Dwaalgasten Wanderers Festival Exchange 2026

 

From the warm air of Kenya to the cool climes of the Netherlands and the island of Schiermonnikoog...yes I am off wandering again...

https://mmatl.nl/wandeling-trekvogels

Thanks to New Dutch Writing, Meet me at the Lighthouse Festival, & West Cork Literary Festival for selecting myself, Bernadette Gallagher, for this inaugural exchange programme. I am looking forward to meeting my fellow selectee Katie Goh and all of the other participants and local people on Schiermonnikoog.

Thanks also to the support from Culture Ireland and Netherlands letterenfonds Dutch Foundation for Literature.

As Martin Colthorpe of Modern Culture Programming wrote in the last few weeks...

"As autumn begins to look and feel a bit like autumn, we look ahead to November and our next #newdutchwriting special project, a festival exchange between the ever brilliant @westcorkliteraryfestival and @meetmeatthelighthouse festival on the island of Schiermonnikoog, in Friesland.

Congratulations to @bernadettegallagherwriter and to @katie_goh_ who'll visit the festival next month, under the appropriate theme of Dwaalgasten (Wanderers).

We look forward to welcoming two Dutch authors to Bantry for a return visit in July!

Huge thanks to @letterenfonds for their generous funding and to both festivals for their support for this project"

#schiermonnikoog
#translatedlit
#irishwriting
#wordsacrossborders

Kistrech International Poetry Festival 2026

I very much appreciate the support of a travel grant from Culture Ireland to enable me to accept the invitation to participate at the 2026 Kistrech International Poetry Festival in Kenya.

An update on my participation in the Kistrech International Poetry Festival is posted here...I hope you enjoy my account of the journey and the various events and people we met along the way.

Connections Verbindungen Anthology

                            

Reflections on the translation project and the launch of the book Connections / Verbindungen

It has been a joy to participate in the Poetry Translation Project between Cork and Köln supported by Culture Ireland, Cork & Köln City Councils, twinning associations and the libraries of both cities. The coordinators Susanne Fiessler & Lydia Schneider-Benjamin were professional, kind and managed the complex project with a lightness that belied the serious work needed to bring it to a successful closure. It is now mid September 2026 almost one and half years after our first meeting in May 2025 and back in Ireland a few days after our return from the Cork poets’ visit to Köln.

I very much enjoyed getting to know my tandem partner, Leon Skottnik, through zoom and emails working through our translations, discussing and eventually agreeing on words that reflected the intent of the original poem. Meeting face to face during his visit in May 2026 and our return visit to Köln in September confirmed our respect and enjoyment of one another’s work and the sharing of our individual philosophy of life. In Cork we walked by the river, high up over the city and visited Leon’s poem in a city park. We read one another’s work at the launch of the Connections Book in City Hall and at the launch in Köln.

Another unexpected benefit from the visit to Köln was that we got to know our own local poets in a way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

In Köln we were treated exceptionally well. For me it was returning to a place I visited as a teenager, and it was really lovely to meet up with my German friend from that period. The reading and launch of the book in the Köln city library was a very warm experience with a lovely audience and a gorgeous meal afterwards. Having run a marathon in Köln, in 2017, I was delighted to be able to participate in the Rhine Park 5K park run on this visit. We were offered an excellent tour of the city and enjoyed walks, a visit to the Botanic Gardens and a sky shuttle trip over the river. Leon gave us a tour of the amazing Arp Museum at Rolandseck Train Station. The ELK Literature Festival was in full swing in the Kalker area of Köln and we went there to listen to some of the readings and to dance the night away at the wonderful final techno disco party.

                                

                                        Susanne & Lydia were a joy to work with.

                        

Thanks to all of the poets and to Leon for bringing us to see the amazing Arp Museum

The cathedral in the lovely city of Köln

 

The Botanic Gardens had recently reopened and we were given a personal tour by Patrik Peyn (who also read some of his poetry), along with the knowledgeable Stan Lafleur and another friend who told me about the living fossil which I then saw before leaving the hot house. It is called Welwitchia Mirabilis and is native to the Namib Desert of Namibia and Angola.

Connections Verbindungen

Connections / Verbindungen: Poetry from Twin Cities Cork and Cologne, edited by Susanne Fiessler.

Thanks to funding partners: Culture Ireland, Cork City Council, Cork City Library, Stadt Köln, and Städtepartnerschaftsverein Köln-Cork e.V. for their support.

Poetry Reading “What connects us” – poems from the twin cities of Cork and Cologne with Irish and German authors at the Interim Central Library – September 10, 7:00 PM, doors open at 6:30 PM , Hohe Str. 68-82, 50667 Cologne, Germany

                                           Bernadette & Leon, Poetry in the Park, Cork city, May 2026

It's been a great pleasure working with Leon Skottnik to translate his poem 'Ich schaue weg' from German to English ('I Look Away') and for him to translate my poem 'The Risen Tree' from English to German ('Der auferstandene Baum').

Susanne Fiessler brought together 10 poets based in Cork and with her counterpart in Cologne another 10 poets were selected to translate from English to German. The project was part of the Cork Cologne Twinning Association and the completed poetry book titled Connections / Verbindungen was launched at Cork City Hall in June 2026 where the German and Irish poets gave a reading. A return visit by the Cork poets to Cologne is scheduled for September 2026.

                        

We are all connected through mother Earth, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, cousins and neighbours... people we know and those we don't, people of every landmass, every language, we are one.

Borrow a Poet at Cork City Library June 2026

 Thanks to Kemi George for inviting me to participate in 'Borrow a Poet' hosted by Cork City Library June 2026.

The event was expertly curated by Kemi and the audience provided a warm reception. Kemi recorded my reading of my poem 'Beyond'. I gave a talk which included the background to how the poem came about and its journey since and I brought the physical painting ('Narkissos Beyond' by John Philip Murray) which was the initial trigger for this poem into the library so that participants could see and experience the actual painting.

Further details on The Poets Library.

 

Link to 'Beyond' published by Colin Dardis on Poem Alone, Nov 2025

Poetry Day Macroom Library 2026

I was so pleased to finally share a reading with the wonderful poet and person, Eileen Sheehan at Macroom Library on 28th May 2026 to mark Poetry Day.

The theme for Poetry Day was 'Home' so as you can imagine we had lots of 'home' poems. I called the event Poetic Triptych for three reasons: to celebrate Poetry Day, Bealtaine & Africa (Day) and the reason for including the latter is that I have been invited to read at a poetry festival in a small university town in Kenya in Oct. It's with trepidation that I plan my journey but am encouraged with a travel award from Culture Ireland. I know that I will learn more from Africa than anything I might impart whilst there. We also celebrated the coming together in Cork of a poet from Donegal and one from Kerry.

Thanks to Cork County Council Library & Arts Service for their support and to Sheila Fitzgerald, The Corkman and all who participated and attended the event.

Those who participated in the open mic. From left to right: Miriam Logue, John W. Sexton, Bernadette Gallagher, Catherine Sheahan, Eileen Sheehan, Helena Kelly, Janet O'Leary and Patrick Walsh.

Spring 2026

This past Winter and early Spring has showered on me a quietness from which I am slowly emerging. 

Tá clóca ceoach orm ach tá a fhios agam nach bhfuil an ghrian fada uainn.

Recent publications:

January saw my poem 'Ganga to La Croix' published by Live Encounters, editor: Mark Ulyseas. This poem was first published and written in response to a request from Friends of the Mississippi River, Write to the River, Fall 2019.

During February the poet and editor, David Cooke, published 'REPENTANCE AT KILLING A SLUG' in the Spring 2026 edition of  The High Window.

During March Anna Blasiak translated this poem into Polish for Babiniec Literacki

Readings:

Women in Revival (Press); Kinsale Library, 7th March / International Women's Day

On Saturday 7th March 2026 I will be reading with poet friends Fiona Smith & Anne Rath in the library in Kinsale, County Cork. This will be a celebration of International Women's Day. Thanks to Fiona for organising this event supported by Poetry Ireland and Cork County Council Library & Arts Service / Kinsale Library. 

        

Bilingual Poetry Reading & open-mic, Macroom Library, 14th March / Seachtain na Gaeilge

On Saturday 14th March 2026 2:30 to 3:30pm / Dé Sathairn an 14th Márta

Macroom Library @Briery Gap / Leabharlann Mhaigh Chromtha

Poetic Voices from the Community / Guthanna Fileata ó Mhaigh Chromtha agus na ceantair máguaird

Beidh beirt fhile Bernadette Gallagher agus Jeanna Ní Ríordáin ag léamh filíochta dá gcuid as Béarla agus as Gaeilge agus ina dhiaidh sin, tabharfar cuireadh daoibh bhur ndánta féin, nó dán le duine eile, a léamh.

Beidh fáilte mhór romhaibh go léir!

Urraithe le Seirbhís Leabharlainne & Ealaíona Comhairle Chontae Chorcaí

Cyphers 100

 

Cyphers 100, a celebration of 50 years 1975 – 2025

I feel privileged to have two small poems published in this momentous journal edited by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, assisted by Natasha Cuddington, Léan Ní Chuilleanáin and Joseph Woods, with administrative support from Ainín Ní Bhroin.

Cyphers was founded in 1975 by Leland Bardwell, Pearce Hutchinson, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Macdara Woods.

Photo of Eiléan and her admiring audience is courtesy of Michael Augustin.

Eiléan hosted a joyous celebratory launch for Cyphers 100 with selected readings from five decades, conversation and refreshments at the Irish Georgian Society building, City Assembly House, South William Street, Dublin. Although it is the final print edition, Cyphers may continue in an online invited format. There is a future!

It was lovely meeting up with poetry friends, contributors to this issue, supporters and those whose works were published in previous issues.

At least three contributors travelled by train from Cork including myself...great to catch up with Patrick Cotter and Gerry Murphy.

London November 2025

I always loved visiting London but it is quite a few years since I was last there. At the end of the Arlen 50 event in Cork City Library in early Oct, which I facilitated and was delighted that Catherine Rose the founder of Arlen accepted my invitation to return to her homeplace for the event along with Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Alan Hayes asked was I coming to London to celebrate Arlen at 50. It took me a few weeks to decide but eventually I booked my flights and accommodation deciding I would use this as an opportunity to spend a few days with no expectations or plans. I took an early morning flight on Sun 23rd Nov 2025 and after a rest had a full day with walks in the centre of London crowded with Christmas shoppers at the markets. 

After a meal that evening near Covent Garden I walked amidst a long queue of people waiting for food provided by volunteers. The extremes of life within a few steps. 

I had booked a ticket for a concert of music composed by Abdelwahab (1902-1991) and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with soprano, Fatma Said, and conducted by Nader Abbassi at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. As I had time to spare before the theatre opened, I went for an extended walk. The concert was wonderful and it brought me back to the delights of music from the Arab world. The instrumentals and singing were superb and the conductor conducted with his whole body as if dancing or floating almost in mid air even turning to conduct spontaneous clapping from the audience in the middle of a tune that everyone seemed to know. The theatre itself is beautiful. 

I was based in Hammersmith so it was an easy route to and from the city.

On Monday I walked along the river from Hammersmith Bridge to Putney Bridge and returned by the other side of the river along the Thames Path. 

I walked into the lovely village of Barnes and had a nice bowl of soup at the Olympic Studios Cinema café before spending time browsing in the Barnes Bookshop and picked up a book of poems by Roger McGough in anticipation of giggles with our granddaughter.

I stopped off at the Riverview Studios for a coffee and took a photo of the Dalek from Dr. Who. The Riverside Studios is such a vibrant arts and community venue.

Tuesday morning I visited the Irish Cultural Centre and met the wonderful gentleman, writer and poet John Hurley and a group of writers who meet there weekly. John invited me to join them and I enjoyed listening to them read a combination of their own work and that of other poets. These are serious writers with well crafted verse and worthy of recognition. When I returned to Ireland I found a recording of an interview with John by Portobello Radio where he reads three of his own poems...beautiful and poignant verse.

I met another writer friend at Victoria for lunch and then headed back for a nap before the Arlen event at the Irish Cultural Centre. 

A gilded statue of Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova on top of the Victoria Palace Theatre, London

The Arlen 50 event was hosted by the Irish Literary Society (ILS). At the event were 14 of the 300 contributors to the Arlen anthology, Washing Windows V, and most of us had travelled from various places in Ireland to be there. We each read two poems and Alan Hayes gave a talk on Arlen. Gavin from the ILS was emcee for the evening. We socialised afterwards in the bar/foyer and it was lovely to meet up with writer friends, new and old.

[Thanks to Angela Graham for pic]

On Wed I went to the Southbank Centre to visit the Poetry Library...an amazing resource. I had planned to visit the British Museum but a fire underground nearby meant that the museum had to close. 

I opted to return early to Hammersmith to have another pleasant walk by the river before my flight home and enjoyed a bite at the Riverside Studios as the sun set over Hammersmith Bridge.

I loved the random interactions with people, most of whom I will never meet again. The joy of having a smile returned as I walk by the river or on a busy street or on a tube. On the final part of the journey to Heathrow I met a young woman who was travelling to Terminal 5 not for a flight but to surprise her husband who worked there and who disliked the long journey driving home alone. I hope they met before he set off and had a joyous evening together.

(c) Bernadette Gallagher 2025