Ó Bhéal in association with Foras na Gaeilge presents
Ciara Ní É and Máire Ní Bhriain
(via Zoom) (in-person)
Photo by Hannah McGlynn
Ciara Ní É is a bilingual writer, performer and broadcaster. MC of REIC bilingual spoken word and co-founder of LGBTQ+ arts collective AerachAiteachGaelach. One of the Irish Examiner’s ‘100 Women Changing Ireland in 2022’. Ciara has performed in New York, Paris, London, Brussels, Sweden and across Ireland. Her work is published in anthologies Bone and Marrow/Cnámh agus Smior, Queering the Green, Washing Windows Too; journals Impossible Archetype, Aneas, Icarus, and Comhar. Ciara is currently in post production for her first short film.
Scríbhneoir agus craoltóir í Ciara Ní É a bhfuil a cuid filíochta léite aici i bPáras, i Nua-Eabhrac, i Londain, sa Bhruiséil, sa tSualainn, agus sa bhaile in Éirinn. Bhí sí ar an liosta ‘100 Women Changing Ireland in 2022’ de chuid an Irish Examiner. Bhí sí mar Ealaíontóir Cónaithe le Scoil na Gaeilge, an Léinn Cheiltigh & an Bhéaloidis UCD 2023, leis an Dublin Fringe Festival in 2022, agus le DCU in 2020. Foilsíodh saothar dá cuid sna díolaim Queering the Green, Marrow/Cnámh agus Smior, Washing Windows IV is tá saothar nua aici sna hirisí Impossible Archetype agus Eat the Storms. Scríobh agus stiúragh sí a céad ghearrscannán i mbliana. Chomhbhunaitheoir an chomharghrúpa AerachAiteachGaelach í agus is ambasadóir í le hÁras Scríbhneoirí na hÉireann.
Mary O’Brien is from Wexford and writes in both English and Irish. Over the years she has been a recipient of grants and bursaries from the Arts Department of Wexford Co. Council. Her poetry has appeared in many journals including Feasta, An tUltach, An Linn Bhuí, Crannóg, The Galway Review, The Stony Thursday Book and she has been the winner of Duais Fhoras na Gaeilge at Listowel Writers’ Week. As well as five collections in English, an Irish collection Ré na nÚll was published with Coiscéim in 2019. Her most recent collection Púcaíocht/Shapeshifting, which includes translations to English was published in 2023.
Carmanach í Máire Ní Bhriain a scríobhann as Béarla agus as Gaeilge araon. Thar na blianta tá deontais agus sparánachtaí faighte aici ón Roinn Ealaíon de Chomhairle Contae Loch Garman. Tá a cuid filíochta foilsithe i mórán foilseachán, Feasta, An tUltach, An Linn Bhuí, Southword, Crannóg, The Galway Review, The Stony Thursday Book ina measc agus tá Duais Fhoras na Gaeilge buaite aice ag Seachtain na Scríbhneoirí i Lios Tuathail. Chomh maith le cúig chnuasach i mBéarla, d’fhoilsigh sí cnuasach Gaeilge Ré na nÚll le Coiscéim, Baile Átha Cliath, sa bhliain 2019 agus an cnuasach Púcaíocht/Shapeshifting, le haistriúcháin go Béarla, sa bhliain 2023.
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.)
Tom Hirons and Jeff Cottrill
(via zoom) (in-person)
Tom Hirons is a writer and storyteller based on the edge of Dartmoor, in England. He is the editor and founder of Clarion and Feral Angels Press and co-founder of Hedgespoken travelling storytelling theatre and Hedgespoken Press. His poem-book Sometimes a Wild God is a subcultural classic and his most recent collection is The Queen of Heaven (Feral Angels Press, 2024). Tom has never won a poetry prize or had work in a poetry magazine, and yet somehow he makes his living writing, publishing and teaching poetry as a form of folk medicine. His other works include Nettle-Eater (2018) and At the Orphans’ Door (2023).
As editor of Clarion, Tom champions writing with clarity, illumination, strong storytelling, music of language, wildness and generosity. The (late) Summer issue of Clarion particularly focuses on responses to genocide and ecological desecration, but also has time for schools of fish moving in bright water and the aftermath of love. Tom has two sons and lives in the country of hope-beyond-hope. He says: “I have heard all the terrible news and I have looked into the inferno of the future, but I am still in love with this life”.
Jeff Cottrill is a fiction writer, poet, and spoken-word artist based in Toronto, Canada. He has headlined in countless literary series throughout Canada, the U.K., the U.S., France, Ireland and Australia over the last twenty years. His performance style is influenced by slam conventions, but subverts them with wit, ironic humour and a satirical tone.
His poetry and fiction have appeared in international anthologies from New York to Australia. In 2021, his poem “This Is Not Real Poetry” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize; in 2022, he launched his debut novel, Hate Story; and last year, his short story “The Madness East of St. George” was a finalist in the Writers’ Union of Canada’s annual Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers. Jeff likes movies, travel, and puppies.
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.)
the 12th Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer Festival of Poetry
Ó Bhéal’s 12th Winter Warmer (and 4th hybrid) festival will present almost 40 poets live at Nano Nagle Place in Cork (and online). The festival will also feature workshops, music, the shortlist screening and prize-giving for Ó Bhéal’s International Poetry-Film Competition, a selection of Irish made poetry films, performers from five Cork-based poetry open mics and a closed-mic set for new voices – poets who have featured regularly in Ó Bhéal’s open-mic sessions during 2024.
Ó Bhéal is grateful to its sponsors, The Arts Council, Cork City Council, Foras na Gaeilge, Dunnes Stores, Forum Publications, Arc Publications, Cork City Libraries, Poetry Ireland, Paradiso, Irish Centre for Galician Studies, the UCC School of English and Digital Humanities and The Long Valley.
