Reclaim the Vision of 1916 – a Citizens’ Initiative
International Poetry Competition 2016
THEME: The Vision of 1916: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Inspired by the strong connections between poetry and the Easter Rising – often known as the “Poets’ Revolution” – we are proud to announce that our International Poetry Competition 2016 is now open for submissions. Many of the Rising’s leaders were accomplished poets, including Pádraic Pearse, Joseph Mary Plunkett, James Connolly – and the eminent Thomas MacDonagh. Also acclaimed for his talents as a teacher, playwright, Irish language scholar, and literary theorist, it is in MacDonagh’s honour that we have chosen for the competition’s first prize the Robert Ballagh-designed Thomas MacDonagh Medal (along with a cash award of €1,000).
In its aftermath, the Rising motivated a generation of poets of national and international renown – including George Russell (AE), Francis Ledwidge, Padraic Colum, James Stephens, Sean O’Casey, Eva Gore-Booth and William Butler Yeats – to reflect upon its ideals, events, men and women, and consequences. Alongside these can be placed a succession of Irish language poets that includes Liam S Gógan, Máirtín Ó Direáin, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Eoghan Ó Tuairisc and Seán Ó Tuama.
Likewise, we are now inviting the present generations of writers of poetry, young and older, established and emerging, to reflect upon the competition’s theme and submit up to three entries for our judges’ consideration.
The competition is open to persons over the age of sixteen years living on the island of Ireland or abroad.
Entries may be in English, Irish, or any of the languages in common use in Ireland today (with either English or Irish translations).
JUDGES
Catherine Ann Cullen, Louis de Paor and Ciaran Carty. Professor Michael Cronin will act as the competition’s Languages’ Advisor.
PRIZES
First: Thomas MacDonagh Medal, plus €1,000
Second: €500
Third: €250
ENTRY FEES
€10 for first poem
€5 for second poem
€5 for third poem
TO ENTER
See: http://www.reclaim1916.ie/international-poetry-competition/
CLOSING DATE
29 February 2016
Athshlánaigh an Fís de 1916 – Tionscnamh Saoránach
Comórtas Filíochta Idirnáisiúnta 2016
TÉAMA: an Fís de 1916: Inné, Inniú agus Amárach
Táimid thar a bheith bródúil chun cur in iúl daoibh go bhfuil ár gcomórtas filíochta idirnáisiúnta 2016 ar oscailt anois ag glacadh le n-iarratais. Faigheann an comórtas seo ionspráid ón eolas go bhfuil nasc láidir idir an filíocht agus Éirí Amach na Cásca – “Réabhlóid na bhFilí”. Bhí roinnt maith de ceannairí an Éirí Amach ina bhfilí – Pádraig Mac Piarais, Seosamh Máire Pluincéid, Séamus Ó Conghaile – agus an t-uasal Tomás Mac Donnchadha. Bhí clú agus cáil ar Mac Donnchadha toisc a n-iarrachtaí mar mhúinteoir, drámadóir, scoláire Ghaeilge, agus teoiricí litríochta. Mar gheall ar seo, agus in onóir de Mhac Donnchadha, roghnaíomar Bonn Tomás Mac Donnchadha, deartha ag Robert Ballagh, mar an 1ú duais sa chomórtas (chomh maith le duais airgid €1000).
Spreag an Éirí Amach é féin glúin de filí go bhfuil clú agus cáil orthu sa tír seo agus níos faide i gcéin chun athmhachnamh a dhéanamh ar idéil, imeachtaí, fir agus mná, agus iarmhairtí – le George Russell (AE), Francis Ledwidge, Padraic Colum, James Stephens, Sean O’Casey, Eva Gore-Booth agus William Butler Yeats ina measc. Is féidir a rá, freisin, go suíonn filí Ghaeilge cosúil le Liam S Gógan, Máirtín Ó Direáin, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Eoghan Ó Tuairisc agus Seán Ó Tuama taobh le taobh leis na filí luaite thuas.
Mar sin, táimid ag tabhairt cuireadh do filí de gach aois agus máistreacht chun athmhachnamh a dhéanamh ar théama an comórtas agus suas go dtí trí dáin a chur isteach don comórtas seo.
Tá an comórtas oscailte go dtí gach duine in Éirinn nó thar lear atá níos sine ná sé bliana déag d’aois.
Is féidir iarratais a bheith I nGaeilge, Béarla nó teanga ar bith atá in úsáid go rialta in Éirinn inniú (le n-aistriú go dtí Béarla nó Gaeilge).
Breithimh
Catherine Ann Cullen, Louis de Paor agus Ciaran Carty. Beidh an tOllamh Michael Cronin mar Comhairleoir Teangacha don comórtas.
Duaiseanna
1ú áit: Bonn Mac Donnchadha, agus €1000
2ú: €500
3ú: €250
Iarratais:
Féach: http://www.reclaim1916.ie/international-poetry-competition
Data deiridh:
29ú Feabhra 2016
JUDGING PANEL
Catherine Ann Cullen
Catherine Ann’s third collection of poetry, The Other Now, will be published by Dedalus Press in autumn, 2016. Her first two, Strange Familiar and A Bone in My Throat, were published by Doghouse. Her children’s books, Thirsty Baby and the award-winning The Magical, Mystical, Marvellous Coat, were published by Little, Brown in the US. Her work is included in anthologies including If Ever You Go: A Map of Dublin in Poetry and Song (Dedalus, 2014). She won the Francis Ledwidge International Poetry Award, 2009. She has an M. Phil. in creative writing from Trinity College, where she works part-time on the Trinity Access Programmes. She is researching a PhD on ballads and creative writing at Middlesex University.
Catherine Ann’s message for entrants:
‘I’ll be looking for work that engages with the ideas behind the Rising, such as self-determination, equality, the pursuit of happiness, and the resolve to be oblivious to differences. I’ll be especially interested in where these ideas have failed or succeeded, and whether and how they continue to be relevant.’
Ciaran Carty
Not only has Ciaran has been the editor for many years of one of the English-speaking world’s great literary cauldrons, the Hennessy New Irish Writing awards, he has been one of Ireland’s leading critics and broadcasters. He was deputy editor of The Sunday Independent (1961–65) before becoming arts editor for The Sunday Tribune (1985–2011). He has authored many publications including Confessions of a Sewer Rat (1995), Intimacy with Strangers (2013) and its forthcoming sequel The Republic of Elsewhere (2016), a two-volume biography of the artist Robert Ballagh (1985, 2011). He co-edited with Dermot Bolger three anthologies of Hennessy fiction (1995, 2006, 2015).
Ciaran’s message for the entrants:
‘A poem can be a moment caught, a cry of anguish or of joy, an evocation of a period or a place, the sharing of a thought or an experience. It articulates whatever cannot be said in any other form of writing, a distillation of an essence of existence.’
Louis de Paor
Louis is among the foremost poets and researchers writing in Irish today. In addition to an extensive list of publications, his research interests include: twentieth century writing in Irish and in translation, early modern poetry in Irish, and the fiction of Máirtín Ó Cadhain and Flann O’Brien.
Louis’s message for entrants:
“The poetry competition and Reclaim the Vision of 1916 are a welcome reminder of a time before culture was distanced from politics, when art and literature spoke back to power, critiquing and challenging its authority, a legitimate function of all art. As we continue to substitute compliance for independence, it is worth reminding ourselves of the revolutionary optimism and practical imagination invested in politics and economics as well as in art, literature, language and culture despite the poverty, inequality and injustice of the early decades of the twentieth century.”
Poems in languages other than English and Irish
In line with the competition’s theme and the inclusive nature of Reclaim the Vision of 1916’s broader initiative, we are inviting entries not only in English and Irish, but in any of the languages that are in common use in Ireland today (with either English or Irish translations).
Languages’ Advisor – Professor Michael Cronin
To support this initiative, Michael, a founder member of the Irish Translators and Interpreters’ Association will advise the panel of judges. From his editing of Reinventing Ireland: Culture, Society and the Global Economy (2002) and The Languages of Ireland (2003), to his authoring of Translation in the Digital Age (2013), Michael has been an inspiration to a generation of Irish students of modern languages, translation studies, cultural studies and applied linguistics – and debates around emerging digital technologies and their social, cultural and political consequences.
