Poetry in motion as University Hospital Waterford to get meal tray lift with Well Festival poems
The ‘Fancy a Lift’ event this year will be curated by poet Joanne McCarthy
As part of this year’s Well Festival, daily poetry postcards will be circulated across the community to give people a well-deserved lift.
A new poem will be shared each day with the University Hospital Waterford (UHW) community via patient meal trays and staff emails, and the wider Well Festival audience through Waterford Libraries and online.
A much-loved element of the festival, the ‘Fancy a Lift’ event this year will be curated by poet Joanne McCarthy.
As a poet Joanne writes in English and Irish, and is co-founder and co-editor of The Waxed Lemon.
Her recent poetry chapbook 'All Your Shiny Braces', was Highly Commended for the 2025 Patrick Kavanagh Award, and she was shortlisted for Poem of the Year at the An Post Book Awards 2025.
Joanne’s poem, 'Idir Dhá Theanga', won the Four Faced Liar Poetry Competition 2025, while 'To Map a Leaf' was Highly Commended in the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition 2025.
Joanne’s work has been widely published, including in Poetry Ireland Review, 'The Stinging Fly and Southward'.
Joanne holds an MA in Poetry from the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast.
Last year, the event was a huge success, with Dublin poet Kerrie O’Brien choosing an absorbing selection of poems for patients and the wider community.
This year's festival is taking place from Monday, February 16 to Saturday, February 21.
It features music, art, poetry, theatre, film, talks, workshops and exhibitions every day.
Presented by Réalta (Waterford Healing Arts), Waterford Libraries and Garter Lane Arts Centre, festivalgoers will experience creativity through music, art, dance/theatre, literature, film, talks, workshops and interactive opportunities for all ages.
More information and booking where required is available at wellwaterford.com
