We're delighted to announce that David Braziel is our next Pen Points Press poet, with his wonderfully entitled chapbook, 'I Am Not A Poet (and other poems)'.

In 2014, David won numerous poetry slams, including at the Belfast Book Festival and Aspects Literary Festival amongst others, and represented Ulster at the All Ireland Poetry Slam final. He has been invited to perform his work at the Dublin Lingo Festival, Stendhal Arts, and On Home Ground.

David is a founder member of the Lough Neagh Writers group, recently helping to direct and edit a documentary exploring the work of the group and their lives in and around the divided towns of Lurgan and Portadown.

Audiences will recognise David as a regular at our Purely Poetry open mic nights. He has had poetry and short fiction published in local anthologies, magazines and online including FourXFour, The Incubator and Community Arts Partnership anthologies. David was also recently long-listed for the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing.

David joins other Pen Points Press poets Geraldine O'Kane, Chris McLaughlin and Ross Thompson in our commitment to showcase new and brilliant writing from across Northern Ireland.

David's wonderfully entitled chapbook, 'I Am Not A Poet (and other poems)' will be coming soon. Look out for more details of future releases from us across the next few weeks.

A big thank you to everyone who came down and supported the launch of Alternate State. If you weren't able to make it, the show is running until 29th March at the Duncairn Arts Cente, do come down at have a look at this darkly emotional exhibition. 

A huge thank you to Brian Kielt for inviting us to take part and allowing us to live with his artwork for a few months. Congratulations on a magnificent launch.

A chapbook of the poems written to accompany the exhibition is available to purchase with all proceeds going to the excellent Start Talking charity project, helping young people look after their mental health. Please buy a booklet or donate to show your support.

A review of the exhibition is available on Culture Northern Ireland.

Launching Thursday 12th March, 6pm, Duncairn Centre for Arts & Culture welcomes visual artist Brian Kielt for his solo exhibition ‘Alternate State’. 

‘Alternate State’ explore methods of depicting the phenomenological. Life is in a constant state of change and experiences may merge fact and fabrication throughout. This exhibit is a highlight of works produced in the past two years from Kielt’s studio in Belfast. 

In addition to the artwork selected, Poetry NI's Geraldine O’Kane and Colin Dardis have created works to accompany the paintings. These literary interpretations can guide or misguide the viewer into other realms of interpretation. The poems will be available to buy on the night of the launch as a chapbook, with proceeds going to the StART Talking charity which aims to raise awareness and education for mental health issues in the student community.

On his latest collection of works Brian said “This body of work is taken directly from my studio practice. The main challenge when selecting the work for the show is that each piece has its own distinction. It is the process and the methodology behind the work that will hopefully unify the exhibition. I’m excited to see how the poets have interpreted the work as they have not been made aware of any inclinations I had when making the paintings.”

For more details, visit the Duncairn website.
The 'Alternate State' chapbook is also available to order through our Pen Points Press store.

Winter is thankfully on its way out, spring is rolling in, the world is reawakening, and the poets of Belfast and beyond have definitely reawakened our senses with their excellent output last night!

In turn we thank our readers: Rebecca McGivern (and Joey the cat), Lara Sunday, David Smylie (peacock braces et al), Sam Ferrante (good luck Sam, we will miss you!), David Braziel, Willetta Fleming, Chris McLaughlin (good to have you back!), Clodagh Harvey, Mary, Michael Wilson, Lesley Johnston, Patrick Taggart (the open heart of the sky), Patrick McNicholl, David Davies, Elizabeth McGeown (‪#‎yesallwomen‬), Andy Ward, Stephen Smyth, Ross Thompson (or Ross..... the Thompson), Mark Cooper, Vincent Hurson, Jason Ashford and Ray Givans.

Thank you for coming down and for sharing your words, thank you to everyone who listened and applauded, and as ever, a big thank you to Crescent Arts Centre for once again allowing us all to help create something beautiful! Our next night is on 3rd April, we hope to see you then.