Sam Burnside, Feargal Friel and Emily Cooper, an evening of poetry and chat

Sam Burnside is an established poet and writer who lived for many years in the Culmore area. Sam Burnside was born in Co Antrim and has spent most of his working life in the North West where he was involved in Adult Education before establishing and becoming the first Director of the Verbal Arts Centre. His writing has attracted a number of awards, including the Allingham Poetry Prize, the University of Ulster McCrea Literary Award, the Sunday Tribune Hennessy Literary Award in1989. He was shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize (USA) for his long poem “Stretcher Bearer” in 2016. He is recipient of a Hennessey Literary Award. In 2012 he was appointed MBE for his contribution to the arts. Sam will read some of his best loved poems at our poetry evening on Monday 20th June from 7.30pm to 9.30pm

Feargal Friel is Vice Principal of Hollybush P.S. and has been teaching the children of Culmore for the last twenty-four years. His love of the natural world and the local landscape influenced his decision to start dabbling in poetry writing in 2016. Feargal will join Emily Cooper and Sam Burnside for an evening of poetry readings and chat on Monday 20th June from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

Emily Cooper has been published in the Stinging Fly, Banshee, Poetry Ireland Review, the Irish Times, Stand and the London Magazine, among others. She has been awarded residencies by the RCC, Donegal; the Arts Council of Northern Ireland; Greywood Arts; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris; and the Irish Writers Centre. Since 2019 she has been a recipient of the Next Generation Award, Literature Bursary and Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland, as well as a SIAP Award from ACNI, two Artist Bursaries from Donegal County Council and a Culture and Creativity Grant from Creative Ireland. She is a contributing editor for The Pig’s Back literary journal and her poetry debut Glass was published by Makina Books in 2021.