Saolta Arts formerly Galway University Hospitals
Arts Trust is seeking entries again for its annual poetry competition. The
poetry competition is run in conjunction with the Poems For Patience series as
part of Cúirt International Festival of Literature which runs from April 20th
– 25th in Galway. The closing date for the competition is Friday
February 22nd.
The prize as part of the annual poetry competition
includes: the winner will have his/her poem published and displayed on the Arts
Corridor of University Hospital Galway as part of the 2020 Poems For Patience
series. Poems For Patience is a long running series which over the past decade
has featured poems by leading Irish and international poets such as Seamus
Heaney, Philip Schultz, Jane Hirschfield, Michael Longley, Naomi Shihab Nye,
Vona Groarke, Tess Gallagher and many more. The poems, after exhibition on the
Arts Corridor, are then displayed in waiting areas throughout Galway University
Hospitals. The winner will also be invited to read his or her winning poem at
the launch of the 2020 Poems For Patience at Cúirt International Festival of
Literature in April 2020. The winner will be provided with accommodation in
Galway if travelling for one night during the 2020 Cúirt International Festival
of Literature. The winner will be given a copy of their poem printed and framed
as a Poem for Patience poster. The winner will be asked to submit six poems for
consideration to be a Featured Reader at the Over The Edge: Open Reading series
in Galway City Library.
 |
| 2019 winner Sinead Mongan |
Margaret Flannery Arts Director ‘Poems For Patience
is one of our long running projects as part of the arts programme. Each year we
receive a high volume of entries for the competition and look forward to
welcoming all new participants. Poems For Patience is a firm favourite for many
patients, staff members and visitors’.
 |
| Kevin Higgins & Margaret Flannery at 2016 Poems For Patience launch |
The competition judge is Kevin Higgins. He is
co-organiser of Over The Edge literary events in Galway. He has published five
full collections of poems: The Boy With No Face (2005), Time Gentlemen, Please
(2008), Frightening New Furniture (2010), The Ghost In The Lobby (2014), &
Sex and Death at Merlin Park Hospital (2019). His poems also feature in
Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Bloodaxe, 2010) and in The
Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe May 2014). Kevin
was satirist-in-residence with the alternative literature website The Bogman’s
Cannon 2015-16. 2016 – The Selected Satires of Kevin Higgins was published by
NuaScéalta in 2016. Song of Songs 2:0 – New & Selected Poems was published
by Salmon in Spring 2017. Kevin is a highly experienced workshop facilitator
and several of his students have gone on to achieve publication success. He has
facilitated poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre and taught Creative Writing
at Galway Technical Institute for the past fifteen years. Kevin is the Creative
Writing Director for the NUI Galway International Summer School and also
teaches on the NUIG BA Creative Writing Connect programme. His poems have been
praised by, among others, Tony Blair’s biographer John Rentoul, Observer
columnist Nick Cohen, writer and activist Eamonn McCann, historian Ruth Dudley
Edwards, and Sunday Independent columnist Gene Kerrigan; and have been quoted
in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Times (London), Hot Press
magazine, The Daily Mirror and on The Vincent Browne Show. The Stinging Fly
magazine has described Kevin as “likely the most widely read living poet in
Ireland”. Kevin’s most recent poetry collection Sex and Death at Merlin Park
Hospital was published by Salmon Poetry in June; one of the poems from which
will feature in A Galway Epiphany, the final instalment of Ken Bruen’s Jack
Taylor series of novels.
CRITERIA: poems entered in the competition should be no
more than 32 lines long. They must be the original work of the entrant. Poems
previously published in magazines or poetry collections are eligible. Multiple
entries are accepted; poets can enter as many poems as they wish.
ENTRY FEE: to enter one poem the fee is €10. If you enter
two or more poems the entry fee is €7.50 per poem i.e. to enter two poems it
costs €15, to enter three poems €22.50 and so on.
Payment should be made by cheque or postal order payable to
Saolta Arts. Alternatively for online transfer contact the arts office for
payment by Paypal or bank transfer. Entries should be sent by post (or via
email once confirmed with arts office- bridget.cheasty@hse.ie
) to Bridget Cheasty, Arts
Assistant, Saolta Arts, c/o Galway University Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway.
*Do not put your name on the poems; please include your contact details on a
separate sheet. This is to keep all poets anonymous during the judging
process.
Please include your contact details – name, address, email
address and title of poem(s) - ensure these details are on a separate page and
poems are titled but do not put your name on poems. If you are emailing your
entry you can do as above and send poem(s) as attachments.
The closing date for the competition is Friday February
22nd.
You can sign up to Saolta Arts’ newsletter here: https://saoltaarts.com/subscribe/ to keep
up-to-date with all our activities.
For further contact Bridget Cheasty, Arts Assistant, Saolta Arts, Galway
University Hospitals, University Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway Tel: +353
(0)91 893191 Email: bridget.cheasty@hse.ie
About Saolta Arts:
For
ten years, as Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust, we provided an Arts and
Health programme to promote wellbeing and improve the hospital
experience at Galway’s public hospitals. As Saolta Arts, we shall
continue to nurture the discovery and development of creative potential,
encourage new ways of seeing, and stimulate fresh dialogue across 5 counties –
making the hospital a place of possibilities. Saolta Arts runs the west
of Ireland's leading Arts and Health programme as a means of improving the
hospital experience for patients, staff and visitors. We believe access
to the arts promotes well-being and enhances the hospital environment. We
provide a multi-disciplinary programme of events and activities, including
exhibitions, participative workshops, music, theatre and poetry. Saolta
Arts CLG is a registered Charity (CHY17964).
