The author writes short stories, flash fiction and poetry. She has been published, and won or been shortlisted, in various literary competitions. She was nominated for a Hennessy Award in 2015 and 2018. She has won the Strokestown Poetry Festival Roscommon Poets’ Prize, the Hanna Greally Literary Award, the HE Bates Short Story Competition, and the I Am Dublin Flash Fiction competition, amongst others.
Originally from Worcestershire in England (home of Worcester Sauce and Elgar), she now lives in County Roscommon in the west of Ireland (home of Atlantic gales and rain).
She blogs about ‘reading, writing and other stuff’ at https://louisegcolewriter.wordpress.com/ where she explains the insistence on the ‘G’ in her moniker has a lot to do with avoiding confusion with a skimpy underwear model.
She also Tweets: @louisegcole.
Versions of some of these poems have been published, or have won, been longlisted or shortlisted, in various competitions: Strokestown International Poetry Festival’s Roscommon Poets’ Prize; Hennessy New Irish Writing in the Irish Times; Crannog Magazine; Skylight 47; Poetry Ireland Review; the Roscommon Herald; ‘Refugees and Peacekeepers’ anthology Patrician Press; Boyle Arts Festival; Dermot Healy Poetry Competition; Oliver Goldsmith Festival Competition; Roscommon New Writing Competition.
Some of the poems have been read to audiences at The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon; Listowel Writers’ Week; the Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo; Ballina Arts Centre, Mayo; The Irish Writers’ Centre, Dublin; also at several events for Poetry Day Ireland and at various outings with the Hermit Collective.
I received timely support from the Creative Frame Professional Network, based in County Leitrim, which selected me to be mentored by the poet Janice Fitzpatrick-Simmons, who provided some valuable professional expertise during the initial assembly of this collection.