Poems for Patience annual competition

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is seeking entries again for its annual poetry competition.

Poems entered in the competition should be no more than 30 lines long and they must be the original work of the entrant. Poems previously published in magazines or poetry collections are eligible. Multiple entries are accepted, so poets can enter as many poems as they wish.

The competition winner will have her or his poem published and displayed on the Arts Corridor of University Hospital Galway as part of the 2017 Poems For Patience.

Poems For Patience is a long-running series which over the past decade has featured poems by leading Irish and international poets such as Seamus Heaney, Philip Schultz, Jane Hirschfield, Michael Longley, Vona Groarke and Tess Gallagher among others. After being exhibited on the Arts Corridor, poems are then displayed in waiting areas throughout Galway University Hospitals.

The winner will be invited to read his or her winning poem for the launch of the 2017 Poems For Patience, during the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in April. In addition, he or she will receive a copy of their poem, printed and framed as a Poem for Patience Poster. And the successful entrant will be be asked to submit six poems for consideration to be a Featured Reader at the Over the Edge Open Reading series in Galway City Library.

If travelling from outside Galway, the winner will be provided with accommodation for the night of the Cúirt event.

The entry fee for one poem is €10. To enter two or more poems the entry fee is €7.50 per poem.

Payment should be made by cheque or postal order payable to Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust.

Entries should be sent by post to Margaret Flannery, Arts Director, Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust, University Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway. Entrants must not put their name on the poems, but should include contact details on a separate sheet.

The competition judge is poet, essayist and critic Kevin Higgins, who is Writer-in-Residence with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust.

The closing date for entries is Friday, March 3.