Ó Bhéal’s End of Year Event features
Martina Evans
(in-person)
Martina Evans is an Irish poet, novelist and teacher. She grew up in County Cork in a country pub, shop and petrol station and is the youngest of ten children. She is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose. American Mules (Carcanet, 2021) won the Pigott Poetry Prize in 2022. The Coming Thing was published by Carcanet in 2023 and is shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry.
She has been an associate lecturer in Creative Writing at Birkbeck University and University of East London and a Creative Writing tutor at the City Literary Institute, Covent Garden, London for many years. Currently she is Books Critic for the Irish Times.
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);
9.20/30pm: Featured Guest Poet (30-40 minutes);
10:20pm: Open-Mic Session for original poetry (max 20).
(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 First Fortnight presents
Jeanann Verlee and Lauren McNamara
(via zoom) (in-person)
Photo by Jonathan Saunders
Jeanann Verlee is the author of three books: prey (Black Lawrence Press, 2018), finalist for the Benjamin Saltman Award; Said the Manic to the Muse (Write Bloody Publishing, 2015); and Racing Hummingbirds (2010), winner in the Independent Publisher Awards. She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, the Third Coast Poetry Prize, and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize.
Her poems and essays are featured in numerous journals, including Academy of American Poets, Adroit, BuzzFeed, Muzzle and THRUSH. She has served as editor for several publications, including Winter Tangerine Review, Union Station Magazine, and FSTN: Performance Poets of New York City. Verlee has performed for hundreds of programs, universities, and conferences, including PBS’s Brief But Spectacular, PEN America, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, NYC Poetry Festival, Word X Word, Split This Rock, The Juilliard School, Princeton, Yale, and more. Verlee is also an editor and writing coach working across genres, and has edited several award-winning books. She facilitates workshops remotely and at schools, theatres, libraries, bookstores, and dive bars across North America. She collects tattoos and kisses Rottweilers. She believes in you. Find her at jeanannverlee.com.
Lauren McNamara is an actress, poet, playwright, and essayist from Limerick. This past summer she performed at Glastonbury, Electric Picnic and launched her debut poetry collection Quarter Life Crisis with Revival Press (available at Limerick Writers’ Centre). She has a PhD and M.A in English Literature from Mary Immaculate College. She has been published widely (Poetry Ireland, Routledge and many more), has featured on television and national radio and is a two-time All-Ireland Slam runner-up and two-time Munster slam champion.
She has performed her plays Quarter Life Crisis 2018 (Galway Fringe Spoken Word Award) and Hello My Name is Single 2019 (Limerick Fringe Spirit of the Fringe Award) in several cities around the world. She co-runs the First Wednesday Series poetry event at the White House Bar in Limerick and delivers writing workshops in schools and universities. She has given a guest performance and writing workshop at Columbia University in New York where she also spent time studying
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 20).
(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.)
