Celebrating creativity in Cobh and Cork Harbour.

A new space for local writers, artists and creators is taking shape on the Great Island.

Great Island Creative Arts supports and celebrates the vibrant creative community of Cobh and Cork Harbour, from poetry and storytelling to visual art, performance and local cultural events.

We are building a home for collaboration, inspiration and shared creativity, rooted in place and open to all.

Our application to incorporate as a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) is under way. We will then apply to the Charities Regulator for charitable status. Our purpose is to promote, support and advance the creative arts, literature and cultural heritage for the benefit of the community in Cobh and the wider Cork Harbour area.

Stay tuned for updates, local projects and ways to get involved.

Follow our journey on social media and join us in celebrating the arts that make our island unique.

Cobh Poetry Jukebox is bringing poetry to the very heart of the most beautiful seaside town in Ireland.

Cobh Poetry Jukebox is a non-profit community group who aims to deliver this community project, which is all about poetry and the creative spoken word, to Cobh. Poetry can and should be freely accessible for everyone to enjoy.

On this site you can find out a little more about the Cobh Poetry Jukebox project as it progresses, and how we aim to work with Quotidian – Word on the Street to bring this amazing project, as a permanent feature, to Cobh.

As the year of 2025 draws to a close to an end we have begun work to make this dream a reality in 2026.

With your help and support, we can work together to build a home for Cobh Poetry Jukebox.

Proudly supported by Great Island Creative Arts CLG.

Cobh Poetry Jukebox presents:

Harbour Voices at The Poacher’s Rest.

Cobh Poetry Jukebox is proud to present our regular monthly poetry open mic.

The first Monday of every month, join us for Harbour Voices at The Poacher’s Rest, upstairs in Connie Doolin’s.

Join us for our inaugural open-mic on Monday 01 December 2025, for an evening of creativity and community. Bring your positivity, bring your poetry. Come along to write, listen, and take part. From quick prompts to shared readings, it is all about celebrating the living voice of Cobh.

Whether you are a first-timer or a seasoned poet, this is your monthly meeting point for poetry on our Great Island.

Format Notes:

7:00 Welcome.
7:15 The Famous Five-Word Challenge.
7:30 Five-Word Read Around.
7:45 Harbour Voices. (3 poems each)
8:15–9:00 Open Mic. (Sign up. Share a poem in rotation)

---

The Poacher’s Rest seats: 40+. Mic available, but not required.

---

All Cobh Poetry Jukebox events are free to participants.

---

Kindly supported by the Owner and Management of Connie Doolin’s. Cobh Poetry Jukebox and Great Island Creative Arts would like to express their deep appreciation and gratitude to the entire team at Connie Doolin’s. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

---

---

A Cobh Poetry Jukebox Event.
Proudly supported by Great Island Creative Arts CLG.

A New Harbour for Creativity

There is something unmistakable about the air on Great Island. It carries the salt of the sea, the clang of the shipyard, and the echoes of stories told and retold across generations. It is a place where creativity seems to rise with the tide, and it is from this spirit that The Great Islander Journal will emerge.

The Great Islander will be more than a publication. It will be a meeting point, a harbour, for poetry, prose, and the creative arts from Cobh and the wider Cork Harbour region. It will celebrate the voices that make this place unique: the dreamers, the storytellers, the painters, the musicians, and those who find beauty in the ordinary moments of island life.

The journal will carry the results and entries of the Cobh International Poetry Competition, preserving and sharing the creativity that flows from that annual event. It will also work closely in conjunction with Cobh Poetry Jukebox, offering a written home for the voices and verses that fill the promenade air. Together, these projects will help to build a living record of the island’s creative spirit, linking public art, performance, and the written word.

Each issue of The Great Islander will feature original poetry, short fiction, creative essays, visual art, and reflections that explore who we are and where we come from. Whether inspired by the lapping water against the quay walls, the laughter of a harbour crowd, or the quiet of a winter morning, the journal will give expression to the deep well of imagination that exists here.

Creativity belongs to everyone. It lives in the rhythm of work, the pattern of conversation, and the landscapes that shape us. The aim of The Great Islander Journal will be to offer a platform for both emerging and established voices, encouraging local artists to share their words, images, and ideas. Through print and digital editions, it will connect creators and readers, building bridges between art and community.

In a world that moves faster by the day, The Great Islander will invite readers to pause. To read slowly. To look again at the familiar with new eyes. To feel the connection between place and imagination. Every poem, story, or artwork published will serve as a small act of anchoring, proof that creativity will always find its place, even in a changing world.

If you live on Great Island, have roots here, or are simply drawn to its creative energy, you will be welcome to be part of this new chapter. Submit your work. Share your vision. Celebrate the spirit of Cobh and Cork Harbour through the written and visual arts.

Celebrating creativity in Cobh and Cork Harbour.

Proudly supported by Great Island Creative Arts CLG.