Introductions and Céadlínte Poets Announced 2023

30th August 2023

Poetry Ireland is delighted to announce the poets selected to participate in Introductions and Céadlínte 2023.  The poets who will take part in Introductions are Colm Brennan, David Nash, Siobhán Flynn, Sam Furlong Tighe, Rafael Mendes, Maeve McKenna, Stephen de Búrca, Susanna Galbraith, Olha Matso, and Eoin Rogers.  

These emerging poets were chosen by poet Tara Bergin from a huge number of applicants, and will take part in workshops with Tara Bergin, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, and stage director Natasha Duffy. 

Introductions also includes a dedicated Irish-language strand entitled Céadlínte. The four poets selected to take part in this prestigious series are Liam Ó hAnnagáin, Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha, Sam Ó Fearraigh agus Gormfhlaith Ní Shíocháin Ní Bheoláin. These emerging poets were selected by Aifric Mac Aodha, and will take part in a form and craft workshop with Aifric, as well as a performance workshop with Ciara Ní É.  

Introductions | Céadlínte will culminate in two nights of performances as part of Dublin Book Festival in November at the Bestseller Café on Dublin’s Dawson Street. The series will also be accompanied by a new e-book anthology of the poets' work. 

We’re delighted to welcome this new series of poets and hope that Introductions will provide them with many new creative opportunities as they launch their promising writing careers.  

Names and biographies of ‘Introductions’ Poets:  

Colm Brennan lives in Bray, Co. Wicklow where he teaches creative writing and poetry in the local community. His publication credits include Poetry Ireland Review, The Cormorant, The Waxed Lemon, Sonder, Profiles and The Ogham Stone. He recently placed runner up in the Red Line Festival Poetry Competition and in the Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair. Colm is a recipient of an Arts Council Agility Award 2023, and has an MA in creative writing from the University of Limerick.  

Stephen de Búrca is currently a Creative Writing PhD candidate at Queen’s University Belfast, and received an MFA from the University of Florida. From Galway City, he won the Over The Edge New Writer of the Year Award (Poetry) in 2019 and was runner-up in the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing in 2022. His work has appeared in anthologies by the Ireland Chair of Poetry, Crannóg, and Dedalus Press, as well as in journals such as Poetry Ireland Review, Skylight 47, Southword, Abridged, The Honest Ulsterman, Ninth Letter.  

Siobhán Flynn is from Dublin. She was the winner of the Cúirt New Writing Prize for poetry 2022 and joint winner of The Kipling Society John McGivering Poetry Prize 2021. Collections of her work were highly commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 2018 and the Munster Literature Centre Fool for Poetry Chapbook competition this year. Her poetry has been placed/shortlisted for awards including the Hennessy New Irish Writing, the Allingham, the Percy French prize in Strokestown, the Oliver Goldsmith, the Desmond O’Grady, and the Bray Literary Festival poetry prize. She was also a recipient of a mentorship with the inaugural Dedalus Press Mentorship Programme in 2021, and of a bursary to attend the John Hewitt Summer School in 2023. Her work has been published in The Irish Times, Visual Verse, The Poetry Bus, Amsterdam Quarterly, Skylight 47, and elsewhere.   

Sam Furlong Tighe is a writer from Dublin. They are living in Belfast where they are completing an MA in poetry and working in a bar. Their poems appear or are forthcoming in Skylight 47, Abridged, Banshee, and elsewhere. They were awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry Student Prize in 2023. 

Susanna Galbraith is from Belfast. Her poems have appeared in New England Review, Berlin Lit, Banshee, Propel Magazine, Cyphers, Washing Windows Too, The Tangerine, Channel Magazine, The Honest Ulsterman, and elsewhere. She won the Red Line Book Festival Poetry Prize in 2021 and her first pamphlet is forthcoming with Nine Pens Press in 2023. Her writing is currently supported by an ACNI SIAP grant 2022-23. She's the project editor of Abridged and spends a lot of time on the road. 

Olha Matso is a Ukrainian poet, performing artist, and cultural journalist living in Ireland. She has been awarded the named Scholarship of the President of Ukraine for young writers. Olha was highly commended poet at Cobh readers and writers International Poetry Competition 2023. She has been published in International Poetry magazines Orbis (England, Great Britain), Anthology In principio erat Verbum. Ukraine. Poetry of war (Ukraine), Inner light (Ireland). 

Maeve McKenna lives in Sligo, Ireland. Her work has been placed in several international poetry competitions and published widely, including in Mslexia, Rattle, Banshee and The Stony Thursday Book. Maeve was one of three finalists in the Eavan Boland Mentorship Award 2020. She was part of a collaboration with three poets that was placed first in the Dreich Alliance Pamphlet Competition, 2021. Her debut pamphlet, A Dedication to Drowning, was published in February 2022. Body as a Home for This Darkness, a second pamphlet, will be published in September 2023. She is currently an MA student of Poetry at Queens University, Belfast. 

Rafael Mendes is a migrant writer from Brazil based in Ireland. His work has recently appeared in Romance Options: Love Poems for Today (Dedalus Press, 2022), Litro Magazine, Poet Lore, Trumpet, and archived in the UCD Irish Poetry Reading Archive. He is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin. 

David Nash was born in County Cork. His work has been published in Poetry Ireland Review, The Stinging Fly, The White Review, Propel, Modern Queer Poets, and in various anthologies. His texts have appeared in numerous art exhibitions and books, including for Wolfgang Tillmans at IMMA. A Spanish-language children’s book, Bajo Mis Pies, came out in 2020, as did two translations of books on the cultural history of Chile. He writes columns for Harper’s Bazaar Korea and Elle Korea. His pamphlet, The Islands of Chile, came out in 2022 with 14 poems, and a full-length book of poems is forthcoming with Dedalus Press. 

Eoin Rogers is a poet and writer based in Dublin. His work has appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Abridged, on the RTÉ Culture site, and elsewhere. In 2018 he was selected for the Cúirt International Festival of Literature mentorship programme, and in 2020 was highly commended for the Cúirt New Writing Prize. In 2021 he was selected to participate in The Stinging Fly Summer School and in 2022 received a Words Ireland Mentorship. 

Names and biographies of ‘Ceádlínte’ Poets: 

Gormfhlaith Ní Shíocháin Ní Bheoláin 
Is file, scríbhneoir, aisteoir, feadógaí, pianódóir, amhránaí ar an sean-nós agus rinceoir seite í Gormfhlaith Ní Shíocháin Ní Bheoláin. Tá sí i mbun máistreachta sa tSean- agus sa Mheán-Ghaelainn i gColáiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh. Tá mórán duaiseanna bainte ag a cuid scríbhneoireachta agus ceoil, agus tá a saothar le léamh i bhfoilsiúcháin éagsúla, ina measc sna cnuasaigh Lampa ar Lasadh: Gradam Mháire Mhac an tSaoi agus Washing Windows Too: Irish Women Write Poetry, san iris Feasta, Comhar agus Nós agus na foilsiúcháin tríú leibhéil Breac, University Express, agus Tuathal.  

Liam Ó hAnnagáin 
Is as Ráth Maoláin i gcontae Dhún na nGall mé. Tar éis freastail ar Gaelscoil Adhamhnáin agus Coláiste Ailigh i Leitir Ceanainn, d’fhág mé slán le hÉirinn ar feadh tamall chun ollscoil a thoiseacht sna Stáit Aontaithe ag Yale University. Tá mé ag staidear le céim a bhaint amach i stair na healaíne. Oibrím mar stiúrthóir agus coimeadaí san Gailearaí Ealaíne Yale. Tá mé ag glacadh bliain as chun obair a dhéanamh san ealaín in Éirinn agus san Iodáil, ag an Peggy Guggenheim Collection i Venice. Bhuaidh mé an comórtas Trócaire Éigse Éireann i 2021 le dán i nGaeilge agus i mBéarla agus bhí dán foilsithe agam san Irish Independent. 

Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha 
Rugadh Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha in 1994 agus tógadh í i gceantar an Lagáin in Oirthear Dhún na nGall. Tá cónaí uirthi i nGaeltacht Chonamara anois. Tá dánta foilsithe aici i bhfoilseacháin éagsúla thar na blianta (Éigse Éireann, An Capall Dorcha, Comhar, Aneas agus HOWL (le teacht), srl.). Bhuaigh sí duais Foras na Gaeilge ag Seachtain na Scríbhneoirí, Lios Tuathail, in 2023. 

Sam Ó Fearraigh  
Is as Gort a’Choirce, i gContae Dhún na nGall, do Sam Ó Fearraigh. Tá filíocht leis foilsithe in Comhar, ROPES, Poblachd nam Bàrd, agus sa chnuasach Green Carnations/Glas na Gile (2021). Bhuaigh sé an chéad áit i gcomórtas slamfhilíochta Liú Lúnasa 2021. Bhuaigh a chuid dánta "Préamhacha” agus “Oirféas i mBaile Munna” an chéad agus an tríú áit faoi seach i rannóg Ghaeilge chomórtas filíochta Frances Browne sa bhliain chéanna.  
Roghnaíodh a dhán “Mise Aerach” le plé ar an chéad eagrán den chlár Cóisir Filíochta ar BBC Raidió Uladh i Samhain 2021.  
Roghnaíodh dán leis, “Ainmneacha,” do Cruinneachadh – cnuasach de dhánta i dteangacha mionlaithe, aistrithe go Gàidhlig ag Marcas Mac an Tuairneir. Phléigh Sam agus Marcas ceisteanna teanga, féiniúlachta, agus filíochta in éineacht a chéile ag ócáid de chuid Fhéile Leabhar Dhún Éideann 2023. 
In 2020, coimisiúnaíodh Sam chun véars-dráma gairid a scríobh do Ceangal | Dolen II, comhdháil idirnáisiúnta ar amharclannaíocht na mionteanga. Is féidir an dráma sin, Balbháin, a choimhéad ar-líne. I dteannta a chuid filíochta, foilsíodh prós gairid le Sam i Splonk agus sa chnuasach Bláth na dTulach. In 2021, bhain sé áit amach ar an chlár forbartha Amharclann na Mainistreach, “Abbey Begins,” mar aon le háit i gceardlanna Fishamble Theatre, “Gaeilge ar Stáitse”. Is comhscríbhneoir é den dráma Grindr, Saghdar, agus Cher (2023), a cuireadh i láthair ag Féile Idirnáisiúnta Ealaíon na Gaillimhe 2023.  
Is scríbhneoir agus scéalaí é Sam ar Ros na Rún. Is ball bródúil é den chomharghrúpa AerachAiteachGaelach.