Bailieborough second Poetry Festival was a great success. The new venue, Murtagh's Public House, closed for some time but used as an aution rooms, worked very well and was full for the Friday and Saturday evening readings.
Nerys Williams' reading was excellent. She opened by talking about Dylan Thomas and played him reading "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" which he wrote when he was nineteen. She read her own poems, some from her collection "Sound Archive" and some newer ones. She was asked to read The Dead Zoo as an encore and later sang a Welsh song! Great open mic readings by LitLab members and others and the night ended with a few songs.
On Saturday morning Nerys conducted a workshop which was well attended and expertly delivered with feedback on poems submitted, a discussion of a Frank O'Hara poem, "The Day Lady Died", and a writing exercise based on the poem.
In the early afternoon the results of the Bailieborough Poetry Competition were announced and comments delivered by judges, Mairéad Donnellan and Michael Farry. Winner: Wisdom of the Origamist (Armel Dagorn, France), Runners Up: Mais Feliz (Patrick Cotter, Cork) and Shelter (Maureen Curran, Donegal). The shortlisted and winning poems will appear on the Festival website.
In the afternoon the Skirmish of the Writers Groups. Teams of three performed for ten minutes each and were judged by the other participating teams. A novel and most enjoyable event apart from the fact that my team - an amalgam of Meath Writers Circle and Boyne Writers - only came third. Photo of the winning team, which included Iggy McGovern, above.
And in the evening a full house to hear an excellent performance by performance poet Patsy McDermott followed by a great reading by Iggy McGovern. The audience loved both performers and the evening and festival finished with a few songs. Well done and thanks to all involved!
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