English poet Derek Sellen has won the 7th Five Words International Poetry Contest for his poem Betty Fox is Skipping. He is reputedly the first poet to win the competition for a second time. Judges Afric McGlinchey and Michael Ray made their selection, along with the full shortlist of twelve poems, from 595 entries.
The contest was organized by O’Bheal which creates an original platform for established & non-established poets and provides the public consistent access to contemporary poetry. Many have engaged in creative writing for the first time at Ó Bhéal, and many of these have remained actively writing and/or have seen their works accepted into print. The event is held upstairs in The Hayloft bar, above The Long Valley, one of Cork’s favourite and most iconic poetry venues. Ó Bhéal is inclusive of all forms of poetry and adult demographic. Between April 2007 and December 2019 Ó Bhéal was a weekly event and hosted fifty Monday-night events, featuring almost 1,000 accomplished poets from around Ireland and from numerous countries on six continents. In 2020 Ó Bhéal’s regular event became a monthly fixture, due to a shortage of sufficient funding. Many of these events have been held in conjunction with other city festivals, including the Cork Jazz Festival, Cork Harbour Festival, Cork Pride Festival, Cork Culture Night, Cork World Book Festival and First Fortnight festival.
