Mayo poet shortlisted for prestigious award

The prestigious Red Line Book Festival poetry competition attracts hundreds of entries from all across the island of Ireland annually.

This year, Red Line Book Festival is honoured to have award-winning poet Patrick Deely to judge the competition entries, and he has now chosen a shortlist of finalists. Finola Cahill from Ballina, Mayo, is among those finalists.

The winner will be announced during this year’s Red Line Book Festival and shortlisted poets will be invited to read their poem at the poetry night and awards at the Red Line Book Festival in Dublin on Wednesday, October 16.

Finola was the winner of the 2024 Single Poem Award at Listowel Writers Week and the 2023 Waterford Poetry Prize. Her poetry can be found in the London Magazine, Trasna, Propel and others. She is at work on her first collection and a longer piece of fiction.

This year's judge, Patrick Deeley, is a poet, memoirist and children’s writer from Loughrea. Keepsake is his eighth collection of poems with Dedalus Press. His work has featured in many anthologies and literary journals worldwide, and has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian and other languages. He received the 2019 Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for poetry, and his other awards include the Dermot Healy International Poetry Prize and the Bisto and Eilis Dillon Awards for Children’s Literature. His best-selling, critically acclaimed memoir, The Hurley Maker’s Son, was published by Transworld in 2016.

The Red Line Book Festival is coming up from October 14 to 20. Over 40 literary events will take place is venue across south Co. Dublin over the week, with an eclectic mix of established writers and new voices. It is a celebration of literature, storytelling and creativity, and has grown to become one of the highlights of the cultural calendar.

Now in its 13th year, the Red Line Book Festival is produced by South Dublin Libraries and Arts at South Dublin County Council, offering a programme of events and workshops that appeals to people of all ages and interests, from children to adults, casual readers to bookworms. See www.redlinefestival.ie for the full programme of events taking place across all venues.