Diarmuid Fitzgerald

I was delighted to read at the Pride Poets anthology launch. Copies of the anthology can be obtained from Pride Poets via Facebook or Instagram.

The anthology Pride Poets will be launched on Tuesday the 27th of February at 7 pm in Street 66, Parliament Street in Dublin. I will be there to read from the anthology, reading my poem Rendezvous. I look forward to seeing you there.

Just picked up a copy of the anthology Pride Poets. I am delighted to have a poem, Rendezvous, in that anthology. Thanks to Sonya Mulligan and her team for all their hard work. The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, wrote the forward no less, and there are many great writers in the anthology. Copies are available from the Pride Hub in Dublin.

Last Saturday I received a certificate of merit as commended in the Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award 2023. I was delighted to receive the award. Here’s me receiving the award.

A poem of mine called Glencar was short-listed as commended in the Francis Ledgewidth Poetry Award 2023. I am delighted to be commended. There will be a prize-giving ceremony on Saturday the 9th of December in the Richmond pub at 8 pm. I’ll be there reading my poem. I look forward to seeing you there.

Just a quick note to the 10 people who turned up at the workshop two days ago. A very big thank you. I hope to see you soon as I am planning a poetry workshop in Clondalkin Library.

I will be running a poetry workshop as part of the Red Line Festival 2023.

The workshop will be on how to get your poems published. You book via Eventbrite. The link is below. The workshop is free and will in held in person at Clondalkin Library in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday, October the 17th from 6:30 pm. It will last for 2 hours.

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/writing-poetry-a-workshop-with-diarmuid-fitzgerald-tickets-696106893457?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Delighted to say that a poem of mine called Cul de Sac was published in the literary journal Impossible Archetype. You can look up the issue here and download it. https://impossiblearchetype.wordpress.com/14-2/

You can read the poem below.

Cul de Sac

We jog down different roads in new runners
and we keep going despite the drag 
of old habits. You need to run at midday
so your one good eye catches the full 
light. In lockdown, there is little to do 
except to admire our bodies, feel the sweat 
trickling down our brows, skin heating up. 
I can’t keep up with your fast pace 
and your cracking energy as you run on 
and round the bend out of my sight.
Turning the corner I come to a dead end.
Knowing that I am lost, I catch my breath
and eventually find my way back,
then notice the sign that I had missed. 

I was accepted onto these two programmes where a writer partners with a teacher and they work together to promote creativity in schools. I did a week-long course over the summer and it was a delight to do. I’ll be working with schools to promote creative writing when the school term starts again.

I was delighted to be accepted onto a free poetry masterclass hosted by Kwame Dawes and organised by Poetry Ireland. Kwame talked about voice in poetry and the importance of being authentic. This was part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival 2023.