I’m delighted to win second prize in Yellow House Publishing’s Shipyard Writers competition.

First prize was won by David Butler for his short story, ‘White Spirits’ and third prize by Lucia Kenny for her poem, ‘Building Walls’.

https://www.yellowhousepublishing.com/news/shipyard-writers-competition-2024

My poem is in Ulster-Scots with an English translation and is prompted by the 9th-century Irish poem, ‘Int en bec’, known in English as ‘The Blackbird of Loch Lene’ and the paraphrase of it in Ulster-Scots by John Erskine. I was intrigued to see the Irish rendered into contemporary Ulster-Scots and that got me thinking about some themes that last across the centuries and about the way meaning swims between languages.

I’ve written previously about this Irish poem here https://angelagraham.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=3171&action=edit and I’ve used its wonderful Irish metre, ‘snámh súad’, which the late Ciaran Carson rendered as ‘poetic floating’, in the ENVOI of my poem in The Interpreter’s House: https://angelagraham.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=4482&action=edit

(and temporarily lost the ability to embed links properly! Sorry, folks.)

The work will appear in New Isles Press journal issue 3.

There is an event in Belfast’s Eastside Arts Festival on 25th July https://www.glistrr.com/events/e/belfast-literary-summer-yard-sessions-2024-3507-7

‘Following last year’s festival success, the Thomas Carnduff Appreciation Society offers its second literary Summer Yard Session. This year’s theme is Borders, Boundaries and Barriers.’

‘The session features a panel of renowned authors, chaired by Dr. Connal Parr and featuring Rosemary Jenkinson, Wendy Erskine, Tony Black, Heather Currie and Eddie Currie, with Stephen Knox as MC. Together they will celebrate the rich literature and language traditions of Northern Ireland and across our shared Isles.’