Today’s news round-up looks at the story of the bins that are upsetting poetry fans, the AI poetry writer and the winner of the All-India Poetry Prize, 2017.

The Poets Memorial and the Bins

This year marks 50 years since Patrick Cavanagh passed away. And with interest in his poetry on the increase his fans have recently become outraged by the actions of Dublin City council.

The reason for their uproar is a bin, to be exact the “Big belly” compactor bins that were introduced back in May to the city to help keep it tidy. One of the bins has been placed next to a bench that is located near the Baggot Street Bridge. The bench was erected in memory of Kavanagh following his death in 1967. The bins are huge and can hold around eight times more rubbish than a standard bin, and not only can this bin hold more rubbish but it can also send emails to the council and is being used to advertise the councils parking app.

The location of the bench itself has special significance because it is near this location that Kavanagh rediscovered his poetic muse following a cancer diagnosis which led to having one of his lungs removed in 1954. The location had special significance for the poet and featured in a number of his later poems including “Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin” which is carved on the side of the bench in question.

It is hoped that the council will move the bins soon as they have been placed in areas of cultural significance, and indeed some of them contravene the development plan in place in the city governing outdoor advertising.

The AI Detective with a Hobby

Many people will have heard of the Zodiac killer, one of the 20^th centuries most notorious killers. Fewer will however have heard of CARMEL – the University of California’s Information Sciences supercomputer. CARMEL has been working on decrypting the writings of the Zodiac killer in the hope of finally finding out the killer’s true identity.

CARMEL has already been very successful in working out the Copiale Cipher, an 18^th century Germany handwritten manuscript, so there is real hope that someday soon the identity of the Zodiac killer will be revealed.

When CARMEL isn’t trying to decipher coded messages she has a hobby, one that produces rather sinister results. She moonlights as a poet, although based on the fact that much of her programs language skills are based on the work she has done to date; deciphering the letters of a serial killer the lyrics are certainly on the side of being disturbing!

All-India Poetry Prize 2017

Gopikrishnan Kottoor is no stranger to the All-India Poetry Prize, over the years he has won prizes in various other categories of the competition. This year he has won the big prize, taking the title for the All-India Poetry Prize, 2017.

He is perhaps best known for “Father, Wake Us in Passing” a poem he wrote whilst he was at the University of Ausburg in Germany as the poet-in-residence.