Hello, I am Alive: Poetry Ireland Introductions 2018

By Paul Lenehan

Hello, I Am Alive: Poetry Ireland Introductions 2018 is an anthology of poetry from Poetry Ireland, the national

poetry organisation. This anthology features the very best of Ireland's

emerging poets for 2018, as chosen by Sinéad Morrissey, a winner of the TS

Eliot and Forward Prizes. Along with a pair of superb poems, each poet

provides an insightful piece on a favourite poet or poetry collection.

Featuring Kate Caoimhe Arthur, Caroline Bracken, Toby Buckley, Supriya Kaur

Dhaliwal, Dane Holt, Shannon Kelly, Elizabeth Murtough, Anna Stockdale, Tom

Tracey, Roderic Vincent, Dawn Watson, and Milena Williamson, along with

superb photographs from Michael Croghan and Izabela Szczutkowska. Quality

poems and quality prose from Poetry Ireland: connecting poetry and people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poetry Ireland
• Release date: Aug 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781902121765

Book preview

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Poetry Ireland Introductions aims to encourage excellence in the craft of poetry by raising the profile of talented, emerging poets.

The series offers poets in the early stages of their careers, writing in Irish or English, the opportunity to showcase their work through workshops and performance. The poets selected for the Introductions series participate in a workshop focused on poetic form and craft, as well as a masterclass on the art of reading and performing poetry in public, and a presentation on marketing and self-promotion for poets.

These workshops culminate in a series of public readings in partnership with International Literature Festival Dublin.

www.poetryireland.ie/writers/introductions-series

This sampler of work from the poets who read for the Poetry Ireland Introductions series in 2018 is published by Poetry Ireland

COVER IMAGE: MICHAEL CROGHAN

DESIGN AND TYPESETTING: CHASE WILMOT AND ANDI GRENE

INTRODUCTIONS READINGS CO-ORDINATOR: ELIZABETH MOHEN

PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATORS: PAUL LENEHAN AND RACHEL BOTHA

IMAGES COURTESY OF IZABELA SZCZUTKOWSKA AND MICHAEL CROGHAN FROM DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY; WITH THANKS TO ANN CURRAN (DIT)

ISBN: 978-1-902121-76-5

Contents

Introduction

As a young person consumed by the idea of being a writer, (minor), external validation meant a great deal. Though I was never an outright winner, I was commended several years in a row in the former Irish School Creative Writing Competition, which ran every year, North and South, throughout the 1980s. Between the ages of 13 and 17, come Spring, I’d find myself shuttling down to Dublin on the train, at first with my mother, later on my own, for talks and readings (this was largely before the era of the workshop), where I would meet poets like John F Deane and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, who would share writing insights, give us tips (‘buy a notebook and write something in it every day’), and urge us to keep going. I would also meet young people like me, who were similarly consumed, but who had vastly