Last-minute Christmas Gift: Poetry Mentoring Gift Voucher

If you’re stuck for a perfect gift for the poet in your life – or want to drop a hint to Santa for yourself – gift vouchers are available for my one-to-one poetry mentoring sessions.

Each session includes a preliminary report on up to 6 poems (or 150 lines), a one-hour mentoring session via Skype/phone and a follow up email with reading recommendations.

The voucher can be personalised and delivered by email, ready to be printed and popped into an envelope, ready for Christmas morning.

And if you’d like to know more about what to expect, here’s what one writer had to say about a recent poetry mentoring session:

‘I didn’t have any set expectations, but I did have hopes and these were more than matched by the turn of events. The initial written feedback immediately latched on to the problems that I was experiencing and the mentoring session advanced tidily from there into a detailed critical examination of my poems… It was pretty focused – sometimes very focused – on the details of how I could advance my skills and understanding of form and content. This focus was facilitated by the relaxed and discursive mode of joint examination of my poems. I got so involved that for a while I forgot the time and everything else really, becoming pretty well immersed in the liminal moment of it…which (speaking as a teacher myself) I think is pretty much exactly how teaching / learning events should be. I found it powerfully effective as a tool for opening up blockages in my own thinking process and revealing potential ways that I can advance my skill and understanding as a poetic writer.’

– C. Sparks, Co. Sligo

To book, go to the poetry mentoring page on my website OR just drop me a line!

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Poetry Mentoring: Black Friday Special Offer

Over the past few weeks, there’s been a lot of interest in the one-to-one poetry mentoring sessions I mentioned in the November poetry list. To save time (and prevent repetitive strain injury from writing emails), I’ve added a dedicated poetry mentoring page on my website with all the details.

And, in the spirit of Black Friday, I’m offering mentoring sessions at a special reduced rate of €50.00 (usually €75.00). There are only 10 available and when they’re gone, they’re gone. The offer begins at 12.01 am GMT on Friday 23 November and runs until 11.59 pm GMT on Monday 26 November.

The sessions can also be purchased with a smart presentation voucher (digital), if you’d like to buy one as a holiday gift.

If you have any questions about poetry mentoring, don’t hesitate to contact me!

Featured Image: George Kourounis

The Revival Tour: Poet Bloggers 2018

When I started this blog back in 2014, I posted fairly regularly about poetry, and writing in general, but gradually life took over and the posts slowly whittled down to the monthly competitions and submissions list.

It’s been on my mind for a while that I could be writing more here and when I saw the call-out on Twitter at the end of last year for poetry bloggers to post weekly for a year, I jumped on board (I’m sneaking this post in under the wire for Week 2)!

The Revival Tour Poet Bloggers 2018 comprises almost 100 poetry bloggers across the world, covering everything from writing, reading and reviewing poetry to interviews to writing successes and failures – anything and everything to do with writing poetry. A big thank you to Donna Vorreyer and Kelli Russell Agodon for getting the tour off the ground!

For my part, I’ll be drawing from my 10+ years of writing and submitting poetry, two years as a poetry editor, an enormous To Be Read book pile and other creative interests, including art and design. I also have a particular interest in social media and how writers present themselves online.

If you have questions about any of the above or there are other areas of poetry that you’d like to see articles about, please leave a comment below. I’d love to know what aspects of poetry you’re interested in!

In the meantime, check out the full list of The Revival Tour bloggers and discover a new favourite read.

 

#WeMadeHistory

The people of Ireland have voted YES for marriage equality — regardless of sexuality — in a public referendum, with one of the largest turnouts in voting history; we are the first country in the world to make this choice by popular vote.

I’ve never been prouder to be Irish.

The escalating momentum of #hometovote, over the past couple of days, with Irish men and women abroad pouring back into the country by train, boat and plane, to ensure their voices were heard, has been extraordinarily moving.

The public outpourings, the crowds at Dublin Castle this afternoon — both in the courtyard and bringing the streets to a standstill outside — as the results were announced, and the inevitable celebrations carrying on well into the night, signal something else: national pride and a return to joy.

Double Shot @ Books Upstairs: New Poetry Event in Dublin

This week sees the launch of Double Shot – a series of poetry readings at the new Books Upstairs premises on D’Olier Street, which pairs an emerging poet with a more established peer, to provide reading opportunities for poets who don’t often get to read in Dublin. The first of the series takes place this Wednesday, 25 February from 7pm and features Kate Quigley, Graham Allen and Jessica Traynor, who is also the event organiser.

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Poet, writer and dramaturg, Jessica is on a bit of a roll at the moment with a new position as Literary Manager at The Abbey Theatre and her debut collection, Liffey Swim, nominated for the Shine / Strong Award 2015.

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I had a quick chat with Jessica to find out more about Double Shot and her latest role at the Abbey.