Notes on Contributors

Notes on Contributors

R.J. Breathnach is a Wexford-born journalist and writer based in Dublin, Ireland. His work has been published in The Madrigal, Tír na nÓg Magazine, and The Honest Ulsterman, among others. His debut poetry chapbook, I Grew Tired of Being a Zombie, is available from Alien Buddha Press.

Originally from Pembrokeshire Hon Corbett now lives on the Anglo-Scottish border amongst Hadrian's Wall. Hon draws inspiration from the pleasure and pains of parenthood, travels and life experiences. Hon studies Creative Writing and is working towards a first collection of poetry.

A.M. Cousins’ work can be found in PIR, The Stinging Fly and FISH 2019. She is a regular contributor to ‘Sunday Miscellany’ on RTE Radio1. Her first collection of poetry, REDRESS, was published in 2021 by Revival Press, Limerick.

Rachel Coventry is a poet and theorist. Her poems are published in journals such as The Rialto, The North, The Moth, Southword, Poetry Ireland Review, Cyphers, and The SHOp. Her second collection will be published by Salmon Poetry in August 2022.

Derek Coyle published his first collection, Reading John Ashbery in Costa Coffee Carlow in a dual-language edition in Tranas, Sweden and Carlow, Ireland in April 2019, and it was shortlisted for the Shine Strong 2020 poetry award. He lectures in Carlow College/St Patrick’s, Ireland. His second collection, Sipping Martinis under Mount Leinster is due in the Fall 2022. He has published poems in The Irish Times, Irish Pages, The Texas Literary Review, The Honest Ulsterman, Orbis, Skylight 47, Assaracus, and The Stony Thursday Book.

Deirdre McKernan Crosby lives in Greystones, Co. Wicklow. Her first published poem, Uninvited Guest appeared in the Bray Arts Journal, 2019. During the Pandemic Deirdre took part in three Poetry Day Ireland events: 2020 theme ‘There Will be Time’ brought about a virtual reading of her poem There Will Be Time –

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Covid & Cancer COVID-19 at the Whale Theatre, Greystones. This poem was displayed for public reading in Greystones, as is her poem Diary 1952, PDI theme ‘New Directions: Maps and Journeys'. In 2022 Deirdre read her poem The Card I Was Dealt to celebrate a welcome return to live events. The poem was based on the tarot card The Magician, PDI theme ‘Written In The Stars’. Her work is published in Boyne Berries Literary Journal, The Blue Nib and Pandemic.ie. All preserved in the Irish Poetry Reading Archive at UCD Library.

Anne Daly is a writer who lives in Co. Meath. Her writing has recently featured in The Honest Ulsterman, The Waxed Lemon and Ellipsis Zine (Issue 11). She won second place in the Allingham Fiction Prize, 2021. Her debut pamphlet Triptych was published in April 2022.

Gráinne Daly is a writer based in Tallaght. Winner of the UCD Maeve Binchy Award 2019, she was longlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year Award 2021. Her writing has been published in numerous publications.

A past winner of the Trocaire/Poetry Ireland and Poems for Patience competitions, Maurice Devitt published his debut collection, Growing Up in Colour, with Doire Press in 2018. Curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site, his Pushcart-nominated poem, The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work, was the title poem of an anthology published by Hibernian Writers in 2015.

Moyra Donaldson is a poet and creative writing facilitator from Co Down. She has published nine collections of poetry, most recently Bone House, Doire Press, 2021, and is a recipient of a Major Individual Artist award from Arts Council Northern Ireland.

Hugh Doyle was born in Ireland but has lived in Wales for many years, first arriving in 1995, attending Swansea University to study Philosophy and Anthropology. He returned to Swansea University in 2014 and completed his Creative Writing MA (part time) in 2017.His first collection, A Persistence of Questions, was published

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by the Tuba Press in the same year. His poems have appeared in The Gull, The Lonely Crowd, & Word Sharing, A Literary Anthology.

Patrick Doyle's work has appeared in The Galway Review, Skylight 47 and Revival Magazine. He was twice winner of the 'From the Well' Short Story Competition and runner-up in the Leslie Boland and Shahidah Janjua Poetry Awards. In 2021 he was awarded a Poetry Mentorship by the Munster Literature Center.

Michael Durack lives in County Tipperary. His work features in journals such as The Blue Nib, The Honest Ulsterman, and Poetry Ireland Review. Publications include a memoir, Saved to Memory: Lost to View (2016) and two poetry collections, Where It Began ( 2017) and Flip Sides (2020) from Revival Press.

Hazel Durham was born in Artane, Dublin. She now lives in lovely Carlow town. Hazel completed an excellent mentoring course with Arthur Broomfield. She won ‘The Inaugural Borris Focus Centre/Borris House Festival of Writing and Ideas/Carlow County Library Literary Competition’ in 2019. She has been published in Impspired. James Finnegan, Dublin born, second prize winner in Gregory O’Donoghue 2022 International Poetry Competition, Half-Open Door (Eyewear Publishing, 2018), The Weather-Beaten Scarecrow (Doire Press) due out late Sept/early Oct 2022. James and Livinia and springer spaniel Daisy live a few miles outside Letterkenny in Co. Donegal.

Siobhán Flynn is the winner of the Cúirt New Writing Prize for poetry 2022, her work has appeared in The Irish Times, The Poetry Bus, Drawn to the Light, Amsterdam Quarterly and others. She lives in Dublin after a couple of years living beside the sea in Ballymoney, Co Wexford.

Tracy Gaughan is a writer and editor based in Galway whose poems have appeared in Crannóg, ROPES, Boyne Berries, The Blue Nib and elsewhere. She is a 2022 Forward Prize nominee,

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and a selection of her work has recently been published in the anthology Pushed Toward the Blue Hour by Nine Pens Press.

Edel Hanley is researching for a PhD in women’s war writing at University College Cork. She was awarded an Irish Research Council Postgraduate Award for her research in October 2020. Edel hosts poetry and short story writing courses for gifted children alongside the Centre for Talented Youth Ireland (CTYI) and her poetry and fiction have previously been published in Crannóg Magazine, Skylight 47 Poetry, Drawn to the Light Press, Pendemic.ie, Aigne, Bookhub Publishing’s anthology series #mentalhealth4milennials, The New Writer’s Café Magazine, and Quarryman Literary Journal.

Aideen Henry has been published in the Irish Times, the Stinging Fly and broadcast on RTE Radio 1. She was shortlisted for the Hennessy Award and Francis Mc Manus Award. Her two collections of poetry, Hands Moving at the Speed of Falling Snow, and Slow Bruise, were published with Salmon Poetry. She is working on her third collection.

Kenneth Hickey was born in 1975 in Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland. He served in the Irish Naval Service between 1993 and 2000. His poetry and prose has been published in various literary journals in Ireland, the UK and the United States. His writing for theatre has been performed in Ireland, the UK, New York and Paris. He has won the Eamon Keane Full Length Play Award as well as being shortlisted for The PJ O’Connor Award, and the Tony Doyle Bursary. His work in film has been screened at the Cork and Foyle Film Festivals. He holds a BA and MA in English Literature, both from University College Cork. His debut collection The Unicycle Paradox was published by Revival Press in November 2021. He still resides in Cork.

LJ Ireton is a poet and bookseller from London. She has a 1st Class B.A. Honours in English Language and Literature from The University of Liverpool. Her poems have been published

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by Marble, Minnow Literary Magazine, Green Ink Poetry, The Madrigal, Noctivagant Press and Spellbinder Magazine.

Khushi Jain holds a Bachelors in English Literature from the University of Delhi, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Classics from Trinity College, Dublin. She reads. A lot.

Paul Jeffcutt has won thirty-three awards for poetry, in competitions in Ireland, the UK and the USA. He has two collections: The Skylark’s Call, Dempsey & Windle (2020) and Latch, Lagan Press (2010). He is widely published in literary journals and anthologies. Paul lives in Co Down, Northern Ireland. www.pauljeffcutt.net.

Phil Lynch lives in Dublin. His poems have appeared in a range of literary journals and anthologies. He is a regular performer of his work at poetry/spoken word events and literary festivals in Ireland and further afield. His poetry collection In a Changing Light (Salmon Poetry) was published in 2016.

Rose Malone writes poems and short stories and has been published in New Square, The Galway Review, the Leinster Leader, and the Same Page Anthology (University college Cork, Ireland). She belongs to three writing groups and takes part in open mic sessions.

Orla Martin has had poetry published in Poetry Ireland Review, The Cúirt Journal, Crannóg Magazine and The Stony Thursday Book. Having read as part of Poetry Ireland Introduction Series, her poetry has been shortlisted for awards including the Jonathan Swift Creative Writing Award, Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Prize and Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award. Orla works as the administrator at the Irish Writers Centre, in Dublin.

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Mari Maxwell’s work appears in Washing Windows Too (Arlen House 2022), and Poetry Jukebox STARS Curation, from the 2021 Belfast International Arts Festival. She received a 2020/21 Professional Development Award with the Arts Council of Ireland and a 2019/2020 Words Ireland, Mayo County Council Mentorship.

Cáit O'Neill McCullagh started writing poetry at home in Scotland’s Highlands in December 2020. Her poems are published in various journals and anthologies, and she has read at numerous gatherings in Ireland and Scotland. Recently she was appointed as a co-director of the Wee Gaitherin Festival of poetry. See https://www.highlandlit.com/cait-oneill-mccullagh.

Karen J McDonnell's Driftwood was shortlisted for Irish Poem of the Year in 2021. She is currently working on her second collection, for which she was awarded an Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award. Her debut, This Little World, is published by Doire Press. More at karenjmcdonnell.com.

Martin Meyler teaches art in an alt-ed project. Has been published in The Moth and The Cormorant; was included in Quotidian’s Poetry Jukebox project in Belfast. ‘Beside You’ was shortlisted in the Edwin Morgan Trust ‘All Things Are Possible’ competition, in Gutter 21, last year.

Karen Mooney’s poetry has been published in USA, UK and Ireland. Her co-written pamphlet with Gaynor Kane, Penned In, was published in 2020 by The Hedgehog Poetry Press who published her debut pamphlet Missing Pieces in March 2022.

Alan Murphy is the Lismore-based writer and illustrator of four books of poetry for children and teenagers. He has also contributed poems and visual art to numerous digital and print anthologies in Ireland, the UK and the US. He is a regular reviewer for Inis magazine.

Jamie O’Halloran is an American-Irish poet whose Corona Connemara & Half a Crown was awarded 2nd place in the 2021

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Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition. She was the 2021 Artist in Residence at Bridget’s Garden. Her poems appear most recently in One Hand Clapping, Skylight 47 and The Honest Ulsterman.

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad is an Indian-Australian artist, poet, and improv pianist. She serves as a chief editor for Authora Australis. She lives and works in Sydney on the traditional lands of the Eora Nation. Find her @oormilaprahlad and www.instagram.com/oormila_paintings

D'or Seifer lives in Limerick. She contributes to poetry gatherings such as Filí an Tí Bháin and Over the Edge. D'or co-runs the online poetry series Lime Square Poets. Her work has recently appeared in Skylight 47, The Banyan Review, Abridged, and Ink Sweat & Tears.

Gail Sheridan lives in Waterford city with her family. Gail works as a community drug worker and stared writing poetry at the start of the pandemic. Gail is a member of the ‘Landscape of the Body’ writing group with Lani O’Hanlon and Gail’s work has been recently published in the Waxed Lemon literary journal.

Stephen Shields lives in Loughrea, County Galway. He writes both poetry and fiction. His poetry has been widely published in Ireland and the UK. If you are reading this, the list now includes Drawn to the Light.

Rachael Stanley's poems have been published in journals and anthologies, of which her most recent published work appears in The Wild Ireland Calendar for 2022 published by The Irish Peatland Conservation Council. In 2019, she was commended in the Francis Ledwidge Poetry Competition. She lives in Dublin.

Lynda Tavakoli is a writer, poet and occasional photographer from County Down. Her photography is often inspired by the natural world and the beauty of her surrounding countryside. Lynda's debut poetry collection, The Boiling Point for Jam is published by Arlen House.

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Nadira Wallace is a doctoral researcher at Royal Holloway, University of London and has written literary reviews for Tears in the Fence, The Interpreter’s House, The Modernist Review and SPAM Magazine. Her creative work has been published in Shearsman magazine, Love Spells & Rituals for Another (Independent Publishing Network, 2021), AWWStruck (Poem Atlas, 2021) and exhibited in Greece (Text-Isles, Art Park Gallery, 2021). She also had an academic article on magnificent diction recently published in Textual Practice.

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No Man is an Island

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

John Donne

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Editor: Orla Fay

Published by Drawn to the Light Press

ISSN 2737-7768

Next issue: October 2022

https://drawntothelightpress.com

Twitter: @DrawnPress

Instagram: @drawntothelightpress

Facebook: @drawnpress22

Patrons: Anthony Wade

Drawn to the Light Press is edited, designed, and produced by Orla Fay.

Cover design As of Now by Martin Meyler

The works included in this issue are copyright of the poets and artists ©2022 and may not be reproduced or changed in any way without the permission of the individual author.

Drawn to the Light Press is ©2022 of the editor. All rights reserved.

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Drawn to the Light Press Issue 6

R.J. Breathnach Hon Corbett A.M. Cousins Rachel Coventry Derek Coyle Deirdre Crosby Anne Daly Gráinne Daly Maurice Devitt Moyra Donaldson Hugh Doyle Patrick Doyle Michael Durack Hazel Durham James Finnegan Siobhán Flynn Tracy Gaughan Edel Hanley Aideen Henry Kenneth Hickey LJ Ireton Khushi Jain Paul Jeffcutt Phil Lynch Rose Malone Orla Martin Mari Maxwell Cáit O'Neill McCullagh Karen J McDonnell Martin Meyler Karen Mooney Alan Murphy Jamie O’Halloran Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad D'or Seifer Stephen Shields Gail Sheridan Rachael Stanley Lynda Tavakoli Nadira Wallace

ISSN 2737-7768

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