About melissa

Melissa Ridge is an Irish poet, spoken word artist, and educator from Co. Kildare. She is the co-founder of Boundless & Bare and editor of BND Magazine, Ireland's dedicated spoken word publication. Melissa has performed at festivals and venues across Ireland, including Electric Picnic, and her work was commissioned for the St. Patrick's Festival.

She is a regular on the Dublin circuit and has ventured outwards across Ireland to Cork, Longford, Galway, Waterford and Carlow. She has journeyed to London, Leicester and Manchester as well as Glasgow to take part in international slam poetry competitions, events and festivals.

In 2026, her poetry was shortlisted for the Irish Independent's New Irish Writing award. Her writing appears in The Rochford Street Review Blooms Day Supplement (2026), Literature Today June 2025 Issue, Double Speak Literary Magazine (2025), The Blue Nib (2022), Nypmhs (2021), Poetry Ireland’s Trumpet (2019), The Sunday Business Post (2019), Solstice Sounds Volume IV (2017), and featured on RTÉ’s Reverberations radio series (2019). She is currently working on her first collection of poetry.

book MELISSA

Contact Mel at boundlessandbaremedia@gmail.com