerald\u2019s Park, Tramore Valley Park, Ballincollig Regional Park, Marina Park, Gerry O\u2019Sullivan Park and Blarney Sanctuary Walkway. This will also be part of the 2025 Cruinni\u00fa na n\u00d3g festival.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.obheal.ie\/FiveWords\/Anniversary-Notice2025.jpg\")
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<\/font>Lucie Pereira<\/strong> <\/font>(1st<\/strong>)<\/font> (she\/her) is a writer and educator from California. Her work has appeared in publications including Honey Literary, Yes Poetry<\/em>, and Stanchion Zine<\/em>, and her debut chapbook From Here to the Ocean<\/em> is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. She has received fellowships from Kearny Street Workshop and Rooted & Written, and is a co-founder of the San Francisco-based reading series Kitchen Table. Lucie currently lives in Cobh, where you can find her taking walks by the sea, reading at Cork open mics including Litreacha and the Underground Loft, and pursuing her master’s in creative writing at University College Cork.
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<\/font>Dean Gessie<\/strong> <\/font>(2nd<\/strong>)<\/font> has achieved global success as a poet. Among dozens of honours, Dean won the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award in England, the UN-aligned Poetry Competition in Finland, the COP26 Poetry Competition in Scotland, the Allingham Arts Festival Poetry Contest in Ireland and a Creators of Justice Literary Award from the International Human Rights Art Festival in New York. Additionally, he was twice selected for The Best 64 Poets by Black Mountain Press in North Carolina and he was one of twenty poets included in the Poetry Archive NOW! World View video anthology in England. Dean lives north of Toronto.
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<\/font>Em Egan Reeve<\/strong> <\/font>(3rd<\/strong>)<\/font> is originally from West Cork but has been living in Cork City for the past four years. They are a graduate of UCC, with both a BA in English and an MA in Creative writing (thanks to the Miriam Cotter Scholarship). Em is the co-creator of Litreacha<\/em>, a local queer creative initiative. Their fiction has been published in Swerve<\/em>, and their poetry has featured in the Smashing Times Newsletter<\/em>. Right now, Em is guest editing Good Day Cork<\/em> for the first 6 months of 2025. Follow @eganreeve<\/a> on Instagram for more.<\/font><\/p>\n
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\n8.30pm: Five Word Challenge<\/strong> (max 30 – after the allotted 15 minutes writing time);
\n9.30pm: Competition Winners & Contributors to Five Words Vol XVIII<\/em><\/strong>;
\n10:45pm: Open-Mic<\/strong> Session for other poet’s<\/em> poetry (max 30).<\/p>\n
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<\/span>The 13th<\/strong> \u00d3 Bh\u00e9al International Poetry-Film Competition<\/span><\/strong> will be open for submissions from 1st of May 2025 until the 31st of August 2025. <\/span><\/p>\n