Bandon artist lifts big Red Line prize

AN artist from Bandon has been named as the winner of the Red Line Book Festival poetry prize.

Derval Tubridy, who is a well-regarded artist, won the top prize with her poem entitled ‘Alana Burke’.

Ms Tubridy, as well as being an artist, is a senior lecturer in English Literature and Visual Culture at Goldsmiths College at the University of London.

She has published a number of books, including Thomas Kinsella: The Peppercannister Poems as well as contributing a number of chapters to The Oxford History of the Irish book.

The competition attracted a total of almost 300 poems and the overall standard of entry was adjudged to be of an exceptionally high standard according to the adjudicator, Annemarie Ní Chuirreaáin.

Ms Ní Churreáin began the evening with a fascinating discussion with Amy Abdullah Barry, Breda Wall Ryan and Peter Sirr about their work.

Second place went to Martin Meyler from Dublin from for ‘No Other God before me’ and third place went to Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha for her submission ‘Scrúdú’.

The presentation of the poetry prizes was one of the main events of the Red Line Book Festival which included a host of literary events taking place in libraries all over Dublin.

The festival programme was packed with wonderful authors and personalities such as John Banville, Gerry Creighton, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, C Pam Zhang and Andrea Mara, Francis Brennan, Marty Morrissey and Niall Quinn to name but a few.

Also included in the festival were a range of events and shows such as ‘Roald Dahl and the Imagination Seekers’, writing workshops, and ‘The Writer in Residence programme: The Queenship Cypher’ explored the art of lyrical storytelling.

A special conference on the Decade of Centenaries, hosted by historian, author and presenter Turtle Bunbury also took place as part of the festival.