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Transpoesie Festival, Belgium, September 2025

Towards the end of the spring, I’d been talking / moaning to a poetry friend how I’d never performed or read at an event outside the island of Ireland. The universe must have been listening because in early July I received an email from the Arts Council NI asking if I’d like to take part in the Transpoesie Festival in Belgium, which I was delighted to accept.

Fast forward to 18th September and I’m in Grand Place, Brussels, known as “the most beautiful square in the world”, on my way to meet the Transpoesie team and 16 fellow poets from across Europe in Brussels Central Station. 

Due to the uncertainty of what lay ahead, and the responsibility of representing Northern Ireland at the festival, I was slightly nervous that morning as we travelled on the train to Antwerp. However, I was sat with the two writers from the Channel Islands, Rowan Carteret from Guernsey and Sandra Noel from Jersey, at a native-English speaking table. It was a lovely, welcoming chat to ease into the day, and I was fascinated to learn about the Islands; with both writers doing a lot to promote and preserve the history and culture of their respective homes.

This was followed by a buffet dinner and more chatting (or ‘networking’ as it’s called on business trips) before the doors opened for the public reading. With so many poets involved, we were to be split into 5 groups across different rooms. I was part of Group 2 with Iñigo Astiz from the Basque Country and Sára Biró from Hungary, although due to logistics, groups 1, 2 and 3 joined together, which turned out better as it meant we got to hear more of each other’s work and stories. Iñigo, for example, is a journalist at the world's only remaining Basque-language newspaper and Sára, I believe the youngest poet involved in Transpoesie at only 23 years of age, is an awesome talent with experiences of living in Transylvania. Her surname is also like the pen brand so she was surely destined to be a writer!

It was also extra special for me as I had my friend and former Duncairn Arts Centre colleague (and away trip roommate) Josh Healy in the audience. Despite me putting him to work by filming my reading, he says he had a great time. He is currently living in Eindhoven and regularly travels around Europe playing and singing a variety of Irish folk and trad songs. Thanks to Josh, you can see me read A Storm Will Come on Facebook and Instagram, and then I recommend you check out Josh’s alternative band Buí on Spotify. 

After the event, there was more chat over vino and then it was back to Antwerp station for the return journey to Brussels, with the train containing very tired, but very happy, writers. At this point I had the thirst for a pint but didn’t want to adhere to any stereotype, so I said to myself that if someone else wants to go for a drink, I’ll go, but I’ll not be the one to suggest it. As nobody piped up, I went back to my hotel room, and, because I’m a busy sort of person, and there were no English TV channels in the hotel, I edited a social media highlights reel from the day (also available on Facebook and Instagram).

However, I met some truly lovely, interesting people and had some fascinating conversations about life, writing, family, fashion, and more. It may have been because my mind was powered by the cappuccino and chocolate I had for breakfast, but I think I came up with some good work – everyone I met seemed to like their poem anyway – and I was disappointed when the session was over.

Now having a short period of time to myself, I went for a look around the main sights of central Brussels. As it was 27°C and sunny, it was briefly like a summer holiday. In fact, it was so humid that it wasn’t long before I returned to the hotel to change my shirt because I was so sweaty. But that’s probably more information than you wanted to know.

The final event of our trip was a closing ceremony in the Polish Institute of Brussels. There was a little bit of drama, however, as we were meant to bring identification for the Institute’s security check which I, of course, had left in the safe in my room. After a short tram journey back to the hotel – and another shirt change (did I mention it was hot?) – I was back where I was meant to be in the Institute.

The ceremony featured speeches from festival curator Philip Meersman and other dignitaries; a reading from Marcin Czerkasow, the Polish representative in the Transpoesie line-up; and a short poem from Olena Herasymiuk, known by her artist name ‘Hera’, the Ukrainian representative. Hera is an excellent poet and performer, not to mention her other talents in singing and dancing, and she works as a paramedic and has been providing medical assistance in the war with Russia, AND speaks fluent English!

However, Hera was just one of many highly interesting and talented people that I met during the trip. All the poets' work genuinely impressed me in different ways and it was inspiring to hear personal and creative stories from Portugal to Hungary and everywhere in between. I should give a special mention to Lithuania’s Simonas Bernotas who I went out with after leaving the Polish Institute. He’s a top man and we share both a similar sense of humour and a love of pints.

The three-night stay in Brussels seemed to go by in a blink but hopefully this is the first of many creative jaunts I can take into mainland Europe. I truly loved my time there and I believe that I’ve returned as a better writer and communicator. The only bad thing that happened was that I spent €16 on a 200ml bottle of shaving foam that would eventually get taken off me at the airport. Oh, and the hangover after being out with Simonas, but that was worth it.