Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust annual poetry competition

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is seeking entries for its annual poetry competition. The winner will have her or his poem published and displayed on the Arts Corridor of University Hospital Galway as part of the 2016 Poems For Patience and will be invited to read the poem at the launch of the 2016 Poems For Patience at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in April 2016. The closing date for entries is 11 March 2016.

CRITERIA
Poems entered in the competition should be no more than 30 lines long. They must be the original work of the entrant. Poems previously published in magazines or poetry collections are eligible. Poets can enter as many poems as they wish.

PRIZE 

• The winner will have her or his poem published and displayed on the Arts Corridor of University Hospital Galway as part of the 2016 Poems For Patience. Poems For Patience is a long running series which over the past decade has featured poems by leading Irish and international poets such as Seamus Heaney, Philip Schultz, Jane Hirschfield, Michael Longley, Vona Groarke, Tess Gallagher and many more. Following the exhibition on the Arts Corridor, the poems are then displayed in waiting areas throughout Galway University Hospitals.
• The winner will be invited to read his or her winning poem at the launch of the 2016 Poems For Patience at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in April 2016.
• The winner will be provided with accommodation in Galway for one night during the 2016 Cúirt International Festival of Literature.
• The winner will be given a copy of their poem printed as a Poem for Patience poster.
• The winner will be asked to submit six poems for consideration as a Featured Reader at the Over The Edge: Open Reading series in Galway City Library.

ENTRY FEE
To enter one poem the fee is €10. If you enter two or more poems the entry fee is €7.50 per poem i.e. to enter two poems it costs €15, to enter three poems €22.50 and so on.

Payment should be made by cheque or postal order payable to Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust.

Entries should be sent by post to Margaret Flannery, Arts Director, Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust, Galway University Hospitals, University Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway. Do not put your name on the poems; please include your contact details on a separate sheet.

CLOSING DATE
Friday, March 11 2016

THE JUDGE
The competition judge is Kevin Higgins. Kevin Higgins is Writer-in-Residence with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. He facilitates poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre; teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute and on the Brothers of Charity Away With Words programme. Kevin also teaches poetry on the NUI Galway Summer School programme and on the NUIG BA Creative Writing Connect programme. He is the poetry critic of the Galway Advertiser. Kevin is co-organiser of Over The Edge literary events. His first collection of poems The Boy With No Face was published by Salmon in February 2005 and was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award. His second collection, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in March 2008 by Salmon. His work also features in the anthology Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Ed Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010) and in The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe, 2014). Frightening New Furniture, his third collection of poems, was published in 2010 by Salmon Poetry. Mentioning The War, a collection of his essays and reviews was published by Salmon in 2012. Kevin has read his work at most of the major literary festivals in Ireland and at Arts Council and Culture Ireland supported poetry events in Kansas City, USA (2006), Los Angeles, USA (2007), London, UK (2007), New York, USA (2008), Athens, Greece (2008); St. Louis, USA (2008), Chicago, USA (2009), Denver, USA (2010), Washington D.C (2011), Huntington, West Virginia, USA (2011), Geelong, Australia (2011), Canberra, Australia (2011), St. Louis, Missouri (2013), Boston, Massachusetts (2013) & Amherst, Massachusetts (2013). His poetry has been translated into Greek, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian, & Portuguese. Kevin’s fourth collection of poetry, The Ghost In The Lobby, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2014. Kevin is satirist-in-residence with the alternative literature website The Bogman’s Cannon. His next book 2016 – The Selected Satires of Kevin Higgins will be published by NuaScéalta in 2016. Song of Songs 2:0 – New & Selected Poems will be published by Salmon in Spring 2017.

For further information contact Margaret Flannery: +353 (0)91 544979 | Margaret.Flannery@hse.ie