CONGRATULATIONS, VANESSA GEBBIE!!!

Some of the prizewinners at Troubadour Prize Night are(l to r) Gillian Laker, Helen Overell, Gerrie Fellows, Caroline Smith, Richard Douglas Pennant (Cegin Productions), Anne-Marie Fyfe, Bernard O’Donoghue (judge, center back), Betty Thomson, Nicky Arscott, Jane Draycott (judge), Judy Sutherland, Vanessa Gebbie (third from right), Judy Brown and Paul Stephenson.

Vanessa, a writer-in-residence and a leader of short fiction workshops at Anam Cara, has been awarded the Troubadour International Poetry Prize for 2012, which is Sponsored by Cegin Productions in England.

The following prizewinning poems were chosen by judges Jane Draycott and Bernard O’Donoghue (who has given readings of his own poetry at Anam Cara) who read along with winning poets at the annual prizegiving event at the Troubadour on Monday 3rd December 2012:

First Prize, £2500: "Immensi Tremor Oceani", Vanessa Gebbie, East Sussex
Second Prize, £500: "The Teenage Existential", Paul Stephenson, London
Third Prize, £250: "Explaining the Plot of ‘Blade Runner’ to My Mother Who Has Alzheimer’s": C.J. Allen, Nottinghamshire

Vanessa wrote her winning poem in tribute and memory of John O'Leary, R.I.P. (see the video of John reading his poem at www.anamcararetreat.com) during one of her residency at Anam Cara. Vanessa and John had become great friends and often shared their work. He was to Vanessa, as he was to many, an inspiration and mentor of our creative gifts.

Immensi Tremor Oceani
(In memory of John O’Leary)

They say it takes a wave
three days, travelling east,
Newfoundland to Allihies.
They say a wave is the child
of the wind, a perturbation
of water’s equilibrium.
They say a wave marches
on its stomach.
They say a wave is home to
Mother Carey’s chickens — Mater
Cara — who shelter in the lee,
dancing on the water’s surface,
never to return to land once
they have mastered the art of flight.
Vanessa Gebbie