We'll delighted to announced that we will be nominating three poems from FourXFour Poetry Journal towards the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem this year.

Sixty-four poems were published in the past twelve months in our journal, and we had quite the task to select only three, we could easily have chosen so many more. Our three poets nominated are:
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Chris Jenkins- 'Omagh' (Issue 16) 
Lorna Shaughnessy - 'Hidden' (Issue 18)
Mel McMahon - 'Wake House' (Issue 19)

We wish them all the best of luck with prize! 

Also look out for a special double issue of FourXFour being released on Poetry Day Ireland, Thursday 27th April, featuring Nathan Armstrong, Julieann Campbell, Michael Conaghan, Aine MacAodha, Willetta Fleming, Lizz Murphy, Gareth Osborne and Patrick Taggart, 

Poetry Day Ireland is on Thursday 27 April this year, with the theme of 'Poetry Connects'. Spearheaded by Poetry Ireland, they are inviting everyone to join-in, link-up, and connect through the power of poetry. To mark the occasion, Lagan Online is teaming up with Poetry NI, seeking your audio poems to feature on our special 'Mix Tape', which will be made available to download for free on the day. We will be selecting the best tracks to showcase, so get recording and send us your work!

On this year's theme, Poetry Ireland website says: "Words matter: they can build bridges or burn them down. Poetry’s 'delicate dance between the said and the unsaid' (Ruth Padel) has the power to connect friends, lovers and family. It has the power to help us look inward and understand ourselves, and the power to transport us across borders and through frontiers. It connects us with our memories and springboards us to our future. We need the power of words now more than ever."

Submission Guidelines:
Submission are open to anyone currently living in, or originally from, the island of Ireland.
All sound files must be in MP3, MP4 or WAV format.
Please submit each poem as a separate file, up to a maximum of three poems.
Poems may have musical accompaniment/backing tracks, but please make sure the poem is clearly audible.
Each poem must be no more that four minutes in duration.
Previously published poems are acceptable, as long as you have retained the copyright.
Deadline for submissions: Monday 10th April.
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Please find your poems as attachments along with a brief biog (third person, 75 words max) to laganonline@theverbal.co