Celebrating Ó Bhéal’s 700th Event in association with Cork City Council,
Coventry City Council and Here Comes Everyone
presents a Cork-Coventry Twin Cities Celebration with poets
Ann Atkins and Amy Rugg
(both poets in-person)
Ann Atkins is a slam-winning poet who likes playing with words and finding inspiration in unusual places, often dished up with a dash of humour. She performs across the country and worldwide online. She co-hosts Coventry’s Fire&Dust open mic, and Fire&Dust Zoom for an international audience. Ann has been published in numerous anthologies and her work has featured on several radio shows.
Her collection Not a Robot was published by Allographic Press (2023). Experienced in writing for commissions, she also enjoys facilitating workshops for all ages. Ann features in the Write Club Podcast, is a Nine Arches Press Dynamo mentee (2023-24) and represented Coventry in Dresden on the Coventry Dresden Writers exchange in 2023. She is quite sure she is not a robot.
Amy Rugg is a writer, performance poet, and cherished collector of tall tales. Writing is the fresh air that keeps Amy going. A champion of Coventry’s history and culture, she was commissioned to perform at Coventry’s Positive Images and Refugee Week festivals, and is a steady regular at Fire&Dust’s open mics.
Her work was published in a Spirit of Fire & Dust anthology by Allographic Press. She enjoys experimenting with the thresholds of poetry and prose and her dramatized poem commemorating the bombing of Coventry Cathedral, featured in the Criterion Theatre’s ‘Springboard Festival’ this year. A dual citizen of the US/UK, she enjoys writing and performing from the perspective of a relative outsider.
This event will be both in-person, hosted in the Hayloft bar, upstairs in Long Valley, Winthrop St Cork, as well as on Zoom (which is limited to 100 people). Participation in the open-mic session and five word challenge is open to both in-person and virtual attendees. The session will be live-streamed at obheal.ie/live and via Ó Bhéal’s Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube channels. Note to Participants: Our hybrid events are recorded and remain viewable on video via these same channels.
We are no longer posting the zoom 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, which is expected to run for between 2-3 hours.
7-7.45pm: Poetry-Films (random play from Ó Bhéal’s Poetry-Film comp archives – NOT STREAMED);
8.30pm: Five Word Challenge (max 30 – after the allotted 15 minutes writing time);
9.30pm: Featured Guest Poets (20 minutes 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.)
Paul McMahon and Massimo Lavelle
(both poets in-person)
From Belfast, Paul McMahon’s debut poetry chapbook, Bourdon, was published by Southword Editions (2016).
Paul was awarded The Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize by Carol Ann Duffy and The Nottingham Open Poetry Prize by Neil Astley. Other poetry awards include 1st prize in The Moth International, The Fingal, The Plaza, The Westival, The Golden Pen, and The Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Collection Prize, 2nd prize in The Basil Bunting, The Salt International, and The Martin Crawford Poetry Prizes, runner-up prize-winner in The Troubadour, The Tom Howard, and The Atlanta Review Poetry Prizes, and bursary awards for poetry from The Arts Councils of Ireland and N. Ireland.
His poetry has appeared in journals such as Poetry Review, Rialto, London Magazine, Threepenny Review, North, Agenda, Atlanta Review, Stinging Fly, Irish Times, Poetry Ireland Review, Southword and The Best New British and Irish Poets.
Massimo Lavelle is a spoken word artist from Philadelphia. Along with performing and hosting throughout his home city, he has performed at Penn Partners Good Shepherd Hospital, Yale University, and virtually at Ó Bhéal in Ireland. He loves creating poetry that is relatable to all kinds of people and atmospheres. He loves performing with multi-media, whether composing music to support his poetry or collaborating with other musicians, dancers and filmographers. He is thankful to be among so many people doing beautiful and positive things and hopes his poetry encourages that.
This event will be both in-person, hosted in the Hayloft bar, upstairs in Long Valley, Winthrop St Cork, as well as on Zoom (which is limited to 100 people). Participation in the open-mic session and five word challenge is open to both in-person and virtual attendees. The session will be live-streamed at obheal.ie/live and via Ó Bhéal’s Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube channels. Note to Participants: Our hybrid events are recorded and remain viewable on video via these same channels.
We are no longer posting the zoom 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, which is expected to run for between 2-3 hours.
7-7.45pm: Poetry-Films (random play from Ó Bhéal’s Poetry-Film comp archives – NOT STREAMED);
8.30pm: Five Word Challenge (max 30 – after the allotted 15 minutes writing time);
9.30pm: Featured Guest Poets (20 minutes 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.)
Ó Bhéal in association with Cork City Council presents
Cork Culture Night 2024 with
Anna D. and Farah Chamma
(in-person) (via Zoom)
Anna D. is a spoken word poet from North Dublin. She has performed at festivals such as Dublin Fringe, Electric Picnic, Ballydehob Jazz Festival and to sold out shows in The Workman’s Club, The Soundhouse and Axis Theatre. Throughout her short poetry career, she has won multiple slams and poetry competitions and is the current reigning All-Ireland Poetry Slam champion.
Anna has an interest in the interplay between emotions and patterns of behaviour, family and collective trauma and the impact of oppressive systems on how we relate to each other and the world today. She is a mother, a teacher and a dramatherapist with a passion for inclusion, educational reform and social justice. Her poems are raw, honest and relatable portrayals of her experience of the human condition in all its grime and glory.
A Palestinian poet and performer, Farah Chamma is known for her spoken-word performances, in which she combines orality, acting, and live music. She’s participated in many different events and festivals around the world including: Palestine en Campagne (France), Wilde Möhre (Germany), Bradford Literature Festival (UK), Karama Film Festival (Jordan), Faladura (Portugal), Requiem for Justice (Mexico), Le Guess Who? (Holland) and many more.
In February 2021, she and Brazilian music producer Liev launched chamæleon, a poetry and electronic music duo. Besides her native Arabic, she also writes and performs in English and French. She holds a master’s degree in Performance and Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London and a BA in Philosophy and Sociology from the Sorbonne.
This event will be both in-person, hosted in the Hayloft bar, upstairs in Long Valley, Winthrop St Cork, as well as on Zoom (which is limited to 100 people). Participation in the open-mic session and five word challenge is open to both in-person and virtual attendees. The session will be live-streamed at obheal.ie/live and via Ó Bhéal’s Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube channels. Note to Participants: Our hybrid events are recorded and remain viewable on video via these same channels.
We are no longer posting the zoom 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, which is expected to run for between 2-3 hours.
7-7.45pm: Poetry-Films (random play from Ó Bhéal’s Poetry-Film comp archives – NOT STREAMED);
8.30pm: Five Word Challenge (max 30 – after the allotted 15 minutes writing time);
9.30pm: Featured Guest Poets (20 minutes 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.)
