More of what they said about Strokestown Poetry Festival....

Thank you very, very much for putting together this wonderful festival. I loved every minute of it... I really enjoyed the mingling of Gaelic and English in the reading sessions, it worked brilliantly, and was a rare chance for me to hear the sound of Gaelic poetry. It was great to feel the seriousness and commitment to poetry of all the participants, and the fun of it at the same time. ~ Susanne Erhardt May 2011

The festival was wonderful... hearing all those poems, meeting new people, spending time with old friends some of whom we first met at Strokestown, all the talk and excitement that seems to happen EVERY year from what people say. And meeting READERS - that's what I value so much. So many people have read and talked about and come to own the poems and find meanings in them for themselves; it's what you'd hope for your writing, but Strokestown is the only place I've known this happen; it's both humbling and inspiring. To say nothing of the betting... You made the weekend very special, adding Jon and Patsy's playing to the mix. And then Martin's play AS WELL - it was such a treat, the whole weekend. ~ Jane Routh May 2011

I'd suggest one significant amendment to the programme for next year and beyond. Invite, cajole or kidnap every government minister in Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, who has responsibility for the arts, education, health, and even the economy, to experience the creative, constructive and healing effects those few days had to offer. You might then have to turn down generous offers of funding lest Strokestown got too big! Those of us who have experienced its delights tend to think it is perfectly formed as it is... ~ Aonghas MacNeacail May 2011

Thanks you all - committee, sponsors, participants (whether I understood them or not) and to Strokestown itself for another great weekend. I shall never forget its wonderful ending - the Pub Poetry Competition - aflood with Guinness, noise, laughter, passion and audience participation, all topped off with the most ecstatically happy winner I have ever seen.... This was poetry at its simple roots. Ireland is so lucky to have such a depth of uninhibited tradition. I have never found the quite the same thing in England. ~ Martin Parker May 2011

.Pat Winslow's blog  / Thursday, 5 May 2011 / Breathing Pure Oxygen /
I've just come back from the Strokestown Poetry Festival in Ireland. If you've never been, let me tell you, it's a heady mix of poetry in Gaelic and English...
  The festival is unique in that it celebrates the best of a wide spectrum of work. Friday's opening events included readings from shortlisted young poets from schools around Co. Roscommon and performances from an international shortlist of witty and satirical verse writers. It's not unusual for this final event to spill over into one of the local pubs and carry on into the wee hours. I'm pretty sure there were one or two hangovers for the start of the next day. The last event on the Sunday is a lively inter-pub competition. Never have I heard drinkers go so quiet when a poem is being read out. You'd be hard pressed to find an English pub crowd that showed such respect. Let me say this, loudly and very clearly, Ireland is a civilized country.
  Saturday's and Sunday's cornucopia was a dazzling showcase of poets from the Gaeltacht and other parts of Ireland, the Scottish islands and English speaking poets from Britain, the US, South Africa and Germany. Believe me, this was first rate poetry. It was a joy to hear. It was also wonderful to meet and talk to the poets. We were all up for prizes, but so many of us said that just being there was prize enough. How many international competitions pay you for coming to do a reading and then feed you such nourishing fare all weekend?
If I single out the highlights for me, it doesn't mean I didn't rate those who are not on my list. It's just that the poets I'm going to mention somehow sharpened my ears and made me aware of particularly strong resonances.
  Susanne Erhardt has left me with some extraordinarily memorable images and sounds. She's just won the Straid and will be launching her first collection at the Derwent Poetry Festival in England later this year. Her poetry has a wonderful economy. You get the sense that every word is carefully weighed and turned over before it's selected. She doesn't dodge 'difficult' subjects. She holds them up to scrutiny. She's scrupulous and her work has tremendous humanity. Integrity is a word that comes to mind. Terrific integrity.
  Áine Uí Fhoghlú is another poet who had an impact on many of us. She has four books to her name and if ever a poet made me want to learn Gaelic, this is one. Having said that, she provided some more than adequate translations. It really can't be underestimated how challenging this is. I've tried translating poems myself and it's impossible. At best, all one can do is write a new poem. You're not just struggling to find words that do the same job, you're attempting to translate concepts that have a specific cultural currency. Bread to a Russian who's had to queue up for hours only to find the price has risen fourfold is not the same as bread to someone walking into Walmart for a cheap packaged loaf that tastes of sugar and God knows how many chemicals. So, good on Áine for such strong work in English, as well. She's a powerful performer of her poetry. She has great presence.
   It's always deeply pleasurable to hear Eileán Ní Chuilleanáin. She's a very generous poet and editor of the highly esteemed Cyphers (read it!). She introduced Ndrek Gjini to us, an Albanian poet who had no English ten years ago. There's something very interesting about writing in a language that's not your own. It demands a simplicity of expression which can sometimes be at odds with the depth and complexity of your subject matter. But this is also rather exiting. It creates a strange dynamic. It puts pressure on the language. I imagine this must also have been true for Heather Clyne who is in her third year of a degree in Gaelic Language and Culture. Yes, that's right, she's only been speaking Gaelic for three years. Total immersion is the secret...
   Yes, I shall enter the Strokestown competition again. Why wouldn't I? As I've said, the prize is just being there." - Pat Winslow May 2011

...Send poems, send money, send friends and family, send your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe where poetry is FREE. But, most of all, send yourself to help ensure that an event as joyous as the Strokestown Festival can continue to thrive in these increasingly difficult and barbarian times. God love you, Strokestown -- town and Festival both -- for the warmth of your welcome and for the delights which followed. If you did not already exist it would be impossible to invent you... Thank you all for one of the best weekends of my life. ~ Martin Parker

Congratulations on a marvellously successful festival… Strokestown is the most convivial and congenial of poetry festivals - literally a fireside gathering. ~ Dennis O’Driscoll 

Congratulations on bringing off such a majestic achievement... ~  Sebastian Barker

A tremendous festival, such a privilege and terrific opportunity to read with Big Names and meet fellow short-listed poets in such a friendly and welcoming atmosphere in the beautiful but homely Strokestown House. The gold on the wall paper glinting behind the poets reading in the evenings, the lambs peering in during the day-time readings, everyone sitting on the sofas, the lovely garden tour and the last night hoolie in the Victorian kitchen are some happy memories. I loved the way the whole community was involved…" ~ Stephanie Green
Read it all at http://stephaniegreensblog.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html"

A great festival…  Enda Wyley

Thank you for a FANTASTIC weekend of poetry. It was a rich and varied feast of work, so many voices I hadn’t heard before and so many interesting new people to meet… I think it’s a marvellous format giving each shortlisted poet a reading. It’s a terrific festival and I’m having terrible trouble getting back to ‘real life’! ~ Pam Zinneman-Hope 

My thanks for the warm welcome, excellent conversations, attentive and literate audiences and wonderful setting of Strokestown last weekend… and the chance to meet like-minded people, Paddy Bushe's poems about Skellig, the two lambs in the crook of the oak tree, the high hill of Tulsk… Your festival is the most generous and convivial I have attended in many years, characterised by high seriousness and a serious sense of fun. ~ Hilary Davies 

Thank you so much for the wonderful time at Strokestown festival, I thoroughly enjoyed the readings and meeting the judges and poets...a very well run and compact offering of events. Well done to all. ~ Heather Brett 

Thank you very much for the wonderful time we had at the festival. Ireland is beautiful, and Strokestown uniquely so. Altogether a great experience. ~ Gavin Bantock

I have not been to another poetry event that was as well thought out and well run….Only your hard work could have made it seem so effortless… The level of poetry read was consistently high, the schedule was reasonable (and it's great that everyone can attend all sessions), the participants were invariably interesting and passionate about poetry, the judges handled their duties in a highly professional manner, and so much more. We did not miss a single session of the festival, and we're awfully glad we didn't, because every session offered powerful and unique poetry, wit, personality and charm. Since we'd never heard it before, the Irish/Gaelic poetry was a special treat, especially since most of it was translated as well as being read in the original, so we could enjoy the music of the language as well as its English interpretation. 
  We also loved it that the festival opened with the schools’ competition and the delightful humorous poetry competition. As Janet said, public speakers are always told to open their speeches with a joke to break the ice, and the Percy French Prize served a similar purpose for the festival as a whole. Who could not be in a good frame of mind after listening to all that hilarious verse?... 
  We were also struck, time and again, by the graciousness, generosity and soulfulness of the Irish people. The generosity especially struck us – from Leo Cox's complimentary tea and toast when we arrived at the Percy French Hotel, to Cathal O'Searcaigh's giving Janet a spiral pendant that matched one he was wearing, which she had admired, to Triona McMorrow, a Dublin poet attending the festival, offering to mail my ash plant from Dublin and refusing to take a penny for the postage or her trouble… 
  Finally, I want you to know how deeply honored I am to have won first prize in Strokestown. It is the biggest thing that's ever happened to me as a writer--and there is no place I would rather have had it happen. We will be back, whether I'm shortlisted again or not ("God willin' and the creek don't rise" as my friend from Alabama always used to say). You put on such a wonderful festival and made us feel so welcome that we can't imagine never being there or seeing you all again. Once more, thank you, thank you, thank you. ~ Lawrence Kessenich

Thank you so much for all the wonderful readings, and receptions and the Award Ceremony. It seemed to be such a smooth-running weekend… I enjoyed the festival from start to finish. ~ Julie O’Callaghan

Just to say how much we enjoyed the festival... Every year it seems to get better and better and it really is a huge anticlimax to be driving back to Dublin in the car. Probably our highlight was Sebastian Barker’s reading. For me, it was a jaw-dropping experience – completely blew me away. Looking forward to next year already. Many thanks for a brilliant weekend. ~ Peter Goulding

Strokestown poetry festival has forged a special place for itself in Irish life. I can sense a caring  for poetry there, with the individual poem at the heart of it. They have an admirably broad concept of the Gaelic, too, that encompasses Ireland and Scotland, and that carries echoes of an older, shared tradition. This offers a treasure-trove to contemporary poets.
"Tá a sain-ionad féin i saol na hÉireann bainte amach ag féile filíochta Bhéal mBuillí. Airím cúram na filíochta inti: an dán aonair an chloch choirnéil. Tá tuiscint bhreá leathan ann freisin faoin nGaelachas, a chuimsíonn Éire agus Albain agus a bhaineann macalla as seantraidisiún i bpáirt. Tobar domhain é d'fhilí an lae inniu." ~  Prof. Máire Ní Annracháin