Entries Received

55 valid entries have been received for the Farmgate National Poetry Award for the best original collection in English (or translated into English for the first time) published by a poet living on the island of Ireland in the calendar year of 2025. The award is worth €2000. A shortlist will be announced late March / early April and the award presented at the opening of the Cork International Poetry Festival in May. This year’s judges are the poets Ailbhe Darcy, Maya C. Popa and Thomas Dillon Redshaw.

Judges

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Entries received

Landfall by Liam Aungier

published by Revival Press

After Party by Dean Browne

published by Picador

Bunting’s Honey by Moya Cannon

published by Carcanet

Catching the missing Beat by Ruth Carr

published by Arlen House

Belfast Twilight by Liam Carson

published by Salmon Poetry

Under the Blue Seraphim by Deirdre Cartmil

published by Arlen House

Seang (Hungering) by Anne  Casey

published by Salmon Poetry

The Light Dancing by Cathy Conlon

published by Revival Press

Storm Damage by Catherine Ann Cullen

published by Dedalus press

The Glass Candle by Tim Cuningham

published by Revival Press

Brink by Cian Ferriter

published by Dedalus press

Footfall by Hugh O’Donnell

published by Salmon Poetry

We are an Archipelago by Erin Fornoff

published by Salmon Poetry

The Convent of Mercy by Tom French

published by The Gallery Press

Crowd Work by Sam Furlong

published by MachaPress

Morsels by Susanna Galbraith

published by MachaPress

Time’s Guest by Kevin Graham

published by The Gallery Press

Everything You Always Wanted to Know by Mark Granier

published by Salmon Poetry

Infinity Pool by Vona  Groarke

published by The Gallery Press

Tickle by Eithne Hand

published by Salmon Poetry

The Magic Theatre by James Harpur

published by Two Rivers Press

But & Through by Jake Hawkey

published by Picador

Birthmark by Christina Henneman

published by Shearesman

A Bloodless Field by Adeen Henry

published by Salmon Poetry

Father’s Father’s Father by Dane  Holt

published by Carcanet

Care by Jennifer  Horgan

published by Doire Press

About Blood by John D. Kelly

published by Revival Press

The ethics of Cats by Alice Kinsealla

published by Broken Sleep Books

Pattern Book by Eireann Lorsung

published by Carcanet

Featherweight by Noelle Lynskey

published by Arlen House

Sweeney as a Girl by Jaki MacCarrick

published by Dedalus press

Unbridled Joy by Joan McBreen

published by Salmon Poetry

Plenitude by Thomas McCarthy

published by Carcanet

A la belle etoile by Afric McGlinchey

published by Salmon Poetry

The River Crana by Frank McGuinness

published by The Gallery Press

Blood Atlas by Luke Morgan

published by Arlen House

The Sleep Thief by Stephen  Murray

published by Salmon Poetry

Hymn to all the restless girls by Annemarie Ní Churreáin

published by The Gallery Press

Menagerie by Nuala O’Connor

published by Arlen House

Dancing Around the Handbag by Margaret O’Driscoll

published by Revival Press

A Different Light by Francis O’Hare

published by Arlen House

Savage Acres by Keith Payne

published by Dedalus press

Clockhammer by Paul Perry

published by Doire Press

Ash and Bone by Anne Rath

published by Revival Press

The Small Print of Love by Liam Ryan

published by Revival Press

Neanderthal Boy by Colm Scully

published by Words on the Street

On Being Un/Able to Walk through Walls by D’or Seifer

published by Revival Press

Once by Jo Slade

published by Salmon Poetry

The Lemming Year by Fiona Smith

published by Revival Press

One Mountain: Sold by Cherry Smyth

published by Arlen House

The Slipping Forecast by Ross Thompson

published by Dedalus press

Firebird by Csilla Toldy

published by Arlen House

New Arcana by Jessica  Traynor

published byBloodaxe books

Chic to be Sad by Molly Twomey

published by The Gallery Press

Sudden Light by Enda Wyley

published by Dedalus press

Submission Details

The award will be €2000 for the best full-length poetry collection published in the previous year by a poet residing in Ireland. All entered books must be in English. Translations will be accepted as long as the translated poet resides in Ireland. An eligible translated example from previous years would be Diary of Crosses Green by Cork-based Galician poet Martín Veiga, published by Francis Boutle, UK. Collected and Selected volumes are not eligible unless the book is work being translated into English for the first time.

There will be three judges who will not meet or consult one another. The judges for the 2026 Farmgate Award are: Maya C. Popa, Thomas Dillon Redshaw & Ailbhe Darcy. Each judge will assemble ten favourite titles, awarding ten points to their first favourite, one point to their tenth favourite. All points will be collated to generate the winner.

In a year where a debut collection does not win the overall Farmgate Café National Poetry Award, the highest scoring debut collection in the competition will be awarded the separate Southword Debut Poetry Collection Award. This award is for €1000.

The Award is an initiative of the Munster Literature Centre, sponsored by the Farmgate Café in Cork City.

• Interested publishers should enter four copies of each book, posted no sooner than 1st October and to arrive no later than 15th November
• Publishers are advised NOT to use registered post, as an attempted delivery at an inconvenient time or day may result in a package being returned to sender
• Publishers should provide full contact info to receive acknowledgement of receipt
• Publishers should assure entered poets’ commitment to attend the award ceremony if selected as winner
• The winning poet must commit to attending an award ceremony at the beginning of the annual Cork International Poetry Festival. The festival will provide travel expenses, meals and two hotel nights to the winner on this occasion
• A shortlist of six titles will be published in April; the winner will be informed at the beginning of May through their publisher

Eligible poets with minor presses or presses based outside the country are advised to inform their editors of the availability of the award. An author may submit four copies themselves if their publisher cannot be relied upon.

All entries (sent by publishers only, four copies of each entered collection) to be sent to Farmgate Café National Poetry Award, Munster Literature Centre, Frank O’Connor House, 84 Douglas Street, Cork, T12 X802, Ireland.

Previous Winners

Leanne O’Sullivan, inaugural winner, said “I’m honoured to be the inaugural recipient of the Farmgate Market Cafe National Poetry Award, particularly for this book which means so much to me. I’m grateful to the judges for choosing that book and to Kay and Rebecca of the Farmgate for all the support they have shown poetry down through the years.”

Prize judge, Maurice Riordan said of the winning title, “Leanne O’Sullivan is possessed of a haunting lyric voice which, in A Quarter of an Hour, draws us into an area of surface tension where personal crisis – a husband stricken and then recovering from a deadly illness – interacts with our experience of the non-human. ‘Dawn’, the poem that gives the book its particular title and focus, captures in its evocation of the dawning world the ‘here to not here’ of becoming; and as readers we are given access throughout to that dimension between the mundane and the mythic that normally eludes articulation, but here finds expression in limpid, precise poems. At once tender, exploratory and grace-filled, this finely orchestrated collection attests to the wholeness of natural life and, resonant with folkloric wisdom, it re-awakens the spirit to a fresh sense of the mystery and precariousness of our world. It is an astonishing achievement.”

Rebecca Harte of the Farmgate Market Café said, “We opened the doors of the Farmgate Café in the English Market in 1987. Since that time poetry (and in particular, Cork’s community of poets) has been part of our working life and is a key element of what makes the Farmgate Café special. So, it seems fitting, in our 25th year, that we would inaugurate the Farmgate Café National Poetry Award, and support richness and diversity of poetry in Ireland.”

Director of the Award Patrick Cotter said, “I’m delighted we have a new award exclusively for poets living and working in Ireland. Without the generosity of the Farmgate Market Café, stalwarts, in their support for the arts, this award would not be possible.”

More about the competition

The Farmgate Café National Poetry Award was established in 2019 with sponsorship from one of Cork’s most loved restaurants, The Farmgate Café. The partnership between the Munster Literature Centre and the Farmgate received the Business to Arts 2019 Best Small Sponsorship Award.

Winners and runners-up will be contacted before the public announcement. We recommend following us on social media or signing up for our newsletter to stay up to date with all competition developments: