Saolta Arts is seeking entries for its annual Poems For Patience poetry competition

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 20^th – 25^th 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).

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is seeking entries again for its exciting annual poetry competition

UPDATE March 1st 2018: Competition deadline EXTENDED to NEXT THURSDAY (March 8th) due to postal service being out of action today and tomorrow because of weather. Please spread the word.

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is seeking entries again for its exciting annual poetry competition. 

Previous winner Rachel Coventry

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.

PRIZE

*the winner will have her or his poem published and displayed on the Arts Corridor of University Hospital Galway as part of the 2018 Poems For Patience. 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 be invited to read his or her winning poem at the launch of the 2018 Poems For Patience at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in April 2018.

*the winner will be provided with accommodation in Galway if travelling for one night during the 2018 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.

Previous winner Sighle Meehan

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 Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. Alternatively for online transfer contact the arts office. Details below.

Entries should be sent by post to Margaret Flannery, Arts Director, Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust, Galway University Hospitals, University Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway. Do not put your name on the poems; please include your contact details on a separate sheet.

THE CLOSING DATE is Monday, March 5th 2018

THE JUDGE: The competition judge is Kevin Higgins. Kevin Higgins is Writer-in-Residence with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. He is co-organiser of Over The Edge literary events, teaches poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre, Creative Writing at Galway Technical Institute, and is Creative Writing Director for the NUI Galway Summer School. He is poetry critic of The Galway Advertiser. His poetry is discussed in The Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry and features in the generation defining anthology Identity Parade –New British and Irish Poets (Ed. Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010) and in The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed. Neil Astley, Bloodaxe, April 2014). Kevin’s poetry has been translated into Greek, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian, & Portuguese. In 2014 Kevin's poetry was the subject of a paper 'The Case of Kevin Higgins, or, 'The Present State of Irish Poetic Satire' presented by David Wheatley at a Symposium on Satire at the University of Aberdeen. He was Satirist-in-Residence at the Bogman’s Cannon (2015-16). '2016 - The Selected Satires of Kevin Higgins' was published by NuaScéalta in early 2016. A pamphlet of Kevin’s political poems The Minister For Poetry Has Decreed was published last December by the Culture Matters imprint of the UK based Manifesto Press. His poems have been praised by, among others, Tony Blair’s biographer John Rentoul, Observer columnist Nick Cohen, and Sunday Independent columnist Gene Kerrigan; and have been quoted in The Daily Telegraph, The Times (UK), The Independent, The Daily Mirror, and on Tonight With Vincent Browne. The Stinging Fly magazine recently described Kevin as "likely the most read living poet in Ireland." Song of Songs 2.0: New & Selected Poems was published earlier this year by Salmon and includes a substantial number of new poems as well as selections from his six previous poetry collections.

For further details: Tel: +353 (0)91 544979

Email: Margaret.Flannery@hse.ie 

Colette Bryce launching Poems for Patience

Open Writing Workshop with Kevin Higgins @ University Hospital Galway

Poet; Kevin Higgins will be in UHG THIS WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 2nd from 12noon to 2pm for an open workshop. The workshop will take place on the second floor in the Lecture room between St. Pius’ and St. Nicholas’ ward.

All staff, patients and visitors to UHG are welcome to drop in to the session anytime during the two hours. Kevin will give participants creative writing exercises to get them writing. People who have written something already and would like feedback or advice are welcome to bring in their poems or stories. 

The workshops will take place fortnightly on Wednesday October 2^nd, Wednesday October 16^th, Wednesday October 30^th, Wednesday November 13^th, Wednesday November 27^th & Wednesday, December 11^th

Kevin Higgins was born in London in 1967, and grew up in Galway City where he still lives. He is co-organiser of the highly successful Over The Edge literary events. He facilitates  poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre; teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute and on the Brothers of Charity Away With Words creative writing programme for people with disabilities. He is also Writer-in-Residence at Merlin Park Hospital and the poetry critic of the Galway Advertiser. He was a founding co-editor of The Burning Bush literary magazine. His first collection of poems The Boy With No Face was published by Salmon in February 2005 and was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award. His second collection, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in March 2008 by Salmon. One of the poems from Time Gentlemen, Please, ‘My Militant Tendency’, featured in the Forward Book of Poetry 2009.  His work also features in the anthology Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Ed Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010). Frightening New Furniture is his third collection of poems and was published in 2010 by Salmon Poetry. Kevin has read his work at most of the major literary festivals in Ireland and at Arts Council and Culture Ireland supported poetry events in Kansas City, USA (2006), Los Angeles, USA (2007), London, UK (2007), New York, USA (2008), Athens, Greece (2008); St. Louis, USA (2008), Chicago, USA (2009), Denver, USA (2010), Washington D.C (2011), Huntington, West Virginia, USA (2011), Geelong, Australia (2011), Canberra, Australia (2011), St. Louis, USA (2013), Boston, USA (2013) & Amherst, Massachusetts (2013). Mentioning The War, a collection of his essays and reviews was published in April 2012 by Salmon.  Mentioning The War has been described by Clare Daly T.D. as “a really good and provocative read. It will jolt you; it will certainly touch you; make you laugh; maybe make you snarl a little bit as well, depending on where you come from or what your background is.” Kevin’s fourth collection of poetry, The Ghost In The Lobby, will be published by Salmon Poetry in early 2014.

For further details contact

Margaret Flannery

Arts Director

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust

Galway University Hospitals

Newcastle Road

Galway

Tel: +353 (0)91 544979

Email: Margaret.Flannery@hse.ie