Boyne Berries 23 Submission Call

"Daffodils" - Charles Webster Hawthorne - oil on canvas

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
"Winter is dead.” 

― A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

The submission period for Boyne Berries 23 is now open and will close on Friday 12th January 2018 at midnight. Boyne Berries 23 will feature poetry and fiction or prose on an open theme.

Send up to 3 poems per poetry submission. Poems should be no more than 40 lines long. Fiction and prose submissions should be no more than 1500 words. Please use Times New Roman 12 and single spacing. Please include a short biographical note. Submissions should be placed in the body of the email and attached as a word document attachment. Submit to orla.a.fay@gmail.com only.

Submissions which fail to adhere to the above criteria will be ignored.

The magazine will be published in Spring 2018.

Boyne Berries 22, The Ledwidge Issue Launch



Boyne Berries 22, The Ledwidge Issue will be launched on Friday, 22^nd September at 8 p.m. in the Castle Arch Hotel, Trim, Co. Meath by Meath County Librarian Ciaran Mangan. Many of the included writers will read from the journal on the night. Entry to the event is free and tea and coffee will be served. This issue of Boyne Berries is a special issue commemorating the centenary of the death of the poet Francis Ledwidge. It will be available to purchase on the night for €10.

Boyne Berries 22 features work by Michael Farry, Eadbhard McGowan, Tomás De Faoite, Katherine Noone, Richard Hawtree, Jenny Andersson, A.M. Cousins, Greg Hastings, Patricia Nolan, Gabriel Rosenstock, Art Ó Súilleabháin, Eamonn Cooke, Gerard Smyth, Catherine Phil MacCarthy, Patrick Devaney, Noreen Walshe, Vinny Steed, Anne Irwin, Aoife Reilly, Fiona Joyce, Kate Ennals, Pearse Murray, Polly Richardson (Munnelly), Mary Turley-McGrath, Frank Murphy, Marie MacSweeney, Carolyne Van Der Meer, Maurice Devitt, Órla Fay, Colette MacAndrew, Michael Dooley, Garrett Igoe, Laura Carroll, Edel Burke, Noel King, Gaynor Kane, Tim Dwyer, Eithne Lannon, Anne Crinion, Gréagóir Ó Dúill, Maeve O’Sullivan, Adrienne Leavy, Tom Dredge, Alistair Graham, Colin Dardis, Frances Browne, Paul Jeffcutt, Simon Kearns, Susan Condon, Caroline Carey Finn, Barbara Flood, Liam Cahill, Jared Spears, Paddy Smith, John D. Kelly, Iseult Healy.

Boyne Berries 22 Ledwidge Issue Submission Call

Boyne Berries 22 will be a special issue commemorating the centenary of the death of the County Meath WWI poet Francis Ledwidge. Francis Edward Ledwidge (19 August 1887 – 31 July 1917) was sometimes known as the "poet of the blackbirds", he was killed in action at the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I. Much of Ledwidge's work was published in newspapers and journals in Ireland and the UK. The only work published in book form during Ledwidge's lifetime was the original Songs of the Fields (1915), which was very well received.


A blackbird singing
On a moss-upholstered stone,
Bluebells swinging,
Shadows wildly blown,
A song in the wood,
A ship on the sea.
The song was for you
and the ship was for me.

- To One Dead

Submissions that cover subjects such as The Great War, Nature, The Trade Union Movement, Lord Dunsany and people and places in Meath are welcome. These themes are open to broad interpretation and all work related will be considered. Poetry, factual pieces, opinion pieces, memoir and fiction are all welcome and encouraged. On this occasion Photographs and art work will also be considered.

Send up to 3 poems per poetry submission. Poems should be no more than 40 lines long. Fiction and prose submissions should be no more than 1500 words. Please use Times New Roman 12 and single spacing. Please include a short biographical note. Submissions should be placed in the body of the email and attached as a word document attachment. Submit to orla.a.fay@gmail.com only.

 

The submission period is now open and will close on Friday, 30th June.

 

Submissions which fail to adhere to the above criteria will be ignored.

 

The magazine will be published in late September 2017.

 

Boyne Writers Group and Boyne Berries Magazine acknowledges the generous assistance of the Meath County Council Francis Ledwidge Commemorative Grant Scheme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boyne Berries 21 Launched

 

L - R Frances Browne, Jackie Gorman, Rory O'Sullivan, Honor Duff, Evan Costigan, Frank Murphy

Jackie Gorman's opening words from the launch of Boyne Berries 21 on Thursday night. Thank you to everyone for their participation.

I'm delighted to be here for the launch of Boyne Berries 21 as I've been a long time fan of this publication. It's lovely to have a poem in this edition but it's a particular honour to be asked to launch it as it contains such amazing work, by writers whose work I've admired for some time and those I'm discovering for the first time. In launching this edition, I consider myself as a representative for all the writers that have work in this edition, I hope I can do them justice in some small way. Never have words been more important. It's clear from reading the work in this edition that what is contained between these pages is a salve for the times we live in, because nothing in here can be said to be post-truth or heaven preserve us, an alternative fact ! Writers generally tend to deal in currencies less brittle than this. Reading the work in the collection, I was reminded of the words of that wonderful American Poet Mary Oliver who said about writing - "it's a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart [that courageous but also shy factor of emotion] and the learned skills of the conscious mind." She describes it as a kind of love affair and as I read the last edition of Boyne Berries last week, I was very grateful for many love affairs that have gone into this edition. It's not possible to name all the contributors but I do want to say I was touched, moved, amused, amazed and mesmerized by the river of words that are in this edition. In launching it, I hope it has a joyous voyage into the world. Thanks so much to Orla Fay for this opportunity and now perhaps it's time for some readings. Congratulations to all involved.

Boyne Berries 21

Boyne Berries 21 will be launched on Thursday, 30th March, 2017 at 8 p.m in The Castle Arch Hotel by poet Jackie Gorman. All are welcome to attend. Many of the contributors will read on the night. Copies of the magazine will be available to purchase on the night.

Jackie Gorman is from Athlone. Her poetry has been published in a number of publications including Poetry Ireland Review, The Honest Ulsterman, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, The Lonely Crowd and Obsessed With Pipework. Her work has been commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Awards. In 2016, she won the Phizzfest Poetry Award.She is currently studying for an MA in Poetry Studies at the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies at DCU.

Boyne Berries 21 features work by:

Frances Browne
Pete Mullineaux
Emily Cullen
Colin Dardis
Arthur Broomfield
Clare McCotter
Emily O’Sullivan
Trish Delaney
Rosemarie Rowley
Alice Kinsella
John Prior
Liz Quirke
Adrienne Leavy
Anamaria Julia Dragomir
Winifred McNulty
Órla Fay
Bernie Crawford
Lauren Moriarty
Jackie Gorman
Eamon Cooke
Maria Isakova Bennett
Evan Costigan
Alistair Graham
Diarmuid Fitzgerald
Andy Jones
Rory O’Sullivan
Pauline Flynn
Eamon McGuinness
Christine Valters Paintner
David Butler
Anne Crinion
Trisha McKinney
Sheena Power
Caroline Carey Finn
Fiona Joyce
Shona Woods
Tom Dredge
Helen Simcox
Kevin Griffin
Eoin Devereux