Kilkenny County Council Arts Office is delighted to announce the annual call for submissions for the twenty‑sixth issue of the Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet.
We invite Kilkenny‑based poets, or poets born in Kilkenny, to submit poems for consideration. The aim of the Broadsheet is to provide a strong platform for local writers and to support the vibrant poetry community within the county.
We are thrilled to have Jane Robinson as this year’s editor. Last year, over seventy writers answered the call for submissions, sending in 133 poems for consideration, with twenty‑five poems selected for publication.
Following publication, the Broadsheet will be available free throughout the city and county via library branches and other public venues.
We look forward to receiving submissions and to celebrating the continued creativity of Kilkenny’s writers.
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About the Editor – Jane Robinson
Jane Robinson’s collections Journey to the Sleeping Whale (Salmon, 2018) and Island and Atoll (Salmon, 2023), as well as her many other poems and essays, reflect a profound ecological awareness. Holding a doctorate in Biology from Caltech, Jane is the recipient of the Shine-Strong and Red Line Book Festival Poetry Awards, as well as the Strokestown International Poetry Prize.
Her work has been set to music, and recent poems have appeared in Archipelago, Howl, Cold Mountain Review, Poetry Ireland Review and The Stinging Fly. Jane lives in Dublin and enjoys leading outdoor poetry workshops, where writers can experience weather, landscape, and encounters with native plants and animals as sparks for new work.
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Submission Details
Closing date:
Friday 10th April at 4pm
Download application form and guidelines here: BS Application Form 2026
Email completed applications and up to 2 poems per entry to Deirdre.southey@kilkennycoco.ie
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Full Day Workshop: Poetry Outdoors
with Jane Robinson
Date: Saturday 28th March
Time: 10.00am – 4.30pm
Location: Butler House, Kilkenny
Bookings:
Email: deirdre.southey@kilkennycoco.ie or phone 056‑7794547
Deadline for bookings: Tuesday 24th March
Cost: €15
Workshop Description
In this full day of poetic exploration, the group will divide the time between indoor poetry discussions and outdoor drafting of new work.
To imagine and identify with an ordinary garden bird, a rainstorm, or a blade of grass is a way to approach the essence of the local ecosystem in which we live. We begin the morning indoors by reading poems that attend to nature, biodiversity, and the climate. Venturing outdoors, we will explore the possibilities offered by drafting our own poems in nature. Chance encounters with wild plants and animals may spark new writing. The feel of the air and scents of the earth, as well as our own movements, all feed into the imagination.
After a lunch break, we will discuss our progress and share emerging poems. Thinking a little about rhythm and pace in our writing, we will return outdoors for further poetic adventures. The day concludes indoors as we develop our new work and hold a final group discussion.
The workshop is open to all writers, from beginners to more experienced poets. All you need is suitable clothing, plus a notebook and pencil. Please be prepared to spend time writing outdoors—even if it rains all day!
