Announcing the winner of the Belfast Book Festival Poetry Slam...

A fantastic night at the Belfast Book Festival for our 5th annual Poetry Slam. And a big hearty congratulations to our Slam Champion 2016, Jenny Cleland!

Jenny, who has been a finalist in the competition in 2014, as well as making it to the final of the Belfast heat of the All-Ireland Poetry Slam in 2013 and 2014, wowed us with three solid readings, full of tenderness, passion and heartbreak.

Well done also to her fellow finalists Mark Cooper, Ray Givans and Dave Wilson, and to all the poets who entered and shared their work onstage. You make the night special and oh so worthwhile.

Special thanks also to our guest judges Órfhlaith Foyle and David Braziel for scoring on the night and sharing their work too! 

Competition was tight on the night, with the slimmest of differences at times between the poets. The entrants also included Jason Ashord (semi-finalist), Ellie Farmer, Thomas Elliot, Brian McMahon Gallagher, Daryl Fletcher, Elizabeth McGeown, Mary Glover, Bernadette McKevitt, Amy McAllister (SF), Anthony Ferguson (SF), Tim Higgins (SF), Peter Adair, Patricia Devlin-Hill (SF), Patrick McNicoll, Nathan Thanki and Will Donnelly.

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