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SoundEye 2025

In a discussion-based oral history of SoundEye Festival (1997-2017) collated by David Toms and published in the special poetry issue of The Stinging Fly magazine in the summer of 2022, my absence from the history of the festival as a forum for international experimental poetries in Ireland was noted and remarked upon. I'm happy that this is now being rectified, and that I'll be taking part in the upcoming revival edition, the first since 2017:

SoundEye 2025 takes place in over the weekend 4-6 July 2025 with a free schedule of events at University College Cork and Shandon Studios, Cork City.

And I'm very pleased to be reading with Nisha Ramayya, Peter Manson, and Gonca Özmen on Saturday 5 July (12 - 1.30pm) at The Shtepps auditorium in UCC.

Founded in 1997, SoundEye - Festival of the Arts of the Word was an annual festival of poetry held in Cork and dedicated to the exploration of innovative writing. With a focus on the legacies of modernism, translation, and the relationship between writing, performance and the visual arts, the festival featured a range of Irish and international readers.

The 2025 revival edition follows the same principles.


Alphabetical list of poets participating in SoundEye 2025:

Graham Allen • Daragh Breen • Mairéad Byrne • Gökçenur Ç • Jimmy Cummins • Ian Davidson • Ellen Dillon • Neil Patrick Doherty • Cal Doyle • Joey Frances • Fergal Gaynor • Matthew Geden • John Goodby • Randolph Healy • Peter Hughes • Trevor Joyce • Edwin Kelly • Rob Kiely • Judy Kravis • Jazmine Linklater • David Lloyd • Christodoulos Makris • Sheila Mannix • Peter Manson • Lila Matsumoto • Mira Mattar • Aodán McCardle • Billy Mills • Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh • Phelim O’Laoghaire • Maggie O’Sullivan • Gonca Özmen • Tom Pickard • Sean Pierson • Nisha Ramayya • Billy Ramsell • Vicky Sparrow  • Keith Tuma • Catherine Walsh

The full schedule is available on the festival website. A presentation on Turkish Poetry and Translation at UCC on Thursday 3 July acts as an appetizer for the main festival.

With thanks to the SoundEye 2025 organising team of Trevor Joyce, Fergal Gaynor and Ellen Dillon.

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