GHOST MOTH by Niamh Twomey
Introspective anxieties and losses merge with climate fears, griefs and culpability. From a loved one's burial to discarded landfill, from meditations on the natural world to formative memories, these poems breathe stories into trivial objects, moments, and the more-than-human world.
"...This striking collection of very fine poems is at times feisty, witty, poignant, tender and humane. One of my favourite voices writing in Ireland today..." - Grace Wells
"...fresh and original poems of family, of coming of age and of grief which remind us that we are vital components of the living world. NiamhTwomey is a singular talent." - Jessica Traynor
Niamh Twomey is a poet from Co. Clare, currently living in Belfast, where she is completing a PhD at the Seamus Heaney Centre. Her work has been published in Poetry London, The London Magazine, Southword and Banshee, among others. In 2025 she won the Maria Edgeworth Poetry Prize, was shortlisted for the Mairtín Crawford Awards and was Poet In Residence at the 2025 Belfast Book Festival. In previous years she has won the Desmond O'Grady Poetry Competition and the Trim Poetry Competition.
M(OTHER)ING by Elaine Westnott-O'Brien
Suffused with everyday domesticity and parenthood, M(other)ing depicts the challenges and joys, the sense of powerlessness and the ultimate triumph of two women raising their children.
"Westnott-O’Brien has written an assured narrative sequence with lyric touches that begins by investigating mother-as-otherness but which ends in belonging." - David McLoghlin
"In lively poems, rich with sensory detail, Westnott-O'Brien looks at early motherhood with a tender honesty and unique charm. Gentle but perceptive, M(other)hood has real emotional power." -
Rosamund Taylor
Elaine Westnott-O’Brien has had work published in The Storms Journal, The Waxed Lemon, Wexford Bohemian, and is forthcomig in Southword. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was awarded a poetry mentorship with the Munster Literature Centre. She is currently working on a poetry project exploring the connection between the rich folklore of Ireland and Denmark. This is funded by the Arts Office of Waterford City and County Council as part of Ireland’s EU Presidency. She lives in Tramore, Co. Waterford with her wife and two children.