In Neanderthal Boy, Colm Scully's latest poetry collection, history - both personal and political - unfolds through the lens of myth and memory. With a masterful touch, Scully intertwines the past and present, drawing connections between the familiar and the distant.
Formerly a Chemical Engineer, Colm now spends his time writing and interpreting poetry through film. His first collection,What News, Centurions, was published by New Binary Press in 2014. He won the Cúirt New Writing Prize in 2014 and was selected for Poetry Ireland Introductions in the same year.
He has been commended in The Gregory O’Donoghue Prize. His poems have been published in Southword, Poetry Ireland Review, Orbis, The Friday Poem, Howl, Cyphers, Crannóg, Abridged, Skylight 47, Burning Bush, Philosophy Now, The Stony Thursday Book, Seashores and many others. They have appeared in the Dedalus Press Anthologies The Deep Hearts Core and Local Wonders and in Cork Words II.
His short stories have been published in From the Well, Cork County Libraries and The Honest Ulsterman.
He has made and collaborated on over twenty Poetry Films. His films have been shown at festivals all over the world including Cork International Film Festival, Fastnet Film Festival, IndyCork Film Festival, Slippery Elm Poetry Film Prize, Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival, Ó Bhėal Poetry Film Competition, Athens International Video Poetry Festival, Reel Poetry Houston, Stanzas Poetry Festival St Andrews, Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, Bloomsday Film Festival and many more.
He won first prizes at Spark Micromania Film Competition New York, Rabbits Heart Poetry Film Competition Massachusetts, and The Slippery Elm Deanna Tulley Media Prize Ohio. A film made with St Columbas GNS Deaf Facility Douglas won Best Adaptation at Fís National School Film Awards 2024. He has been an adjudicator at several poetry film competitions in Ireland and abroad, including organising the Drumshanbo Written Word Weekend Poetry Film Competition 2022 – 2025 and been a judge on the Ó Bhėal Poetry Film Competition since 2022.
He gives workshops and teaches on poetry film in schools, community groups, libraries and at festivals, including and at The Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh in 2023, and at Mountshannon Arts Festival County Clare. His films have been shown in The Glucksman Gallery, UCC Cork as part of a Digital Humanities International Conference.
He is a Creative Facilitator for Cork County Council Arts Section and he is a board member of Ó Bhéal go Béal Poetry Events in Cork.
