REGISTRATION FOR OUR EDITORIAL SERVICE IS NOW CLOSED. PLEASE CONTACT US TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITING LIST.

The Well Review Full Manuscript Appraisal (SOLD OUT)

We recognise that some writers would benefit from an entire manuscript evaluation, especially if they are preparing to submit to a publisher for consideration. This summer we have made just four mentorships available for full manuscript evaluation.

This service entitles you to:

~A detailed page-by-page analysis of your full manuscript

~Three Monthly Zoom Consultations (To take place June, July & August)

~Suggestions on where to send your work if you are debut author

~Support with manuscript structure: poem ordering, titling, narrative arc, etc.

-Any other mentoring needs such as artistic practice, goal-setting and mental wellbeing

Ten Poems Ten Pages (SOLD OUT)

This service was developed after many requests for editorial services and support. We devised this concentrated system to help you identify patterns in your writing. We believe that writers’ difficulties are often small in number but recurrent. A thorough analysis of ten of your best poems allows us to meet each individual poem and to also give an overview of your work through written and verbal feedback. We work with writers from all backgrounds and specialise in ‘page fright’; how to get the ideas out of your head and onto the page in coherent and meaningful ways.

How Does it Work?

Submit ten of your original poems for a detailed evaluation. You will receive a ten-page report in response to your submission. You are also entitled to a one-hour Zoom consultation with Sarah Byrne to discuss the report and ask questions. While your poems can be more than one page in length, we ask that the total submission does not exceed twenty pages.

How Much does it Cost?

The service is offered at a flat rate of €100.00

Since 2016 we have published the following poets:

~Jill Abram~Kaveh Akbar~Anna Akhmatova~Maram Al-Masri~Davina Allison~Tammy Armstrong~

~Mona Arshi~Selma Asotić~Gabriella Attems~Ken Babstock~Adisa Bašić~Ellen Bass~Daniel Bennett~

~Josh Bettinger~Paul Bregazzi~Dylan Brennan~Dean Browne~John Burnside~Siún Carden~

~Anne Carson~Jocelyn Casey-Whiteman~Heather Christle~Ken Craft~Lidija Deduš~

~Matthew Dickman~Theo Dorgan~Cal Doyle~Sasha Dugdale~Ferida Duraković~Tarfia Faizullah~

~John FitzGerald~Leontia Flynn~Annelyse Gelman~Vona Groarke~James Harpur~

~Dijala Hasanbegović~Zeina Hashem Beck~Eleanor Hooker~Ishion Hutchinson~Majella Kelly~

~John Kelly~Suji Kim Kwock~Jurek Kirakowski~Nick Laird~Dorianne Laux~John McAuliffe~

~Eamon McGuinness~MacGillivray~Jim Moore~Tom Moore~Sinéad Morrissey~Paul Muldoon~

~Cian Murphy~Gerry Murphy~Michael Naghten Shanks~Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin~

~Doireann Ní Ghríofa~Mary Noonan~Aidan O’Donaghue~James O’Leary Nessa O’Mahony~

~Gregory Orr~Anita Pajević~Jimmy Pappas~Keith Payne~Sylvia Plath~John Poch~

~Mirza Purić~Billy Ramsell~Michael Ray~Sophie Segura~Šejla Šehabović~Judith Skillman~

~Maggie Smith~Gerard Smyth~Matthew Sweeney~Ojo Taiye~Ken Taylor~Brian Turner~

~Martín Veiga~Enda Wyley~

Recent Testimonies:

“I am indebted to Sarah & her keen and kind poetry eyes. Not only did Sarah dig into the minutiae of my poems’ intention, style, & form, she also opened up new poetry worlds for me by curating a personalized list of poets who approached similar themes in ways that spoke directly to my own work. Having met Sarah on Zoom, I was doubly taken by her open proficient heart, her boundless poetic knowledge & the gracious investment of time and thought she lent my work. Poets, I would urge you all to allow yourself this gift— Ten Poems, Ten Pages“

“I’ve been told before that I am hard to help but I found the Well Review editorial service very helpful. There were critical comments on my work, balanced with specific suggestions for improving it; I received a list of key topics to concentrate on for future development and weaknesses to watch out for; the suggested reading list contained some pointers that were new to me; above all, the feedback left me feeling encouraged to continue. In the follow-up Zoom call Sarah listened (Wow!) to my reflections on my work and we ended up with an enjoyable, wide-ranging conversation about poetry. I’m happy to recommend this service – it is very good value-for-money“

Editor-in-Chief: Sarah Byrne

Sarah founded The Well Review in 2016 after a nine-year career in the mental health and the criminal justice sectors. She graduated from Trinity College Dublin, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford where she studied languages, criminology and creative writing respectively. She has worked at Broadmoor Hospital, The Institute of Psychiatry, Shine, The Capital Appeals Project and Restorative Justice in the Community.

Her writing has been published in The New Statesman, The Irish Times, Poetry Ireland Review and elsewhere. She has taught and guest-lectured at University College Cork, Columbia University (Paris Campus), The Munster Literature Centre and The Poetry School. She has appeared at many literary festivals as a creative writing mentor including The Cork International Poetry Festival, Cúirt International Festival of Literature, Listowel Writers’ Week and The West Cork Literary Festival. She has completed writing residencies at: Centre Culturel Irlandais, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre and The West Cork Literary Festival.

In 2022, she hosted The Southword Poetry Podcast and interviewed several Well Review contributors including Dean Browne, Ishion Hutchinson and Paul Muldoon. Sarah has received awards for her writing and editing from: The Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, The Arts Council, Cork City Council, Cork County Council and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature. She has taught poetry workshops in Mountjoy Prison, The Dóchas Centre Female Prison and healthcare settings.

Outside of literature and justice, her three greatest passions are hip-hop music, gardens and her adopted city of Paris. She is a member of the Société Française Vladimir Nabokov. Her current projects are on misfitting children, the materiality of writing and vectors of grief. While often found scurrying from the tyranny of the adjective, Sarah is neurodivergent and has lived through periods of serious mental illness since early adolescence. These experiences, although difficult at times, illuminate her work, her being and her connection to the world.