Channel Issue 6 to launch on Poetry Day Ireland
Channel is a Dublin-based literary magazine publishing poetry and prose that fosters human connection with the natural world
Channel celebrates its sixth issue with an online launch via YouTube Premiere on Poetry Day Ireland, 28 April 2022, 8.00pm–9.00pm, and with an in-person launch at the Irish Writers Centre on 4 May 2022, 6.30pm–8.30pm.
The magazine, edited by fiction writer Cassia Gaden Gilmartin and poet Elizabeth Murtough with support from 2022 Publishing Intern and photographer Dorje de Burgh, publishes poetry and prose that fosters connection with the natural world.
Narratives around climate breakdown
Conceived on 15 March 2019, the day of the first global climate strike that year, it aims to bring writers and artists together in building new narratives around climate breakdown.
The project draws inspiration from international journals of eco-writing such as the US magazine Orion and the UK-based Elementum.
It is the first Irish journal focused specifically on nature and place since the closure of EarthLines Magazine, edited by Sharon Blackie and David Knowles, in 2017.
Issue 6
Issue 6 features Irish and international writing drawn from over 1300 submissions. Contributors include established writers such as Grace Wells, Lauren Camp and Peter Kenny, alongside exciting new talent such as Rory O’Sullivan, Conor Crummey and Amber Connell.
The online launch will feature pre-recorded readings by Issue 6 contributors along with photography capturing the settings that have inspired them.
Also featured will be an introduction to the work of Channel’s Issue 6 cover artist, Gerry Blake, whose practice looks at the individual in their surroundings and explores how we are shaped by the environmental situations in which we find ourselves.
This issue’s cover image, ‘White Rock, 9:00 a.m. October #1,’ is drawn from Blake’s 2018 series Into the Sea, a project examining the ritual practice of regular sea swimming along Dublin’s coastline.
The editors are excited to share contributors’ work, and the spirit of vibrant creative exchange which it embodies:
“This issue represents, for us, a return to in-person collaboration with our writers, artists and readers, as well as the growth of our team to include our 2022 Publishing Intern, Dorje de Burgh, whose hard work and fresh perspective have been instrumental in bringing Issue 6 to fruition.”
In-person launch
The issue’s in-person launch will take place at the Irish Writers Centre, and will be Channel’s first live event since the 2019 launch of Issue 1 in the same venue.
The evening will feature readings by Issue 6 contributors along with a musical performance by vocal artist and songwriter Siobhán Kavanagh, and refreshments will be provided. As there is limited capacity for this event, booking via Eventbrite is essential.
Channel Issue 6 is available for pre-order online. The editors are grateful for the support of the Arts Council and submissions for a seventh issue will be welcomed from 1 May to 15 June.
