Poets from the UK, France and Ireland are among the finalists for the annual Bard of Connacht competition, the final of which will take place in Creggs on Bank Holiday Monday, October 28th. The competition, which has €1,000 in prize money is organised by Kilbegnet Historical Society and take place during Creggs Harvest Festival.
The winner of this year’s Bard of Connacht will receive the Vincent Keaveny Memorial Trophy and a cheque for €500, while second, third and fourth placed poets will receive €250, €150 and €100.The theme of this year’s competition is ‘Loneliness’, inspired by a line from a Percy French song. Bard competitors wrote on many varieties of the theme, with memorable results.
Ten finalists have now been chosen and they are as follows (in alphabetical order): Frank Brandon (Creggs), ‘The simple sound of living’;Finn Cassidy (Les Hautes Alpes, France), ‘The Readying’; John Corbett (Ballinasloe), ‘Suffering son of Adam’; Gerry Donlon (Suffolk, UK), ‘Place of no smiles’; Desmond Donnelly, ‘Dance little wave’ (Loughrea, Galway); James Hesnan (Athboy, Co. Westmeath) ‘Loneliness in its many forms’; Daniela Krause (Spiddal, Galway), ‘When You Cry Alone’; Veronica Mee-Smyth ‘Dark and deep’; Simon Thorpe (Southampton, UK), ‘No more goodbyes’ and Dominick Tobin (Creggs) ‘The Postman didn’t call today’.
The finalists or their representatives will present their poems at an event in Creggs NS at 5 pm on Bank Holiday Monday and once all ten entries have been revealed, the identity of the Bard of Connacht 2024 will be revealed.
