Colm has mentored me, an Anglo-Irish Australian emerging poet, since 2020. Colm and I have developed fabulous rapport over a virtual platform. He brings a blend of honesty, skill, fun and genuine interest in learning about my world. Colm is always well prepared for our mentoring sessions – he critically reads my poems, has concrete suggestions for improvement and provides relevant examples of others’ poems. I especially enjoy witnessing Colm recite his poems in our mentoring sessions – I leave each session equipped and determined to improve the way I write.

“Colm’s enthusiasm for writing is infectious and his mentoring style is friendly and instructive. He broke down the process of writing a poem into manageable pieces and showed me how to work with it until it comes together.

His constructive feedback was given with reassurance, encouragement and his own brand of poetic humour. His ability to reflect back to me what I was trying to say, helped me see my words in a different light and brought a deeper understanding of the power of my words.

He gave me the confidence I needed to believe in my own abilities, to tackle the fear of writing from the heart, and to stand up and deliver a piece I had written. Success.”

“I really wanted to work with Colm after reading his work and seeing how he captures the everyday and life in Ireland. How he challenges the world around him and his relationship with it in such an engaging manner. Working with Colm I learned a lot not only about poetic technique and structure but also about myself as a writer. Through our sessions I was challenged to better understand my own strengths and weaknesses as a writer and to better know my own voice. Colm’s knowledge about poetry and contemporary poets really opened my eyes to a lot of different work and ways of reading poetry. I would highly recommend any writer, beginner or experienced, to work with him.”

“I was really impressed by Colm’s ability to get to the heart of what I was trying to achieve with my poetry collection “In a Changing Light.” His incisive feedback on individual poems and, most importantly, in drawing my attention to things that had not manifested themselves to me until he highlighted them, was really beneficial. His feedback and advice definitely helped me to produce a better manuscript and, without doubt, was of assistance in having it accepted for publication.”

“The Manuscript Appraisal process went above and beyond my expectations as Colm cares about his mentees and bringing out the best in their work. He is incredibly thorough in analysing and fine-tuning each piece within the collection, and I valued his attention to detail. No matter how long it took, Colm was dedicated to giving each poem the necessary space to breathe. We left no rock unturned. I felt that my work had been valued, and I appreciated that level of attention, time and care.

Colm was excellent in cultivating a space for critically thinking about the collection. He supported me in arriving at the crux of each piece, and I found the creative dialogue between us during our exploration of the manuscript to be invaluable.

Colm’s understanding and encyclopaedic knowledge of poetry must also be credited. Whether we were discussing structural playfulness or various themes, Colm was always able to illustrate his points with poetic examples. My understanding of the relationship between poetic structure and narrative has also largely developed thanks to Colm’s mentorship.

Through working with Colm, I have begun to figure out my own writing style; and how I can carve out my poetic position while in dialogue with the ecology of the writing community. There are not enough superlatives to emphasise how indispensable his manuscript appraisal has been. I came away feeling invigorated, inspired to write and with countless reflections that ultimately had an extensive influence in shaping my work. Colm’s mentorship has been second to none, and I am immensely grateful. I would recommend it in a heartbeat. ”

“One of the hardest things about trying to pull together a selection of poems into a strong manuscript is knowing which poems to include and which ones to leave out. That’s where a trusted pair of eyes who can see what the collection needs are invaluable. Working with Colm on an initial draft of my collection ‘Tides Shifting Across My Sitting Room Floor’ gave me a fresh perspective on each of the poems; whether they were cohesive as individual pieces, and whether their inclusion would add to or detract from the arc of the collection. Thanks to Colm’s review and feedback on the poems, I came away knowing where to go next with the manuscript. Colm’s great to work with (sound as a pound and no bullshit) so if you’re looking for expert manuscript feedback from an accomplished writer and mentor, Colm’s your man!”