It was a word lovers’ paradise at the weekend at POP at Elizabeth Fort, a free outdoor event featuring the best of local poetry, writing, spoken word, storytelling, and performance.
Bibliophiles descended on Elizabeth Fort at the weekend for a free celebration of books, writing, reading, poetry, creativity, and spoken word, as part of the Cork World Book Festival. Cork’s unique star-shaped fort located on Barrack Street Cork (near St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral) was a superb outdoor venue for the event which showcased both up-and-coming and established writers, poets, and spoken word performers through readings, live music, and poetry performances, drop-in workshops and more!
This literary-themed event offered people of all ages the opportunity to explore various creative outlets in the sphere of reading, writing, poetry, and spoken word throughout the afternoon all while acoustic music performed by local musicians was enjoyed. The successful free outdoor arts event was facilitated by Cork City Council Arts Office in association with Cork World Book Festival, Cork City Libraries and Promenade.
The day’s programme had elements to appeal to all ages, with a mix of adult and child-friendly content. In the early afternoon attendees enjoyed a Pop-up Book Fair and Vital Signs Poetry SOS Sessions with Award-winning poet and writer Eleanor Hooker who offered ‘poetry prescriptions’ of works selected by Poetry Ireland while enthusiastic young readers met with ‘Book Doctors’ from Children’s Books Ireland who were on hand to offer advice to young readers and they went away with a list of potential new books to read and discover.
Pop-up poetry sessions took place throughout the afternoon, curated by award-winning poet Molly Twomey with readings from Cork writer Lauren O’Donovan, Cork-based poet and multi-disciplinary artist Michelle Delea, Dean Browne, and Molly herself. Drop-in ‘Nature Tales’ sessions were facilitated by Arran Towers who shared stories inspired by Irish wildlife and crafted clay creatures inspired by these tales.
The much loved Let’s Play Cork was also on hand to create a free pop-up playground with a variety of games for the young and young at heart bringing fun and laughter to Elizabeth Fort. There were also performances on the venue’s stage by ‘Citadel’ choir from the Kinsale Road Direct Provision Centre and one of Ireland’s leading guitarists Colin McClean.
The event then culminated with two special performance events. ‘Cork City Spoken Word Open Mic’ which showcased spoken word performances from four regular Cork City poetry events and then a storytelling, performance poetry, and music show by Ben Mac Caoilte which was titled ‘Lifting the Gate’ brought proceedings to a close.
Commenting on the success of the POP Elizabeth Fort event Michelle Carew, Arts Officer for Cork City Council, said: “We were thrilled to be part of both the Planning for Outdoor Performance initiative and Cork World Book Festival programme and are grateful for the support of all our partners and the local arts community in bringing this event to fruition. It was great to see so many people with an appreciation for books, writing, storytelling, and poetry in attendance and we are very proud to showcase what a vibrant arts community within these genres we have here in Cork .”
Patricia Looney, Acting Cork City Librarian said: “The aim of this event was to showcase what can be achieved when communities come together to create literary outdoor arts performances. The talent that was on show at the weekend is something we are all very proud of.”
The event was part of the partnership initiative, Planning for Outdoor Performance (POP). POP, delivered by 5 Local Authority Arts Offices (including Roscommon – lead partner, Cork City, Kerry, Laois, and Tipperary), in partnership with the National Resource Organisations ISACS, Poetry Ireland, Music Network and Theatre Forum. It is supported by Promenade, who help artists and communities to create incredible new art experiences in Ireland’s public places and unusual spaces. The initiative is funded by the Arts Council’s Invitation to Collaboration Scheme with additional local authority support. Cork World Book Festival is also funded by the Arts Council.