2025 Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition
Deadline: 15 Mar 2025Limerick Writers’ Centre is proud to announce the 2025 Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition.
The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition was inaugurated in 2012 by the late Barney Sheehan – poetry impresario of the White House Poetry Revival, in honour of the late Limerick poet Desmond O’Grady, who died in 2014. The Limerick Writers’ Centre now runs the competition as part of April is Poetry Month in Limerick festival. The prize winner of this year’s competition will be announced during April 2025 and will be invited to give a reading of his/her work during the 2026 festival.
The judge for this year’s competition is poet Anne Fitzgerald.
Anne Fitzgerald was raised in Sandycove Co. Dublin. Educated at Loreto Abbey Dalkey, Trinity College, Dublin (Law), and Queen’s University, Belfast; lived and worked in North America and England. Edited, produced and designed four anthologies of young adults’ poetry and founded Loreto Abbey Dalkey Press (2004) and MET Press (2003), both school publishing houses.
Poetry collections include, Swimming Lessons (2001), [in 3 sects., ‘Paddling’, ‘Breaststroke and Butterfly’ and ‘Swimming the Channel’]; The Map of Everything (2006), Beyond The Sea (Salmon Press, 2012) and Vacant Possession ( Salmon Press, 2017); writer in residence at The Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco (2007). Anne lives in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Not to Scale was published at the end of October 2024, by Forty Foot Press (Dublin), as a Limited Edition of 200 copies.
About Desmond O'Grady: Desmond O'Grady (1935 - 2014) was born in Limerick, Ireland. Poet, professor, Harvard teaching fellow, editor, translator, Aosdana member. Widely travelled, O’Grady left his Limerick home in the 1950’s to teach in Paris, Rome and America. Reputed not only for his seventeen collections of poetry and his linguistic prowess, O’Grady was a founding member of the European Community of Writers.
Entry is by email to limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com or post to The Limerick Writers’ Centre, c/o The Umbrella Project, 78 O’Connell St., Limerick.
Rules and further info from their website www.limerickwriterscentre.com or email: limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com
CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES IS MIDNIGHT SAT 15th MARCH 2025