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Colin Dardis is a poet, editor, arts facilitator and sound artist based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His latest collection is Endless Flower (Rancid Idols Productions, 2021). The Dogs of Humanity was released in Aug '19 from Fly on the Wall Poetry.
His work has been published widely throughout Ireland, the UK and the US. His sound art project DARDIS has released over 20 albums and eps from aquietroom, 1tracktape, Default Standard Records and Rancid Idols. Having had a speech impediment when younger, attending speech therapy classes throughout primary school, Colin's initial interest in language and words grew out of these formative experiences. His personal history of depression and mental illness is also an ongoing influence on his work, which has led to a number of charity readings and work in this field. Colin co-runs Poetry NI, a multimedia platform for poetry, alongside his wife, Geraldine O'Kane. Known for his devotion to building up and supporting Northern Irish poets, Colin started publishing Speech Therapy Poetry Zine in 2005; in July 2012, the first issue of FourXFour was released, an online quarterly poetry journal. As an MC, Colin has hosted hundreds of events including open mics, slams and readings across Ireland. He launched the Make Yourself Heard open mic nights in 2006 in the renown Cathedral Quarter of Belfast, at a time when the city had no live poetry scene to speak of outside of the universities, and very few platforms for poets to engage in and showcase their work. In October 2011, he co-founded the popular Purely Poetry monthly event in the Crescent Arts Centre, building it up to become a cornerstone in the NI literary scene through open mics and poetry slams. In July 2012, the first issue of FourXFour was released, an online quarterly poetry journal. In 2018, Colin was commissioned by ACNI and NICON to write a poem for the 70th anniversary of the NHS. In 2019, his poem Affinity - commissioned by CO3 and ACNI - was presented to Senator George Mitchell at an award event to honour his leadership role in peacebuilding within Northern Ireland. Previously, Colin has also been the editor for Lagan Online, and an ACES '15-16 recipient from Arts Council Northern Ireland. |
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Colin acknowledges the kind support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland through their Arts Career Enhancement Scheme and Support for the Individual Artist Programme.
