Poetry Ireland Introductions | Céadlínte Night One / An Chéad Oíche: Eoin Kelly, Pauline Flynn, Mai Ishikawa, Courtney Darby, Joshua Beatty, Eoin P. Ó Murchú & Orlaith Ní Icí

In Partnership with Poetry Ireland

Introductions | Céadlínte is a Poetry Ireland showcase of 15 of the most exciting new poets writing in English and Irish on the island of Ireland today. The poets were selected by Victoria Kennefick and Aifric MacAodha. We’ll have a musical guest along on the night.

Night one of the Poetry Ireland Introductions / Céadlínte showcase will feature poets Eoin Kelly, Pauline Flynn, Mai Ishikawa, Courtney Darby, Joshua Beatty, Eoin P. Ó Murchú and Orlaith Ní Icí.

Seóthaispeántas de chuid Éigse Éireann is ea Introductions | Céadlínte de 15 de na filí nua is spreagúla a bhíonn ag scríobh as Gaeilge agus as Béarla ar oileán na hÉireann faoi láthair. Ba iad Victoria Kennefick agus Aifric Mac Aodha a roghnaigh na filí. Beidh aoi ó shaol an cheoil inár dteannta freisin ar an oíche.

Ar an gcéad oíche de sheóthaispeántas Introductions / Céadlínte Éigse Éireann is iad na filí a bheidh ann Eoin Kelly, Pauline Flynn, Mai Ishikawa, Courtney Darby, Joshua Beatty, Eoin P. Ó Murchú agus Orlaith Ní Icí.

Eoin Kelly is a poet and library assistant from Dun Laoghaire. He holds a BA in English Literature and Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin and an MA in Poetry from Queen’s University Belfast. He was selected for the Dedalus Mentorship Programme in 2026. His work has been published in Poetry Ireland Review, 14 Poems’ Bi+ Lines Anthology, Icarus, Abridged and elsewhere.

Pauline Flynn lives and works in West Wicklow. A painter and poet, her practice moves fluidly between image and language. She began writing poetry while completing the UCD master’s in creative writing, graduating in 2010. In the same year, she was shortlisted for the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. Her work has since appeared in a wide range of literary journals, including Poetry Ireland Review (Eavan Boland Special Issue), The High Window (where she served as Resident Artist/Poet across four issues), Skylight 47, The Lonely Crowd, The Waxed Lemon, Orbis 181, Light: A Journal of Photography and Poetry, Silver Birch Press, The Blue Nib, Drawn to the Light, Sixteen, and others.

Mai Ishikawa is a Japanese poet, translator, theatre-maker, performer based in Dublin. She has translated several plays into Japanese for full productions, including The Playboy of the Western World by JM Synge. Her poems appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, The Stony Thursday Book, Banshee, Channel, Ink Sweat & Tears, Beginnings Over and Over (published by Dedalus Press, curated by Leeanne Quinn) and elsewhere. Her experimental theatre piece Constriction premiered at Dublin Fringe Festival 2025. Recently, she performed in The Madonna of Asia by Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng at the New Theatre Dublin.

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Courtney Darby was longlisted for the National Poetry Competition, shortlisted for the Belvedere New Writing Prize, and received the Maria Edgeworth Highly Commended prize. Her work appears in Poetry Ireland Review, The Storms, The Waxed Lemon, Abridged Magazine, Skylight 47, among others. She has showcased her poetry at Cúirt and was a featured poet on Lime Square Poets. She was awarded the Freedom to Write from the John Hewitt Society and Irish PEN, and a Galway City Council Creative Practitioner Bursary.

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Joshua Beatty is from Ellesmere Port and lives in Belfast. He holds an MA in Poetry from the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast, and while at Queen’s was an editor of The Apiary. Through the Irish Writers Centre he was a Young Writer Delegate to the Belfast Book Festival 2025, and in 2026 was a New Voices North Awardee. His work appears, or is forthcoming, in Howl, Eascair, and Poetry Ireland Review.

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File, scríbhneoir agus aistritheoir liteartha é Eoin P. Ó Murchú. Bíonn a chuid filíochta le léamh  in Comhar, Éigse Éireann, agus An Dearcán chomh maith le foilseacháin eile. Is féidir a chuid filíochta a chlos ag imeachtaí filíochta ar fud na tíre agus tá físdánta leis le feiceáil ar youtube. Ba mhaith leis cnuasach filíochta a fhoilsiú.

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Is léachtóir le Gaeilge í Orlaith Ni Icí in Ollscoil na Banríona Béal Feirste. Foilsíodh a cuid filíochta in Éigse Éireann, An Dearcán, Aneas, Comhar & Washing Windows V.

Please note we may be capturing imagery at this event for use on our social media and website.