Mayo writer scoops prestigious award at top Irish writers festival

Mayo writer Finola Cahill has been awarded the Single Poem Award at Listowel Writers Festival 2024.

Her work, “The Death of a Foal,” was lauded by the adjudicator.

Guest of honour President Micheal D. Higgins was among attendees of the gala evening, and was being presented with the John B. Keane Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to literature and poetry.

President Higgins has been a supporter of the festival since its inception in the 1970s.

The Single Poem Award was re-introduced after a pause of some years, and was adjudicated by T.S. Eliott nominee Victoria Kennefick and sponsored by the Royal Valentia Hotel.

In her introduction, Dr. Faye Boland said there had been a huge response and huge number of entries.

Finola is a writer from Ballina.

In 2023 she was the winner of the Waterford Poetry Prize, and in the past two years she was shortlisted for the Cúirt New Writing Prize, the Máirtín Crawford Short Story Award, the Fish Poetry Prize, the Bridport Poetry Prize, and others.

Finola was one of 37 writers selected to participate in the 2023 Irish Writers Centre national mentoring programme, and her place in the programme was generously funded by the Mayo Arts Office.

She is currently working towards publishing her first collection, for which she has received an Agility Award from the Arts Council.

Now in its fifty-third year, Listowel Writers week continues until June 2.

The festival promotes writing of all genres and create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible audience – where writers and readers gather to celebrate the written word together.