The annual Eoin Murray Tribute night will take place this August 25th, upstairs in The Long Valley bar - the site of weekly poetry night, O Bhéal.

This year the night is particularly special as it is the first scholarship showcase night.  Our 2018 winner, Ali Bracken Ziad, will preform work from his newest chapbook, which he wrote with the support of the scholarship fund.  Runner up Melanie Butler O' Reilly will also recite some of her original work.

We are very excited about the night.  We look forward to both remembering Eoin and supporting emerging poetic talent in Ali Bracken Ziad and Melanie Butler O' Reilly.  

The night will also include musical performances, a stall of poetry books & related art work and a raffle in aid of the scholarship.

It is our intention that these nights become inclusive events for all lovers of poetry and music, regardless of attendees having known Eoin personally.  In that spirit we welcome all to the night.

You can read more about the event on Facebook.

Colette Sheridan from The Evening Echo contacted us via the site to ask for information on an article about Eoin, the scholarship and the marathon that Brian is running to raise funds.  The article came out this October 10th and it was a heart-warming thing to see and read.  Colette chose beautiful photographs of Eoin and printed one of his poems - The Stream - with the article. 

The interview is mostly with Brian, and he has some great anecdotes and insights into Eoin's personality.  Some of my favourite quotes are....

"He was an amazing guy. I feel lucky more than anything to have had time with him. I’ll never again have the kind of conversations I had with him. He was amazingly artistic and very clever. He had been in local bands, playing drums and bass. He also played the piano and a bit of ukulele and he acted in plays."

“I’ll always remember one particular weekend. On Friday night, he was doing a gig in Cork. On Saturday night, he was playing in Belfast and on Sunday night, he was in Kerry doing a play as Gaeilge. He was about 18 at the time.” 

"(Eoin) would literally read and write all the time. It wasn’t him saying ‘I’m going to be a writer’. He was really doing it. He would tell people he was sorry he couldn’t meet them as he had books to read."

Click here to read the full article online.

​On Saturday the 12th of August we held both the third tribute night for Eoin and the launch of the Eoin Murray memorial scholarship.

It was a wonderful night with an intimate and healing atmosphere.  The love for Eoin was palpable in the room, and the tributes to him in both song and spoken word were beautiful. 

We raised almost €1000 that night and we're very happy with this as a start to the fundraising activities. 

You can view the full playlist of tributes from that night by clicking here.