Coventry Poets to Visit Cork and Clonakilty as Part of Annual Exchange
This August, two award-winning poets from Coventry, Navkiran Kaur Mann and Olga Dermott-Bond, travel to Ireland to take part in the annual Cork-Coventry Poetry Exchange. They are set to appear at Ó Bhéal Go Béal, Cork city’s renowned monthly poetry event, and at DeBarra’s Spoken Word in Clonakilty on the 12th August.
The exchange, which has long fostered literary ties between the two cities, will later see two Cork-based poets travel in the opposite direction to share their work with audiences in Coventry.
Navkiran Kaur Mann, of Punjabi-Indian heritage, is the first poet-in-residence at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. Her role involves visiting patients on various wards, speaking with them, and crafting poems based on their experiences. Her work, often met with emotion and gratitude, bridges poetry and care in a deeply human way.
Olga Dermott-Bond, originally from Northern Ireland and now living in Warwickshire, is widely recognised in the literary world, having won the BBC Proms Poetry Competition, the Welshpool Poetry Prize, and the Strokestown International Poetry Prize. Her debut full collection, Frieze, was featured in The Guardian. Dermott-Bond is also a managing editor with the Irish poetry journal Dodging the Rain.
At DeBarra’s Spoken Word, the pair will be joined by Cork-based poets and writers for an evening of readings, conversations, and an open mic, continuing the warm spirit of creative exchange that defines this longstanding partnership. The event, like the monthly Ó Bhéal Go Béal gathering in Cork city, is open to all and aims to nurture both established and emerging voices in poetry.
