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Patients and Staff in Irish Hospitals to receive a ‘Menu of Poems’ for Poetry Day on 28 April
To celebrate Poetry Day On Thursday 28 April 2016, a Menu of Poems called ‘Soul Food’ will be distributed throughout Irish hospital wards, waiting rooms and other healthcare settings for patients, visitors and staff to enjoy. The poetry was selected by award winning poet Colette Bryce. Bryce visited Ireland for the Cúirt International Festival of Literature, where she read at an event and launched the Poems for Patience Series at University Hospital Galway.
Menu of Poems 2016 is produced by Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust in collaboration with Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland, Poetry Ireland and HSE Health Promotion and Improvement. Over 10,000 people in healthcare settings will receive the 2016 Menu, which includes poems by Emily Dickinson, Ian Duhig, Louise Glück and Yehuda Amichai. The Menu is also available to anyone working in a healthcare facility to print and distribute in their own locations.
Since its conception in 2009, Menu of Poems has been a positive development in the lives of both patients and those who work in healthcare settings across Ireland. The poetry is circulated on meal trays in hospitals and participating healthcare providers are organising readings and workshops for Poetry Day.
Margaret Flannery, Arts Director at Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Colette Bryce on Soul Food, Menu of Poems this year and I hope the collection will provide a moment of escape for whoever comes across them on their journey in hospital on Poetry Day.”
Maureen Kennelly, Director of Poetry Ireland, said: “Poetry Ireland is delighted to be involved with the Menu of Poems project once again this year and to partner on an initiative that brings poetry to people’s bedside. Our mission is to connect people with poetry and make it part of their everyday life.”
The following hospitals and centres are participating in Menu of Poems 2016: Arts for Health Partnership Programme, West Cork; Arts in Health at Cork University Hospital; Arts Initiative in Mental Health Sligo Leitrim; Galway, Mayo Roscommon Community Health Office; Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust and Saolta Health Care Group; Kildare Arts and Health Programme; Naas General Hospital Arts Committee; National Centre for Arts and Health, Tallaght; South Tipperary General Hospital; South Tipperary Mental Health Services; St. Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny; St. Luke’s Hospital, Dublin; University Limerick Hospitals Group; Waterford Healing Arts Trust; West Cork Mental Health Services Arts and Health Programme and Wexford General Hospital.
Colette Bryce was born in Derry in 1970. She was a Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Dundee (2003-05) and held the North East Literary Fellowship in Newcastle from 2005-07. She divides her time between London and Newcastle upon Tyne, working as a freelance teacher, and editor at Poetry London. Colette won The Eric Gregory Award in 1995, and published her first collection, The Heel of Bernadette, in 2000. She won the National Poetry Competition in 2003 with ‘The Full Indian Rope Trick’, which was voted a favourite poem in a poll to celebrate 30 years of the National Poetry Competition--it became the title poem of her second collection, The Full Indian Rope Trick (2004). Self-portrait in the Dark, her third collection from Picador, was published in 2008. Colette was awarded a special prize in memory of Seamus Heaney as part of the 2015 Christopher Ewart-Biggs Prize for her collection The Whole and Rain-domed Universe
Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust run the west of Ireland's leading Arts and Health programme as a means of improving the hospital experience for patients, staff and visitors. The arts trust believes access to the arts promotes well-being and enhances the hospital environment. We provide a multi-disciplinary programme of events and activities, including exhibitions, participative workshops, music, theatre and poetry. GUHAT is a registered Charity (CHY17964).
Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland is an all-Ireland support network of professionals who are responsible for managing arts and health initiatives. Formed in 2003, AHCI aims to build capacity and maximise resources for its membership, who work in the Arts and Health Sector throughout Ireland, North and South. The network members co-ordinate a range of arts and health activities, including environmental enhancement, visual art, sculpture, performance, participatory and collaborative arts practice, professional development for artists and staff, artist residencies, health promotion and arts and health research.