friday 15th May, 2.30pm, Cork City Library | Free
The Prebooked Poetry Introductions as part of the 2026 Cork International Poetry Festival involves seven individuals who have yet to publish a short chapbook or full-length collection of poems. Each poet, chosen through open submission, will read in an eight-minute reading slot.
Finola Cahill is a writer from Co. Mayo. She won the 2025 Cúirt New Writing Poetry Prize, the 2024 Listowel Writers Week Single Poem Award, and the 2023 Waterford Poetry Prize. She is at work on her debut collection.
Tadhg Carey is a Westmeath Artist Bursary Award recipient, a Freedom to Write Project awardee, was selected to read at the Cúirt International Festival New Writing Showcase, and was highly commended in the Fool for Poetry International Chapbook 2024 competition. His work has appeared in Southword, The Stony Thursday Book, Skylight 47, and Honest Ulsterman among others.
Imasha Costa is a Sri Lankan poet and journalist living in Cork City. Her work has appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, the Morning Star Newspaper, Cork Words 4 and the Quarryman. She is forthcoming in Southword. Imasha writes about generational trauma, post-colonialism, and the immigrant identity. She is currently working on her first collection of poetry.
Sinéad Griffin has been published in in Poetry Ireland Review, The Irish Times, The Marrow Poetry, Abridged and elsewhere. Her work featured in the Poetry Jukebox at IMMA. One of the editors at The Four Faced Liar, she’s currently the recipient of a Dublin City Arts Bursary.
Valentine Jones is a 19-year-old writer from Limerick. Places they have been published include Poetry Ireland Review, The Stony Thursday Book, The Wild Umbrella, Iris Breac, the From the Well anthology, and Skylight 47. They have received the Enda O’Brien Young Writers Award. They are a Quercus Creative and Performing Arts Scholarship student at UCC.
Seán Kelly was shortlisted for the 2024 Templar Straid Collection awards and was runner-up in the 2023 Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Competition. He has been widely published in journals including Poetry Ireland Review, rte.ie,The Moth, Skylight 47, Crannog, The Waxed Lemon, Abridged, The Storms, The Cormorant, andThe Honest Ulsterman. In 2026 he will appear in Sunspotlit andiOTA magazine.
Fiona Tracey is a poet living in Cork. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Shepherd University and an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from UCC. Her poems appear in Stony Thursday, New Irish Writing, Anthropocene, Channel, Skylight 47, ROPES, Ragaire, Southword, HOWL, and elsewhere. Winner of the 2025 Éigse Michael Hartnett Poetry Slam, she has been shortlisted for the Bournemouth Writing Prize and the Redline Poetry Prize and has been a featured poet at DeBarra’s Spoken Word, Ó’Bhéal, and the Winter Warmer Festival. She is the 2026 recipient of The Stinging Fly’s Poetry Scholarship.