Kilkenny County Council Arts Office is delighted to announce their annual call out for submissions for the twenty third issue of the KILKENNY POETRY BROADSHEET. The aim of the publication is to give Kilkenny writers, born or based in Kilkenny, a platform for their work. We are thrilled to have Afric McGlinchey as this year’s editor. Last year sixty writers answered the call out for submissions, sending in 108 poems for consideration. Fourteen poems were selected by Editor Elaine Feeney for publication and a further ten poets were shortlisted.

Following publication, the Broadsheet is available free throughout the city and county via the library branches and other venues.

Closing date for receipt of submissions is no later than 4pm on Friday 31^st March 2023

Afric McGlinchey was awarded the Hennessy Award for Emerging Poetry for 2010, the Northern Liberties Award (USA) in 2012 and the Poets Meet Politics Award in 2015. Named as one of Ireland’s Rising Poets by Poetry Ireland Review, she has received a number of awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, including two Literature Bursaries (2017 and 2022), a Covid-19 Bursary (2020) and an Agility Award (2021). In 2012, Salmon Poetry published The lucky star of hidden things, which evokes her nomadic upbringing between Ireland and Africa. It was translated into Italian and studied at Bologna University as part of a Series on Dislocation. Her second Salmon Poetry collection, Ghost of the Fisher Cat, loosely set in medieval Paris, was also translated into Italian, and in December 2022, the work was presented at a Women in Translation showcase in Dublin alongside Freda Laughton, Eavan Boland and Sinead Morrissey. A surrealist pamphlet, Invisible Insane (SurVision) appeared in 2019, and in 2021, Broken Sleep Books (UK) published her hybrid childhood memoir, Tied to the Wind, which has been described by one reviewer as ‘a brilliant and important book’. Afric lives in West Cork where she works as a freelance editor and reviewer. She is also on the Munster Literature Centre and Words Ireland mentoring panels. Online poetry correspondence courses are available on her website at  www.africmcglinchey.com

Download guidelines and application form here:

Broadsheet 2023 Application Form.docx (size 87.3 KB)

Poetry and alchemy : a one full day workshop with Afric McGlinchey

Suitable for anyone interested in exploring poetry.

Date: Saturday 18^th March 2023

Time: 10.00am – 4.30pm

Location: Butler House, Kilkenny

Bookings through Kilkenny County Council Arts Office, email: deirdre.southey@kilkennycoco.ie or phone 056-7794547.

Deadline for bookings: Monday 6^th February

Cost: €15

The workshop will begin with prompts to trigger free-associated writing. Out of this, we’ll select material for a new poem. We’ll also look at well-known poems and discuss what makes them work. Each participant will select one and use it as a model to create their own entirely unique poem.

In the afternoon, we’ll consider image and conceit, and the way they can add layers of meaning to a poem. We’ll also look at the use of voice in monologues and if there’s time, we’ll take up the challenge of the sequence poem to create a long poem, either as a group or individually.

Early booking is advised as places are limited.

Payment details: when you have made your booking, payment must be made through the Motor Tax Office, County Hall, John Street, Kilkenny, tel. 056-779 4229.  Opening hours: Monday-Friday 9.10am through lunch to 3.30pm.  Card payments can be made over the phone or payment can also be made by cash.