We're delighted to announce a series of new dates for Purely Poetry in Strabane, at The Alley Theatre, hosted by Chris McLaughlin. We recommence this Friday at 8pm, £3 entry, bar facilities available.

This will be the first of a number of poetry evenings which will be held in the Alley Bar throughout the year. Further dates (open mic unless indicated) will be:



Friday 3rd July
Friday 7th August
Friday 4th September – Tyrone Heat of the All Ireland Poetry Slam
Friday 2nd October – As part of Flann O’Brien Festival
Friday 6th November
Friday 4th December

Please help spread the word and support us if you can. With North West Words, The Monday Night Cure at Sandinos and now Purely Poetry Strabane, the North West is heating up for live poetry!

Official announcement from Translink NI:

"Three budding poets have been selected as the winners of the Translink Smart Movers Poetry competition. Translink teamed up with Poetry NI to run a competition to coincide with National Poetry Writing Month which encouraged passengers to tap into their inner poet, sit back, relax and perfect their poetic prose while onboard bus, coach or train services.
 
"The competition challenged all amateur and professional poets to try writing their own poem whilst drawing inspiration from their travels with Translink, using the themes of Smart Moves, Destinations and Sustainability. Translink and Poetry NI received over 140 poem entries and three winners were selected: Peter Adair, Emma McKervey and Elisabeth Öhlböck."

Peter Adair, from Bangor, was our first winner with 'Long Journey'. Peter describes his poem as "a word journey, imagined, but Belfast Central would be the ideal setting for a brief or long encounter."


Emma McKervey, from Holywood, won week two with her poem ‘Leaving the Holywood Halt for Bangor.’ Emma’s poem was inspired by the train journey between Holywood and Bangor.  

Elisabeth Öhlböck, from South Belfast, was week three's wiiner with  ‘Friendship is Hope.’ Elisabeth’s poem was inspired by her journey on the Metro 5 bus, crossing Queen’s Bridge. 

Each winner received travel vouchers and ten copies each of their broadsides, which will also be distributed by Poetry NI's Pen Points Press throughout Northern Ireland.
 

Congratulations to Elisabeth Öhlböck, our week three winner in our ‪#‎SmartMovers‬ Poetry Comp with Translink, with her poem 'Friendship Is Hope'.

All three winning poems, from Peter Adair, Emma McKervey and Elisabeth, will be available as broadsides shortly from Pen Points Press.

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition and shared their work with us. We look forward to sharing the winning poems with you all.