Professional Development for Poets

Poetry Ireland hosted a Zoom workshop, led by Tara Bergin, in February, for emerging poets with a strong track record of publication.

We were delighted to sponsor places to the Dingle Lit Online Poetry Workshop with Enda Wyley for four poets who otherwise couldn’t afford to attend.

In November, we awarded 24 Poetry Town bursaries to poets all over the island of Ireland. The bursaries (of up to €500) will help the poets develop and create new work.

Introductions

This year’s Introductions selected participants were Simon Costello, Eoin McEvoy, William Keohane, Molly Twomey, Sonya Gildea, Siobhán Ní Dhomhnaill, Laura McKenna, Jamie Field, Sacha White, and Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan.

The series was delivered through workshops with Jessica Traynor, Annemarie Ní Churreáin and Seán Hewitt (with two of the poets also taking part in an Irish language session

2021 Poetry Ireland Introductions group, with Seán Hewitt and Elizabeth Mohen

We were delighted to announce the Diversifying Irish Poetry critics in July

with Aifric Mac Aodha). A showcase was staged at Smock Alley in December, coinciding with the launch of an ebook of the group’s work.

Diversifying Irish Poetry

Diversifying Irish Poetry: Poetry Critics of Colour in Ireland is funded by the Irish Research Council’s New Foundations scheme and is led by Dr Catherine Gander (Maynooth University), run in collaboration with Ledbury Poetry Critics and in partnership with Poetry Ireland.

An introductory workshop with Dzifa Benson on poetry reviewing took place in June, aimed at participants from BAME backgrounds.

Five mentees for the Diversifying Irish Poetry mentorship scheme were selected in July. They are Sophie L.Clarke, Lind Grant-Oyeye, Tapasy Narang, Tanvi Roberts and Lando wo. Over the last few months, they have been working with their mentors to develop poetry reviews for publication and they will spend two days at the DIP residency, held at Maynooth University, toward the close of the project.

Eavan Boland Emerging Poet Award

This award for two emerging poets – one from Ireland and one from the U.S. - is organised by Poetry Ireland in partnership with Stanford University with support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the U.S Embassy Dublin.

Applications for the award opened on Eavan’s birth date, 24 September, and this year’s adjudicators were Paula Meehan and Jane Hirshfield.

The two winners, announced in December, are Emma Tobin and Lauren Green.