Dedalus Press: Poetry from Ireland

09/01/2026

The Dedalus Press Mentoring Programme for new and emerging poets 2026 is open. Great to see a steady stream of submissions all week; submissions welcome until Friday 16 Jan. Poetry Matters: Spread the Word. https://bit.ly/4qpakBu (Image Suzy Hazelwood/Pexels)

06/01/2026

An excellent and long-overdue review by Dr Karina Jakubowicz of Trudie Gorman's extraordinary debut collection, the criminally neglected Trust the Damage (2024) just published in Magma, to whom many thanks.

"This collection expands on the concept of what sickness really is. Gorman begins with the damaged body, but then explores abusive relationships, the unjust medical system, and the cost of living crisis. All exhibit symptoms of disease and they are all interconnected. The suffering body of the female patient is linked to the body of the murdered animal, which (ironically) is offered as a cure for the pernicious anaemia with which she is diagnosed. The politics of gender-based violence reflect on the dismissals of doctors, the behaviour of the Gardaí towards the homeless, and “The housing crisis sick with want.” By the end of this collection, it is worth asking whether the body is the most broken being featured here, or if it is instead a rare flare of defiance in a chronically damaged world."

Poetry Matters: Spread the Word

06/01/2026

FOG BELLS: 8 Contemporary Turkish Poets - a review

'The full range of felt emotion – encompassing grief, joy, whimsy, longing – seems somehow distilled and honoured in this vibrant anthology. Among other things, its arrival may send a reviving gust of energy through the more insular spaces of Irish culture. Poetry’s horizons have always been broader than the comfortable confines within which many of our cliqued and sinecured gate-keepers have been content to keep it slotted. Its home is the world, and its journeys manifold – across languages and histories, alive with “the honour of carrying / This light.”'

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With thanks to Ciarán O'Rouke writing on Cassandra Voices, a rather pointed, provocative review (and all the more welcome for it) of our recent anthology, Fog Bells: 8 Contemporary Turkish Poets, edited and introduced by Neil P. Doherty.

Poetry Matters: Spread the Word

(Full review linked in the first comment)

30/12/2025

NEW YEAR'S WRITING RESOLUTION?

The Portable Creative Writing Handbook is a creative writing workshop in your pocket. The popular handbook has been in print for over 20 years and offers beginning poets and fiction writers a host of inspiring games and formal structures to help get their creative juices flowing.

Whether you belong to a writing group running low on steam, or are struggling on your own and looking for some direction, The Portable Creative Writing Workshop offers all the practical assistance you’ll ever need.

Covering everything from ideas for generating raw material to an overview of popular poetic forms, prize-winning poet and editor Pat Boran (who has conducted hundreds of writing workshops throughout Ireland and abroad) takes a hands-on, practical approach to the creative writing process, concluding with a new section for those considering their own first steps towards publication.

Accessible, enjoyable and stimulating, The Portable Creative Writing Workshop is an ideal creative writing handbook for anyone setting out on the writer’s journey.

RRP €13.50. €10 only during month of January at Dedalus Press, see link in the comments below.

29/12/2025

REMINDER: DEDALUS PRESS MENTORING PROGRAMME 2026
Applications accepted 01-16 January 2026

A reminder that applications for our 2026 Mentoring Programme for new and emerging poets opens on New Year's Day and runs until 16 January.

Prize-winning poet David Nash will conduct online sessions with the successful applications whose work will also feature in the latest edition of our annual 'Introductions' series.

For full details, see the blog post on the Dedalus Press website, link in the comments below.

Poetry Matters: Spread the Word

Image: Pexels/Johannes Plenio

15/12/2025

REVIEW OF BRINK BY CIAN FERRITER

“If Cian Ferriter’s Brink had a theme tune it would surely be the haunting slow air Port Na bPúcai… It is from [the] liminal space between life and death that Ferriter’s strongest poems emerge.” — Martina Evans, The Irish Times

Poetry Matters: Spread the Word

12/12/2025

MENTORING OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW AND EMERGING POETS

Dedalus Press is pleased to announce David Nash as the Mentor for our 2026 Mentoring Programme for new and emerging poets. The free mentorship, which will be offered to selected poets, includes three one-on-one online mentoring sessions with David, as well as publication in the annual Dedalus Press 'Introductions' series.

Applications will be accepted from 01 January to 16 January 2026.

For full details, see the blog post on the Dedalus Press website, link in the comments below.

Poetry Matters: Spread the Word

05/12/2025

Delighted to have no less than three recent Dedalus Press collections (Catherine Ann Cullen's Storm Damage, Keith Payne's Savage Acres and Patrick Cotter's Quality Control at the Miracle Factory) reviewed on the latest episode of the ever-engaging Books for Breakfast podcast.

With thanks to Enda Wyley and Peter Sirr for the ongoing and enthusiastic support for their fellow poets and writers.

Poetry Matters: Spread the Word!

This morning we welcome poet and critic Ciarán O’Rourke to our breakfast table here in Dublin 8. Ciarán has published two collections of poems with Irish Pages Press, The Buried Breath in 2018  and Phantom Gang in 2022, and he also runs ...

04/12/2025

21/11/2025

An extended interview with GERRY MURPHY is among the attractions of the latest Southword Poetry Podcast from our indefatigable friends at the Munster Literature Centre.

Poetry Matters: Spread the Word

The Southword Poetry Podcast is produced by the Munster Literature Centre. Each episode, a guest poet talks in depth about their latest work and shares a few of their poems. We also hear a poem from a recent issue of the literary journal Southword...

21/11/2025

A lovely appreciation of Enda Wyley’s Sudden Light by Gabriel Fitzmaurice in The Irish Catholic.

Poetry Matters: Spread the World

19/11/2025

An extract from a poem by the late Maurice Craig, architectural historian, author and poet, offering a glimpse of Dublin's Merrion Square at this time of the year.

The poem is to be found in If Ever You Go: A Map of Dublin in Poetry and Song, our best-selling 400-page anthology of Dublin-based verse, some copies of which have just come to light in storage. Link in the first comment below.