New Creative Writing from UCC, featuring
Peggy McCarthy, Lauren O’Donovan,
Róisín Leggett Bohan, Daniel Galvin and Kornelia Mlak
You can listen to all five poets reading here.
Each February, Ó Bhéal presents poets and short fiction writers engaged in UCC’s MA Creative Writing programme, who read from their new work.
Peggy McCarthy is completing the M.A. in Creative Writing at U.C.C. this year. Born near Skibbereen in West Cork, she’s lived most of her life in Waterford city. She worked as a primary teacher for many years. She enjoys the great outdoors. She’s had poems published in the Fish Anthology 2020 and Hold Open the Door.
Lauren O’Donovan is a Cork born poet currently completing her creative writing masters at UCC. She was recently featured at the Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer Festival’s New Voices Showcase for Poets, and at the 2020 Bookends Conference poetry panel. Lauren is an organizer of Debarra’s Spoken Word literary events, where she has also appeared as a guest speaker. Lauren is looking forward to appearing as a guest poet at Not the Time to be Silent, later in 2021.
Róisín Leggett Bohan is currently studying for her MA in Creative Writing in UCC, Cork. A writer of Short Stories and Poetry, she is moved by the bravery that lies within vulnerability. Her writings have been published by the Amsterdam Quarterly, Eyelands Press, Cork County Library and Visual Verse. She received a notable mention in the Cúirt New Writing Prize for Poetry 2020.
Daniel Galvin is from County Cork. His writing has been published in The Moth, Honest Ulsterman, Acumen, The West Texas Literary Review, Rock and Sling and Ofi Press Mexico. He came first place in the Spoken Word Platform at Cúirt International Literary Festival 2017 and won the May 2017 Sunday Slam in Dublin. Daniel was also shortlisted for the Red Line Poetry Competition 2018. He is currently completing an MA in Writing at University College Cork.
Kornelia Mlak is a bilingual poet and artist, who hopes to explore more languages to develop the depth of their work. They were raised in Poland and moved to Wexford, Ireland during childhood. She has completed an undergraduate degree in The Study of Religions & Philosophy, at University College Cork, where she is currently enrolled in the MA Creative Writing programme. Kornelia is interested in the unseen and writes extensively on the themes of search, love and awareness. Her poetry is predominantly displayed in an abstract and surreal manner.
This event will be hosted on Zoom and limited to 100 people. We will live-stream the session at obheal.ie/live and via Ó Bhéal’s Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube channels. Note to Participants: Our online 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. The session is expected to run for between 2-3 hours.
8.30pm: Five Word Challenge (max 30 – after the allotted 15 minutes writing time);
9.30pm: Featured Guest Poets (40 mins combined);
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.)
Sandra Yanonne and Laurence McKeown
Sandra Yanonne grew up in Old Saybrook, CT, where she looked out daily for a view of Long Island Sound across the water at the end of her street. She published her debut collection Boats for Women, in part about the Titanic disaster of 1912, with Salmon Poetry in 2019. Salmon will publish The Glass Studio in 2022.
Sandra’s poems and book reviews have appeared in numerous print and online journals including Ploughshares, Poetry Ireland Review, Prairie Schooner, Sweet, Live Encounters, Women’s Review of Books, Impossible Archetype, and Lambda Literary Review. She also has written a series of essays on the intersections between poetry and social justice for Works in Progress. She hosts Cultivating Voices LIVE Poetry on Facebook on Sundays. Visit her at www.sandrayannone.com
Laurence McKeown is an author, playwright, filmmaker, and academic, though sees those roles within the broader context of political activism and the role that the arts can play in that. His involvement in creative works, political education, and academia began during his period of incarceration as a political prisoner in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh (1976-1992). Following his release from prison Laurence completed a doctoral thesis at Queen’s University. His thesis was published in 2001 entitled Out of Time.
Whilst pursuing his PhD studies, Laurence co-wrote (with Brian Campbell) a feature film, H3 (2001, Metropolitan Films), based on the 1981 hunger strike within the prison, which Laurence participated in (for 70 days) and during which 10 prisoners died. In 1995 he co-founded the West Belfast Film Festival, which in 2001 expanded citywide to become the Belfast Film Festival. Laurence has written twelve plays, three books, one TV series, a radio drama, and three documentary films.
His most recent play, Green and Blue (Kabosh Theatre) was premiered at the Belfast International Arts Festival in 2016. It has toured Ireland extensively and been performed in Paris, Dresden, and London. Laurence was short-listed for the Irish Writers Guild of Ireland Zebbie Award (2017) for Green and Blue. His début poetry collection Threads was published in 2018 by Salmon Poetry.
This event will be hosted on Zoom and limited to 100 people. We will live-stream the session at obheal.ie/live and via Ó Bhéal’s Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube channels. Note to Participants: Our online 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. The session is expected to run for between 2-3 hours.
8.30pm: Five Word Challenge (max 30 – after the allotted 15 minutes writing time);
9.30pm: Featured Guest Poets (20 mins 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.)
