Troubadour Poetry Prize 2020!

Troubadour Poetry Prize 2020!

Time to think about submitting your poems  to our prestigious poetry judges,  Mark Doty & Mona Arshi, for the 2020  Troubadour International Poetry Prize. Deadline 28 Sep, £3,500 in prizes, details below & on our prizes page, & feel free to pass info on to poetry groups, friends etc.  Anne-Marie Fyfe coffee-house poetry troubadour international poetry prize 2020 judged by mona arshi & mark doty first prize £2,000 second prize £1,000 third prize £500 plus 20 commendeds submit via email by mon 28 sep 2020 (Check out winners, winning poems & judges’ reports,  2019 & previous, on our poems page.) judges Mark Doty is an American poet & memoirist,  winner of Stonewall, Robert Creeley,  Lambda Literary & National Book Awards &  a former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.  His books of essays  include Still Life with Oysters and Lemon,  memoir includes Firebird &  Dog Years, &  his 13 poetry collections  range from Turtle, Swan (1987)  to Deep Lane: Poems (Norton, 2015).   His latest publication is What is the Grass:   Walt Whitman in my Life  (Norton & Cape, April 2020). Mona Arshi worked  as a Human Rights lawyer at Liberty  before starting to write poetry: her debut,  Small Hands won the 2015  Forward Best First Collection Prize,  her poems have featured  in Poems on the Underground &  she was recently commissioned  to write a programme  on The Odyssey for BBC Radio 4’s  Book of the Week.  Her latest collection is  Dear Big Gods (Pavilion Poetry, 2019) judges will read all poems submitted rules Poems: Poems may be submitted  from any country &  must be in English, must each be no longer  than 45 lines,  must show title & poem only,  must not show poet’s name,  must be the original work  of the entrant (no translations) &  must not have been previously published;  no text alterations after submission;  no limit on number of poems  or number of subsequent submissions. Submission: Email only, no postal entries;  email your poems as attachments  (.doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf only)  to poems@coffeehousepoetry.org;  include in e-mail: Poet’s Name & Address,  Phone Number, List of Titles, Number of Poems,   Total Fees, & PayPal Receipt Number. Fees: £5/€6/$7 per poem  (Sterling/Euro/US-Dollars only);  payment via PayPal (see below,  PayPal account not required). Timeline: Submit by midnight (your local time)  on Mon 28 Sep 2020;  prizewinners will be contacted in week  commencing Mon 16 Nov 2020. Acknowledgement/Results:  Submissions acknowledged within 14 days of receipt;  results posted on website after Mon 23 Nov 2020;  judges’ decision is final; no correspondence entered into. Email Address: By including email address  you agree to receiving emails regarding  Troubadour International Poetry Prize.  You will not receive emails regarding Coffee-House Poetry  readings &  classes unless specifically requested. Note re Dates: The 2020 prize is now rescheduled  with an autumn closing date (see Timeline above),  having been placed on hold due to circumstances in March  which made the original June deadline impractical.  The small number of submissions  prior to that date were cancelled & fees returned. payment Our secure online payments are handled by PayPal  on our website prizes page;  PayPal account not required; all major credit cards accepted. This info was taken from the Troubadour Poetry email. So check Troubadour site to be sure of all details. Frank Murphy.

Trim Poetry Festival Online

Trim Poetry Festival Online

Trim Poetry Festival was postponed in March and because it seems very unlikely that there will be an opportunity to hold it later this year we have decided to hold an online version over the week-end of 5-7 June. It will be held as a Facebook event and also published on this blog

Here is the programme. More details soon. 

Friday 5 June 
6pm Welcome by Noel French, chair of Trim Municipal District and Boyne Writers Group chair, Michael Farry 
Launch of Boyne Berries 27 by editor Orla Fay. 
Readings by a number of contributors to Boyne Berries 27. 

Saturday 6 June 10am 
Online workshop by festival poet-in-residence Anne Tannam. 
This is free but places are limited. More details and booking facility here.
This course is now filled. See the clinic details below which also include
 an email address should you wish to inquire about other
 Anne Tannam workshops.

1pm Readings by members of local writers groups including 
Frank Murphy of Meath Writers Circle, Polly Richardson and members
of the Bull’s Arse group, Navan and members of LitLab,
the Cavan/Meath Writers Group. 

3pm Trim Poetry Competition 2020. 
Introduction by judge Orla Fay. Readings by the winner,
the runners up and the shortlisted poets. 
See results already published in the
Trim Poetry Competition Results 2020 page.

Sunday 7 June 
11am "Tips on How to Sustain a Flourishing Writing Practice"
- Clinic by Anne Tannam.  During this clinic, 
which will take the form of a pre-recorded video,
Anne will explore ways to help poets to sustain their writing practice.
Poets, if you’ve any questions about your poetry practice
that you want to ask Anne, just email her on anne@creativecoaching.ie 
before May 24th, and she’ll include the answers in her clinic.

4pm Poetry Reading by Anne Tannam. 
Launch of Michael Farry’s new poetry collection, “Troubles” by Anne Tannam.
Welcome by the publisher Dominic Taylor. 
Reading from the collection by the author. 

6pm Some poet friends who have had long associations with Boyne Berries
including Carolyne Van Der Meer, Kate Dempsey and Maurice Devitt,
read their poems from the recently published Boyne Berries - The Covid Issue.

8pm Open Mic on Zoom. Rachel Coventry, the MC,
will open this fifteen minutes before start
and people can register to read on a first come basis.
Five minutes each. More details here closer to the time.

Boyne Berries 28 ~ The Covid Issue!

Boyne Berries 28 ~  The Covid Issue!

Cover Image by Rory O' Sullivan

To a theme of - There Will Be Time - The Boyne Writers Group have created a special digital issue of their literary magazine "Boyne Berries". Formatted by Michael Farry and with a foreword by their editor Orla Fay this magazine can be downloaded from their blogsite link to the right. This special online issue was a free pdf created to mark Poetry Day Ireland 2020. Enjoy reading! 

The Corries, Ronnie's Tribute to Roy

Ronnie Browne's tribute to Roy Williamson. (1936 - 1990) The Corries were probably Scotland's most favourite folk group and considered as important to her heritage any of its great writers or scientists. Bold claim! I know. If you listen you'll hear a fair reference to one of our local musicians. Loaded by Iain40.