Welcome to Poetry Day Ireland 2023!

Now in its ninth year, Poetry Day Ireland is an annual island-wide celebration of poetry which invites the nation to read, write, and share a poem on Thursday 27th April, 2023. All are welcome to get involved, with participation encouraged from artists, venues, schools, hospitals, community groups, poetry-lovers, and more.

Acclaimed poet Martina Evans is on board as this year’s curator. Martina chose ‘Message in a Bottle’ as the theme for Poetry Day Ireland 2023, reminding us, in the words of Paul Celan, that “a poem can be a message in a bottle, sent out in the – not always greatly hopeful – belief that somewhere and sometime it could wash up on land, on heartland perhaps. Poems in this sense too are under way: they are making towards something.”

Poetry Day Ireland Programme POETRY OUT AND ABOUT

Pocket Poems

Keep an eye out for our Pocket Poems, gorgeous mini-cards featuring Message in a Bottle-themed poems by writers including Sinead Morrissey, Rafael Mendes, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, and more. Pick up a Pocket Poem in participating arts venues, libraries and bookshops, and share your favourite poem on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok using the hashtag #PoetryDayIRL. Pocket Poems can also be downloaded at www.poetryday.ie

Poetry in Motion

2023 marks fifty years of Ireland’s membership of the European Union. Together with our partners at the European Parliament Liaison Office and European Commission Representation in Dublin, we have selected poems from across Europe for Poetry in Motion. Expect to see poems from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic and of course, Ireland, displayed in their original form with translations on DART and commuter services commencing on Poetry Day Ireland. sitium a dolore volorione ium antumquae ipsum qui restinvent quat.

ONLINE, PODCASTS, AND TELEPHONE

Sign-ups for The Poetry Line in collaboration with Bealtaine Festival

Monday 24 April - Friday 28 April, 10am - 5pm Free

Telephone: 01 443 4277

The Poetry Line was developed by Poetry Ireland in 2020, and has run a number of successful iterations since. During the week of Poetry Day, individuals are invited to sign up for free to receive a personal phone call from an award-winning poet who will read them 2-3 reassuring poems as part of Bealtaine Festival taking place from 15 – 26 May. Participating poets include Thomas McCarthy, Jane Clarke, Mícheál McCann, Rachael Hegarty, and Molly Twomey.

To sign up, please call Poetry Ireland’s dedicated Poetry Line at 01 443 4277 the week of Poetry Day Ireland. One of our team will take your name, phone number, preferred time slot, and any particular poem requests (if you have one). The Poetry Line will be open for sign-ups for one week starting on Monday 24 April from 10am – 5pm daily. Sign-ups will close on Friday 28 April.

The Poetry Line phone calls will then take place during Bealtaine Festival between 15 and 26 May. Those who have signed up for a call will receive a call confirming their time slot and poet in advance.

Know someone who might be interested? This programme may be of particular interest to older people without computers. We appreciate your help in getting the word out about this initiative to individuals who might not be on social media.

Online Poetry Exhibition with Shop Irish Writers

Thursday 27 April, all-day

Online Free https://shopirishwriters.wixsite.com/ website-1 https://www.facebook.com/ groups/400676354435987

Online exhibition of poetry from the members of Shop Irish Writers.

Meath Poems

Thursday 27 April, all-day

Meath County Council social media Free https://www.meath.ie/council/notices-and-events

Check out Meath County Council’s social media throughout Poetry Day Ireland. A handful of Meath born-or-based poets will be reading some of their favourite Meath-related poems.

Poetry Day Ireland Poets Coaching Clinic

Thursday 27 April, 10am – 1pm

Online

Tickets: Price of one or more Salmon Poetry titles https://www.creativecoaching.ie/at_events/poetryday-ireland-poets-clinic-2/

Celebrate Poetry Day Ireland in style! Book a 30-minute coaching slot with the purchase of some Salmon Poetry titles. Get the chance to be coached by poet Anne Tannam around all things poetry, whilst supporting an independent, one-of-a-kind, amazing poetry publisher!

Lime Square Poets featuring: Threa Almontaser

Thursday 27 April, 7.45pm – 9.15pm

Zoom

Free https://www.limesquarepoets.com/events

Join Lime Square Poets on Zoom for a poetry reading by Threa Almontaser followed by an open mic. Threa Almontaser is the author of the debut poetry collection The Wild Fox of Yemen (Graywolf Press 2021), nominated for the National Book Awards, the Pen/Voelcker Award, and the NAACP, and winner of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American poets, the Maya Angelou Book Award, the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize, and the Arab American Book Award. She is a recipient of writing fellowships from Duke University and the Fulbright Program. She earned her MFA from North Carolina State University and teaches English to immigrants and refugees in her area.

All welcome, participation is limited to the first 100 guests to join.

Message in a Podcast with Eat the Storms: 32 Counties / 32 Poets

Thursday 27 April, 8pm

Wherever you listen to podcasts!

Free

Eatthestorms.com

Eat the Storms has invited one poet to read one poem from each of the 32 counties on the island of Ireland for a special episode each on the poetry podcast. Eat the Storms is available on most podcast platforms.

Connacht

FLAGSHIP: Poetry in a Bottle Open Mic with featured readings from Victoria Kennefick and Joe Carrick-Varty

Thursday 27 April, 6pm

Yeats Building, Hyde Bridge, Abbeyquarter North, Sligo, F91 DVY4 Free https://www.yeatssociety.com/poetry-in-a-bottle/

You’re invite to take part in an open mic poetry session with the Yeats’ Society Sligo Poetry Circle, along with Creative Writing and English students from ATU, led by award-winning poet in residence Victoria Kennefick. As part of this event, Victoria will be reading from her multi-award-winning collection Eat or We Both Starve, along with her forthcoming collection. British-Irish poet Joe CarrickVarty will also deliver his debut reading in Sligo. Already an award-winner, Joe’s vision and voice are a great addition for Poetry Day Ireland

And for the first time at the Yeats Building, recipients will receive poetry in a bottle as a keepsake from the evening.

Supported by Poetry Ireland

FLAGSHIP: A Kind of Scar: In the footsteps of Eavan Boland

Thursday 27 April, 8pm

St. Thomas’s Church, Dugort, Achill, Mayo Free

In 1989, Eavan Boland published her famous essay, ‘A Kind of Scar’, setting out her vision for poetry in an Ireland that had previously been hostile to women writers and using Achill Island, and an old woman that she met there, as the starting point of her work. Over three decades later and as part of the programme of events for Poetry Day Ireland 2023, also the third anniversary of Eavan’s death, a panel of writers come together on Achill Island to perform their own work and to discuss Eavan’s legacy and the landscape for women poets in Ireland in the 21st century.

The event will be chaired by Nessa O’Mahony, Writer in Residence at the Heinrich Böll Cottage and editor of Poetry Ireland Review 138, the special tribute issue to Eavan Boland. Participants include other contributors to the special issue, poets Geraldine Mitchell, Moya Cannon and Mary O’Malley, as well as Achill-based harpist Laoise Kelly.

This event takes place as part of the Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend, curated and supported by Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann and Mayo Arts Office

FLAGSHIP: Workshop with Wayne O’Connor

Thursday 27 April

The Dock, Carrick-On-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, N41 T2X2 Free

At The Dock, Artist Wayne O Connor will run a workshop for young people focusing on storytelling, opening a creative and imagine world for fictional, folklore and historical plots.

The workshop will take place for 1.5 hours on the morning of Thursday 27 April in The Dock.

BRIGHT IDEA: Ploughed Field Collective

Thursday 27 April - Sunday 30 April, various Gort Co Galway, various Free

All are welcome to attend this free series of poetry events in Gort, Co. Galway.

Thurs 27 April, 2pm: That’s Life Group Poetry

Reading | Thoor Ballylee

Thurs 27 April, 7pm: Ploughed Field Review Poetry Pamphlet Launch | Thoor Ballylee

Fri 28 April, 7pm: Slam Poetry Competition | Hennellys Haggard

Sat 29 April, 2pm: Poets of the Autograph Tree reading | Coole Park

Sun 30 April, 3pm: Letters to the Universe reading | Gort Riverwalk

The Ploughed Field Collective is a creative writing arts group based in Gort, Co. Galway. They are committed to the development of inclusive and accessible poetry and creative writing in their community.

Supported by the Poetry Day Ireland Bright Ideas

Bursary BRIGHT IDEA: An Evening of Poetry and Wishing Ribbons

Thursday 27 April, 7pm Books at One Louisburgh Free https://www.booksatone.ie/louisburgh/events

Join Books at One for an interactive evening of poetry readings and an art installation.

Seán Lysaght will treat the audience to a selection of readings. His work has inspired local artist Jennifer Hickey and local children and teens to create of sculptural installation of wishing ribbons which will be available to experience at the bookshop throughout the day on Thursday. The audience is invited to add their own poetic ribbon to this evergrowing installation. The installation will be on semipermanent display at Books at One Louisburgh.

Supported by the Poetry Day Ireland Bright Ideas

FLAGSHIP: Film Premiere of Bealach an Fhéir Ghortaigh | Hunger’s Way

Thursday 27 April, 7pm

Strokestown Park House, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, F42 H282

€10 http://strokestownpoetryfest.com

Poetry, the legacy of famine and the landscapes around Strokestown are at the heart of Hunger’s Way | Bealch an Fhéir Ghortaigh, a new film by Edwina Guckian and Vincent Woods specially commissioned for the Strokestown International Poetry Festival 2021. The film features new poems by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Paddy Bushe, Moya Cannon, James Harpur, Jane Clarke, Eva Bourke, Pádraig MacFhearghusa and memorable work by Vona Groarke, Tom French, Kathleen Hill and Joseph Woods; artwork by Miriam de Búrca and music and song by Danny Diamond, Patsy Hanly, Mai Malone, Fionnuala Maxwell, John Tuohy and Mohammad Saif-Khan. The film was made in and around Strokestown Park House, the National Famine Museum and surrounding landscapes.

The 60-minute-long film will be followed by a short reading and discussion with Edwina Guckian and Vincent Woods followed by a reception to launch this year’s 25th Strokestown International Poetry Festival.

Supported by Poetry Ireland

Poetry Day readings on Midwest Radio (96.1fm)

Thursday 27 April, 9.15am

Free

Tune into the Tommy Marren Show on MidWest Radio (96.1fm) for Mayo County Council Arts Service’s celebration of Poetry Day Ireland 2023 where two poets will read some of their poetry on the show. Poet details to be announced.

Bursary

Connemara, A Chara: A Workshop on Epistolary Poetry and Place

Thursday 27 April, 11am

Interface; The Hatchery Building: Cloonacartan, Recess, Co. Galway, H91VW58 Free https://www.eventbrite.com/e/connemara-achara-a-workshop-on-epistolary-poetry-and-placetickets-607247342147

An emigrant’s missive describing the sights and sounds of their new surroundings. Correspondences with family or friends abroad, reminding them of the rhythms of a life left behind. Letters not only serve to connect people with one another, but to emplace relationships within geographies and landscapes. This workshop will explore epistolary poetry – that is, poems in the form of letters – as a way to nurture intimacy across physical, temporal, and emotional distance. Epistolary verse is one of the oldest types of poetry, yet remains a form open to experimentation. By acknowledging poetry as a dialogic practice, even if an imagined one, the epistle can be a method of entering into a deeper and more creative relationship with place.

Free and open to the public, this workshop will take place at Interface in Connemara’s Inagh Valley. Participants who are both native and transplants to Connemara, and those with either established or emerging interests in poetry and place-making are invited. Through embodied exercises and writing prompts, participants will explore attachments to a place by engaging poetic attention as a relationshipin-dialogue with the natural, human-made, sensorial, and imaginal qualities of our environment.

Poetry Reading by Isabela Basombrío Hoban

Thursday 27 April, 1pm

Castlebar Library, John Moore Rd, Gorteendrunagh, Castlebar, Co. Mayo

Free https://www.mayo.ie/library/using-your-library/finda-branch

Poet Isabela Basombrío Hoban will be reading from her new book of poetry Nothing belongs to everyone as well as other poems. Her latest poetry collection is published by Ediciones Vitruvio Publishing House in Madrid, Spain. She is a bilingual poet, writing in both English and Spanish. She is originally from Peru and lives in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. The welcome on the day will be given by Emer Donoghue, Executive Librarian, Mayo County Council. An introduction will be given by Ann Marie McGing, Arts Officer, Mayo County Council, with special guest musician, John Hoban and special guest young poet, Líadan Siggins.

Munster

BRIGHT IDEA: Remembrance

Thursday 27 April, 1pm

Theatre Royal Waterford, The Mall, Waterford Free

Remembrance, a special Poetry Day Ireland event taking place in Waterford, will see the poetry of the late, great Sèan Dunne read by playwright and director Jim Nolan, actress and writer Jenni Ledwell, and actor, writer, poet and musican Joe Meagher.

Audience members will then be invited to write a poem about their loved ones who have passed away. Participants should bring along a personal item of choice belonging to their loved one, such as a pair of their shoes. The poems will be read at the event and displayed along with the items for the rest of Poetry Day Ireland.

Tea and coffee will be provided.

Supported by the Poetry Day Ireland Bright Ideas

Bursary

FLAGSHIP: The Poem Within the Poem

Thursday 27 April, 3pm

Draiocht Art Gallery, Station Rd, Blackabbey, Adare, Co. Limerick, V94 YOP4 Free, no booking required

Join Poet Laureate of Adare, Edward O’Dwyer, for The Poem Within the Poem exploring poems in poetry, poems that were inspired by other poems, and poems that nod significantly to another poet. Edward will lead a showcase to include invited poets and host an open mic style reading event.

FLAGSHIP: Áine Uí Fhoghlú School Visits

Thursday 27 April, all-day

Scoil Gharbháin, Dún Garbhán and Meánscoil San Nioclás, An Rinn, Co. Waterford

Closed event

At the invitation of Waterford City and County Arts Office, poet Áine Uí Fhoghlú will visit Meánscoil San Nioclás, An Rinn to facilitate a poetry workshop with Transition Years. She will later visit Scoil Gharbháin primary school in Dungarvan where she will read poems and chat about poetry with sixth class students.

Message in a Bottle at SETU

Thursday 27 April, 11.15am

TL238, SETU Waterford Free

The Waxed Lemon, in conjunction with the Department of English, SETU, will facilitate a guided workshop in celebration of Poetry Day Ireland. This will be a guided writing workshop, centred around the theme ‘Message in a Bottle’ chosen by poet and curator of Poetry Day Martina Evans. Participants will be invited to draw inspiration from the theme, from the container and the information therein through to the ecology of the glass and even the paper a poem is written on. This will be a joyful and dynamic workshop as SETU and guests join in a nation-wide celebration of poetry.

Message in a Bottle at the University of Limerick

Thursday 27 April, 1pm – 2.15pm

Atrium Area, University Concert Hall, University of Limerick

Free (donations optional) their own, or one by another poet.

All are welcome to join the students and staff of the MA in Creative Writing for lunchtime poetry readings to celebrate Poetry Day Ireland 2023. Letting thoughts and words drift with the swell of imagination, students have created vital new poems which they will cast out into the world for Poetry Day. The MA students in Creative Writing will share new work with a focus on the condensed form. Guest reader, Anton Floyd, will read from his acclaimed collection, Depositions (Doire Press, 2022), which engages with the international refugee crisis and themes of war and displacement. UL staff and members of the Creative Writing team, Meskell ULFifty Poet in Residence, Emily Cullen, Eoin Devereux, and Donal Ryan will also read, addressing migration and social justice.

This is a free event, but any donations from the day will go towards supporting the word of the UNHCRIreland, the UN Refugee agency.

This is a free event, and the First Friday Writing Group are looking forward to welcoming anyone who is a lover of words.

Poetry Reading by Great Island Writers, Cobh

Thursday 27 April, 3pm

Cobh Library, Casement Square, Cobh, Co. Cork, P24 RX89 Free

Poetry readings will be held at the Cobh Library as a way to celebrate Poetry Day Ireland.

Focail in a Bottle

Thursday 27 April, 4pm

The Book Centre, Waterford Free

An bhfuil focal ar leith a théann i gcionn ort? Aon teanga ar bith! Tar chuig an Book Centre, Port Láirge ar Lá Filíochta na hÉireann, roinn an focal agus dán le baint leis an bhfocal - dán de do chuid nó dán ar bith eile!

Poetry Day Reading at Macroom Library

Thursday 27 April, 2pm

Macroom Library, Macroom, County Cork Free https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/poetry-day-readingopen-mic-at-macroom-library-county-corktickets-607629856257

The First Friday Writing Group will host a poetry reading event in Macroom Library to celebrate Poetry Day Ireland.

Members of the group will read a selection of their own work. This will be followed by an open mic where the audience will be invited to read a poem of

Do you have a word you love? In English or Irish or any other language? Come along to the Book Centre, Waterford this Poetry Day Ireland. Share the word you love & a poem associated with it – it can be your poem or somebody else’s!

Message in a Bottle with Fethard Horse Country Experience

Thursday 27 April, 4pm

Fethard Horse Country Experience

Free

A poetry reading session on the theme ‘Message in a Bottle’ open to the general public in the Fethard Horse Country Experience, Main Street, Fethard, Co. Tipperary. Come along to read a favourite poem or to share one of your own in the convivial atmosphere of this lovely historic building. Participants are encouraged to interpret the theme as liberally as possible. Anyone who wishes to come along to listen to the magic of the spoken word will also be most welcome. Coffee and cookies will be served.

Poetry from the Deep Mind

Thursday 27 April, 7.30pm

The People’s Museum of Limerick, 2 Pery Sq., Limerick Free www.limerickwriterscentre.com

Poetry from the Deep Mind: A Poetry Reading and Presentation by John W. Sexton is a performative examination of the Aisling/Vision Poem from the perspective of a 21st century Irish poet.

Reading with Molly Twomey for Poetry Day Ireland

Thursday 27 April, 7pm

Dungarvan Library, Davitt’s Quay, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford

Free https://waterfordlibraries.ie/event/poetry-readingwith-molly-twomey-in-dungarvan-library/

Molly Twomey reads from her recent collection

Raised Among Vultures in celebration of Poetry Day Ireland. Open to the public, this event is located at the Dungarvan Library in Davitt’s Quay, Co. Waterford.

Contact Dungarvan Library on 058 21141 for bookings and further information.

John W. Sexton identifies with the Munster Aisling poetry tradition, and his poetry spans tangential surrealism, magic realism and experimental metaphoricism. His eighth poetry collection, The Nothingness Kit, was published by Beir Bua Press in 2022. A chapbook of his surrealist poetry, Inverted Night, came out from SurVision Books in 2019, and his Aisling collection and manifesto, Visions at Templeglantine, was published by the Revival Press in 2020. His next full collection, The World Under the World, is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry. His poem ‘The Green Owl’ was awarded the Listowel Poetry Prize 2007 for best single poem, and in that same year he was awarded a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry.

Message in a Bottle Poetry Dinner with Clodagh

Beresford Dunne and Mark Roper

Thursday 27 April, 7.30pm

Tannery Restaurant, 10 Quay Street, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford

€50 bookable via www.tannery.ie

Celebrate Poetry Day Ireland by enjoying dinner at the internationally acclaimed Tannery Restaurant with two of our most important contemporary poets Clodagh Beresford Dunne and Mark Roper.

After an introduction by Clodagh and Mark on this year’s theme of ‘Message in a Bottle’, a spring menu created by Paul Flynn will be served.

The evening concludes with a poetry reading and both Clodagh and Mark will discuss their ideas on poetry and concepts.

Ticket cost includes dinner and a cocktail on arrival. Places for this dinner are pre-paid and nonrefundable.

Changing Worlds: An Ekphrastic Workshop

Friday 28 April, 9.15am

SETU Waterford Free

Poetry Day Ireland Open Mic with Waterford

Writers

Thursday 27 April, 8pm

The Mansion House, 39 Johnstown, Waterford Free

To celebrate Poetry Day Ireland, Waterford Writers invite you to attend an evening of poetry and prose. This is an open mic session, so join in by sharing your own work or reading from one of your favourite poets – or just come along to listen. All are welcome!

Ekphrastic writing uses art as the subject matter and inspiration for creative writing. This workshop uses a photo exhibition as inspiration for writing your own poetry. Are you an art lover who would like to try your hand at expressing the impact art has on you through poetry? Or perhaps you are a poet or aspiring poet looking for ways to find inspiration. This workshop centres on an exhibition by lecturer and creative practitioner Dr Helena Walsh-Kiely of 60 photographs entitled Changing Worlds – depicting the lived experiences of Saudi Arabian students who studied at SETU from 2012 to 2018. The title of the exhibition is a play on both the physical act of transitioning from one culture to another and the emergence of the Saudi students’ critical consciousness throughout their time in SETU. The ekphrastic workshop will be facilitated by poet and English lecturer Dr Christa de Brún.

Slip of the Tongue

Thursday 27 April, 8.30pm

Itty Bittys, Bank Lane, Waterford Free

Slip of the Tongue returns for its third chapter as part of Waterford’s jam-packed Poetry Day celebrations. Hosted by spoken word artist and poet Wayne Power. This bimonthly event fuses spoken word, poetry, live music, drag, comedy and chaos. A curated event showcasing the city’s vibrant arts scene. Limited open mic slots available. Wordsmiths and poets are encouraged to take the mic at all events. Slip of the Tongue was created by Wayne Power and started in October 2022.

Mark Roper Reads from His Work for Poetry Day

Ireland 2023

Friday 28 April, 3pm

Waterford Central Library, Lady Lane, Waterford City Free https://waterfordlibraries.ie/event/poetry-readingwith-mark-roper-in-central-library/

Mark Roper reads from his recently published collection Beyond Stillness in celebration of Poetry Day Ireland. This event is open to the public.

Contact Central Library on 051 849975 for bookings and further information.

East Pier “I Must Go Down to the Seas Again” Poetry Sunday

Sunday 7 May, 1.30pm – 7.00pm

St. Andrew’s Church of Ireland, Killea, Park Road, Dunmore East AND East Pier, Dunmore East Free (except for Poetry Masterclass which is €25.00 per person)

To mark Poetry Day Ireland, East Pier, Dunmore East is delighted to bring you the Dunmore East “I Must Go Down to the Seas Again” Poetry Sunday.

In St. Andrew’s Church of Ireland, Killea, Dunmore East will have a Poetry Masterclass (€25.00 p/p) with Award-Winning Poet, Clodagh Beresford Dunne. All levels are welcome, but numbers are limited. Advance booking is essential (Bookings to clodaghberesford@yahoo.com with EastPier in subject box).

At 4pm sharp, in St. Andrew’s Church of Ireland, Killea, Dunmore East there will be a Poetry Reading with musical interlude featuring three AwardWinning Poets, Mark Roper, Martina Dalton and Clodagh Beresford Dunne. Doors open at 3.30pm, and the event concludes at 5.30pm. This event is free.

At 5.45pm, the final event kicks off. A Poetry Open Mic session with M.C. Nichola Beresford. This event is also free and takes place in the courtyard of East Pier, Dunmore East. If you’re a local poet, now is your time to shine!

Registration for Open Mic readings opens at 5.40pm.

For further details of all events, telephone East Pier, Dunmore East at 086 813 1437

Leinster

FLAGSHIP: Poetry Workshop with Simon Costello Esker Arts Centre, High Street, Tullamore Saturday 22 April, 10.30am – 3.30pm Free, booking essential via info@eskerarts.ie

As part of this year’s Poetry Day Ireland, Esker Arts will present two events, in partnership with Offaly County Council Arts Office.

The first of these will be a poetry workshop. Led by poet Simon Costello, the workshop is aimed at poets at all levels of their writing careers. Participants will be offered the opportunity to read their poems at an Open Mic in Esker Arts for Poetry Day Ireland on Thursday 27th April.

Please note: numbers limited and early booking is advised.

Simon Costello is an award-winning poet & artist whose work has been published in major literary publications in Ireland, the UK and the US including; The Poetry Review, The London Magazine, The Irish Times, RTÉ, Bath Magg, New England Review, The Moth, The Stinging Fly, The Rialto, Banshee, Magma, The Irish Times, Poetry Ireland Review, The North, Rattle, and The Tangerine. In 2021, he was awarded the UK’s prestigious The Rialto Poetry Prize and the Poetry Ireland Introductions 2021 award for Ireland’s next-generation poets by Sean Hewitt and is a recipient of the National Bursary Award for Literature from the Arts Council of Ireland. His debut pamphlet ‘Saturn Devouring’ is forthcoming in 2023 from The Lifeboat Press whose latest publications include Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon and Padraig Regan. Tullamore-based Simon, is a PHD student and teacher in the School of English, University College Dublin and also works for Granta magazine.

Admission free, booking essential. Booking: info@ eskerarts.ie

Supported by Offaly County Council Arts Office and Poetry Ireland

FLAGSHIP: The Miners’ Way: Glendalough hike with poet Jane Clarke and historian Joan Kavanagh

Thursday 27 April, 10.30am – 1pm

Meeting Place: The Upper Car Park Glendalough, from where a bus will take us to the starting point of the walk.

Free, booking at EventBrite https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-miners-way-poetrystory-tickets-603624445967

Join poet Jane Clarke and historian Joan Kavanagh for a 5 km walk along the Miners’ Way from Glendasan to the Upper Lake in Glendalough.

Amid the spectacularly beautiful scenery of the Wicklow mountains we will follow a path downhill along the Glendasan river and into the woods leading to Glendalough. Along the way Joan Kavanagh will speak about the mining history and Jane will read poems inspired by the lives of the miners as we pass the remains of old mine workings, ruins of houses where miners lived, stands of Scots Pine planted for pit props.

Grade: This is an easy to moderate hill walk with a descent and slight ascent. It is important to have warm clothes, rain gear and boots.

Supported by Wicklow Arts Office you’re looking to woo your girlfriend or butter up a colleague, or just want to commemorate in words a beautiful spring day, pay a visit to Stephen, and he’ll help you out.

Presented by Poetry Ireland and supported by Waterways Ireland

FLAGSHIP: Grand Canal Poetry Clean-Up

Thursday 27 April, 6pm – 7.30pm

Meeting point: Mount Street Bridge Free, booking recommended but not essential https://www.eventbrite.com/e/grand-canal-poetryclean-up-tickets-607467661127

Poetry Ireland in conjunction with Clean Coasts supported by Waterways Ireland are hosting a poetry clean-up of the Grand Canal in Dublin on Thursday 27 April from 6pm to 7.30pm. You’re invited to join us in cleaning up our beautiful canals, with intermittent entertainment from poets Jean O’Brien, Sree Sen, and Sonya Gildea. The meeting point for the cleanup is Mount Street Bridge and places are limited so we encourage you to register to secure your place. All cleaning kit will be provided.

Presented by Poetry Ireland and Clean Coasts supported by Waterways Ireland

FLAGSHIP: Canal Bank Typewriter Poems

Thursday 27 April, 12pm - 2pm

Patrick Kavanagh statue, Wilton Terrace, Grand Canal, Dublin 2

Free, no booking required

If you’re out for a canal bank walk this Poetry Day Ireland, stop by for a lunchtime chat on the Grand Canal with our typewriter poet Stephen Maguire. Stephen will be sat next to the statue of Patrick Kavanagh with his typewriter from 12pm – 2pm, ready to type you a free bespoke poem. Whether

BRIGHT IDEA: Finding the Words: A Trans Found Poetry Jam

Thursday 27 April, 1-3pm and 7-9pm Little Deer Comics, 57 Manor Place, Arbour Hill, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7, D07 KC80 Free

At this chill workshop for Dublin’s trans community, participants are invited to cut up and collage trans poetry and comics to create brand new trans art. The results will be collected in a free zine to share online and in print!

Supported by the Poetry Day Ireland Bright Ideas

Bursary BRIGHT IDEA: VOIDWALK

Thursday 27 April, 6pm

Meeting point: The triangle in Stoneybatter, just outside Kavanagh’s pub at 6pm

Suggested donation: €10 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/voidwalk-tickets607434221107?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

VOIDWALK is an immersive walking dereliction tour of Dublin’s Northside, featuring original poems composed in honour of cultural locations that we have loved and lost. Spearheaded by a licensed tour guide, participants will be led from Stoneybatter, through Grangegorman, and on to Dublin 1 to hear the histories of important sites of culture and collective struggle through verse. Five poets will each read from their poems outside of the locations, while holding a symbolic candle to signify our collective mourning.

These poems will be published in a short zine, a small run of which will be printed for the event. Each participant will receive a copy of the zine on the day, reglardless of donation, and the remainder of the print will be distributed around the city and to a selection of zine libraries in Ireland. The zine will also be available online to print at home, for all those who may not be able to make it in person.

Supported by the Poetry Day Ireland Bright Ideas

Bursary FLAGSHIP: Poetry Day Ireland in Mountmellick

Thursday 27 April, 11am

Mountmellick Library, O’Moore Street, Mountmellick, Co. Laois R32 PX61 Free (registration needed)

Email mountmellicklibrary@laoiscoco.ie or call 0578644572 to register.

What better way to celebrate Poetry Day Ireland than with a poetry reading in Mountmellick Library inspired by this year’s theme ‘Message in a Bottle’?

Dr. Arthur Broomfield, Poet Laureate for Poetry Town, Mountmellick in 2021 will share his poem penned for that occasion, ‘The Spirit of Mountmellick Speaks’. There are also some other special guests to be announced.

If you are a poet and interested in sharing some of your work, please contact Mountmellick Library. The public is more than welcome to come and listen! Refreshments will be provided before the event.

Please email mountmellicklibrary@laoiscoco.ie if you’re attending or call 0578644572 for further details.

Supported by Laois County Council Arts Office, Laois Libraries and Poetry Ireland.

Flagship: Poetry Day Open Mic at Esker Arts

Centre Thursday 27 April, 7pm

Esker Arts Centre, High Street, Tullamore Free, no booking required

To celebrate Poetry Day Ireland, Esker Arts is hosting its first ever Poetry Open Mic evening. The event will give poets an opportunity to read their work in public before a like-minded audience.

Supported by Offaly County Council Arts Office and Poetry Ireland

Woo Me with Words Poetry Writing

Thursday 27 April, all-day

Scoil Dara, Kilcock, Co. Kildare

Closed event

Scoil Dara invite the school community to write a poem incorporating the words shared on a weekly basis with staff and students. Students and staff will get to revisit words that have been showcased since September and have lots of fun moulding them into poetry.

Mindfulness & Poetry Day Retreat

Sunday 16 April, 10am – 4pm

6 James Terrace, Malahide, Co. Dublin

€65 https://www.orlaithosullivan.com/poetry

Join Orlaith O’Sullivan for a day of mindfulness devoted to beautiful silence and words. Mindfulness opens the rich landscape of this moment. Poetry takes us off autopilot and connects us deeply and directly with our life. Together, they offer a unique space for peace, clarity, inspiration and joy.

Words on Water

Thursday 27 April, 6am | 7pm

Greystones Sailing Club, 1 Marine Terrace, The Harbour, Greystones, Co. Wicklow

€10

6am: Swimrise at the Cove, Greystones – Poems on Stones will be taken into the sea by swimmers as well as ecological messages in bottles. There will be a poetry reading on the strand after the swim.

Poetry Vending Machine

Thursday 27 April, all-day

St. Luke’s Hospital, Rathgar, Dublin 6 Free

A poetry vending machine will be installed in patient waiting areas and staff relaxation areas at St. Luke’s Hospital inviting patients and staff to press a button and receive a random printed poem. This vending machine will be moved around the hospital every week for the month of April. The idea is to bring fun and encouragement to the room while patients wait for appointments, and to encourage conversations amongst hospital visitors.

7pm: Sailing Club, Greystones Harbour – Words on Water – An evening of poetry & song, with featured guests, and an open mic. A stunning venue, three sides of which is glass, jutting out into the Irish Sea with views of Bray Head and South Beach. This will be our bottle, holding all the poems, songs, and sea shanties, our messages.

Poet in Residence at Onóir Arts Tattoo Studio

Thursday 27 April, 12pm – 6pm

Onóir Arts, 24 Laurence Street, Drogheda, Co.

Louth

Poems will be free, but tattoos sessions are strictly by appointment only and must be booked in advance with Onóir Arts

Onóir Arts tattoo studio in Laurence Street, the pier in Dún Laoghaire. Immersed in a flow of spoken sounds while walking by the sea, the group will practice mindful listening followed by tea and biscuits and discussion of the spoken environment in the People’s Park. Notebooks, pens and biscuits will be supplied.

Drogheda will host Poet in Residence Stephanie Ní Thiarnaigh for Poetry Day Ireland. Throughout the day, Stephanie will engage with the award-winning Onóir artists and their subjects – the people getting tattooed – to create new works based on their experiences of the physical nature of tattooing, as well as exploring the meaning of the images they will retain permanently into the future.

She will observe the brief period of intimacy between a tattoo artist and their client, and the relationship of trust and skill required to allow an artist to capture the meaning of what a person wants and permanently place it on their skin.

Consenting participants will be able to take home micro poems about their tattoos or piercings. Tattoo and piercing appointments can be booked directly with Onóir Arts. The poems are free, but tattoos will be priced individually.

Stephanie Ní Thiarnaigh is a writer from Drogheda. Her work has been published in Splonk, Pile Press, A New Ulster, The Purposeful Mayonnaise, Hole in the Head Review, Molecule and is forthcoming in Eunoia Review, Queerlings and Red Ogre Review in 2023. She co-hosts the Irish Mythology Podcast and has too many tattoos to count.

Booking contact: deirdre.na@gmail.com

Luttrellstown Community College Poetry Café

Thursday 27 April, 12.50pm – 1.30pm

Luttrellstown Community College

Closed event

An intimate cafe setting where the students and staff of Luttrellstown Community College can perform their own compositions of poetry, stories, sketches and music. Students are invited to share with their friends some coffee and tea and treats to celebrate this important artistic day.

Seamus Heaney Open Mic: A Celebration of Heaney, in His Words and Yours

Thursday 27 April, 1pm

Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again, Bank of Ireland Cultural & Heritage Centre, Westmoreland St, Dublin, D02 VR66

Free

WordsFlow: A Mindful Listening Workshop by the Sea

Thursday 27 April, 12.30pm

People’s Park, Park Road, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin (meet at the fountain)

€5

The Message in the Bottle is by the sea but not in it!

WordsFlow Collective are visual artists who both use text in their work. They are currently experimenting and collaborating with ‘found text’ collected on listening walks in various locations in Dublin. Participants are invited to collect words on https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/in-person-event-poetryopen-mic-tickets-551433431237

Join Listen Now Again for an hour to listen to and share poetry. You are invited to read Seamus Heaney’s work or to share your own poetry inspired by Heaney.

All are welcome, both amateurs and masters, and especially first-time readers; this is a quiet and safe space for all. Sign-up to perform from 12.45pm. Due to limited places, sign-up is first-come, first-served. Please come with back up Heaney poems prepared, in case someone else reads the one you chose!

A Poet’s Rising Promenade

Thursday 27 April, 2pm – 4pm

Irish Writers’ Centre, 19 Parnell Square N, Rotunda, Dublin 1, D01 E102 €15 https://irishwriterscentre.ie/whats-on/poetry-dayireland-a-poets-rising-promenade/

A Poet’s Rising Promenade walking tour, led by novelist and historian Conor Kostick, will visit key historical locations associated with the 1916 Rising, broadcasting poems commissioned by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Paul Muldoon, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Jessica Traynor, Theo Dorgan and Thomas McCarthy.

In 2016, to commemorate the contribution of writers to the most dramatic moment in Ireland’s revolutionary history, the Irish Writers Centre, supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, commissioned six contemporary poets to give their response to the Easter Rising. The poems were originally filmed and released during the week of the centenary and an original score was composed by Colm Mac Con Iomaire.

A Poet’s Rising Promenade revisits the places and poems associated with the original commission.

The tour will begin at 2pm at the statue of James Connolly, Beresford Place, opposite Liberty Hall. The walking tour will last approximately an hour.

Join IWC afterwards between 3pm – 4pm for light refreshments (tea, coffee, a glass of wine) at a screening of A Poet’s Rising film at the Irish Writers Centre.

Poetry and Performance

Tuesday 25 April, 3pm – 5pm Enniskerry Library, Dublin Road, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow

Free (registration required)

Writing Your First Piece of Poetry and Performing

It is a two-hour workshop facilitated by local artist Ronika Merl for children 10+. There are only ten spaces so registration is a must.

‘Poetry is the easiest thing in the world. You write things that taste good when you say them.’

In this workshop, poet and filmmaker Ronika Merl gives children an insight into what it’s like to write an original piece of poetry and find the courage to perform it out loud. In a fun and carefree way, participants will explore rhythm, flow, and wording, while focusing on voice and delivery. Poetry is performative, and this workshop combines the two.

Booking number: 01-2864339

Climate in a Bottle Poetry Project

Thursday 27 April, 3pm – 4pm

National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Haigh Terrace, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, A96 C8X7

Free https://www.mariner.ie/

Inspired by the Message in a Bottle theme set by Martina Evans for Poetry Day Ireland, and anxieties about the climate change situation, Climate in a Bottle invites poets to place their climate wishes (or a symbolic element from the climate of their home place) in a glass bottle, seal the bottle and write a poem. A reading of selected poems from this project will take place on Poetry Day Ireland.

A variety of the glass bottles submitted by poets from climates all over the world as part of this project will be on display in a transient exhibition at the National Maritime Museum to accompany the reading event.

Supported by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Arts Office and Mountains to Sea based writers in a relaxed, intimate setting. Come and experience a nourishing evening of poetry and nature and feed the creative spirit within!

This is a free event, open to the public, but places must be booked in advance via www. richmondbarracks.ie or by phoning 01 524 2532

Message in a Casino

Thursday 27 April, 4pm

Casino Marino, Malahide Road, Dublin 3, D03 HH70

The Office of Public Works is inviting the public to come see four distinct voices from today reading at the Casino Marino. Linda McKenna, Damien B. Donnelly, Sree Sen, and James William Dillon are coming together to celebrate this Poetry Day Ireland and will be reading at this 18th century neoclassical gem. All are invited!

Book tickets by calling 018331618 or emailing caisnomarino@opw.ie

On Cinematic Wavelength: A Message in Battle from Ukraine and Poetry Stories from Ireland

Thursday 27 April, 6pm – 8pm

Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, 36 Fenian St, Dublin, D02 CH22

Free

Celebrating Nature through Poetry!

Thursday 27 April, 6pm – 8pm

Richmond Barracks, St Michael’s Estate, Inchicore, Dublin 8, D08 YY05

Free https://www.richmondbarracks.ie/whats-on/

Explore poetry and nature together as part of a special once-off event in Richmond Barracks and the surrounding Inchicore area. This will be a poetry-infused evening event with two parts. It will begin with a biodiversity and nature walk along the canal, featuring contributions of poetry and short talks about active greening initiatives from local people. This will be followed by an event at the Barracks, hosted by an MC, which will celebrate poetry by famous poets from the area, as well as recitals of original poetry by up-and-coming, locally

This evening at the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation will feature a selection of video poetry by Ukrainian and Irish poets. The programme will include poems by some of Ukraine’s most prominent contemporary poets – Yurii Andykhovych, Yurii Izdryk, Halyna Kruk, Serhiy Zhadan, Olha Matso, and others – as well as some of Ireland’s top young poets, including Molly Twomey and Seán Hewitt. The universe of video poetry is like a cosmic ocean, with shells of poems glistening from its depths in a vast field of cinematic waves. This innovative multimedia genre is the perfect way to experience poetry on Poetry Day Ireland. Join the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation to hear, read, and see all the messages in a poetic bottle! Come and find your favourite wave in the ocean of video poetry!

A Brief Travel Through Time and Memory

Tuesday 25 April, 6.30pm

Ballyfermot Library, Ballyfermot Road, Dublin 10, Co. Dublin, D10 WV02 Free https://www.dublincity.ie/events/brief-travelthrough-time-and-memory

This poetry reading presented by poets Jean O’Brien and Maurice Devitt is a free event to help you get ready to celebrate Poetry Day Ireland. It is open to everyone. Jean and Maurice will read and talk about their work and then throw the floor open to the audience to each read one favourite poem or one of their own, or a short piece of writing they want to share. This year’s theme is about memory and the future and things we hold dear, coming out as we have from the long world altering cloud that was COVID. After such a time, it is important to remember the past as well as look to the future for whatever it may hold.

Eithne Lannon is a Dublin born poet. Her first collection, Earth Music, published in 2019 by Turas Press, was shortlisted for the Shine/Strong Best First Collection Award in 2020. Other work has been widely published in Ireland and internationally in various literary magazines, anthologies, and online. More information on Eithne’s poetry can be found at https://eithnelannon.com

Attendees are welcome to share their own poems or read a personal favourite poem as part of the session. This free in-person event at the library, but places are limited. First come, first seated.

Poets: The Unacknowledged Legislators of the World

Thursday 27 April, 6.30pm Tallaght Library, County Library, Library Square, Tallaght, Dublin D24 A3EX Free https://orlawrites.com/

Message in a Bottle – Crossing the Oceans to Reach You

Thursday 27 April, 6.30pm

Pearse Street Library, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2

Free, no booking required https://www.dublincity.ie/events/message-bottlecrossing-oceans-reach-you-0

Readings by Anne Tannam and Eithne Lannon, followed by poems from the audience, whether of their own, or one of their choosing.

An award-winning poet, Anne has published three poetry collections, the latest Twenty-six Letters of a New Alphabet was published with Salmon Poetry in July 2021. For more on Anne’s poetry, visit www.annetannampoetry.ie

The Unacknowledged Legislators of the World aims to focus on the tradition of poets such as William Blake/Shelley, (including more modern poets). These poets sent out distress cries, highlighting physical, political and spiritual abuse of power. Poets who used their poems as a container for distress cries (S.O.S.) which in turn became significant vessels washing up on shores they had the vision to imagine. Platform One writers (Eileen Casey, Doreen Duffy, Brian Kirk, Michael Whelan, Susan Condon, Vivienne Kearns, Orla Grant-Donoghue, Brigid Flynn, Joan Power) will read their own original ‘message in a bottle’ poems inspired by these much-respected S.O.S. poets. The event will take place on the main floor of Tallaght Library where the audience will have an opportunity to voice their views on the power of poetry to influence policy makers in a world beset by social and environmental issues. Poems will be displayed throughout the library for the duration of Poetry Day, 2023.

Poetry Book Launches & Open Mic with ArtNetdlr

Thursday 27 April, 7pm

Walters Bar, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin Free www.artnetdlr.ie

ArtNetdlr presents three poetry book launches, followed by an open mic on Poetry Day Ireland.

It’s Okay. He’s American by Arnie Yasinski

Sentient by Alison Hackett

Poetic Licence in a Time of Corona by Chris Fitzpatrick

— Arnie Yasinski knows his difference is noticed when he opens his mouth to speak in Ireland; he sees how the stasis of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is everywhere, knows how darkness can be camouflaged, how the Irish avoid pain by averting their eyes from the abyss.

— Alison Hackett’s poems of remembrance, of love, of still-life; language, people, place and religion pepper her second collection which sets out from West Cork and takes in Dublin, India, Germany, Beirut, France and England on the way.

— A medic, Chris Fitzpatrick, finds healing for himself by writing poems on his phone as the pandemic grips – rhythm, rhyme, haiku, a list-poem of what to do when someone can’t breathe (and why you wouldn’t kneel on their neck), why Lionel Richie keeps sending him emails, reading a letter from the Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, written to his brother who is dying.

Rock N Poet

Thursday 27 April, 7pm

Wexford Library

Free

What makes a song also a poem and a poem also a song? How do we ascribe the trade of poet and songwriter to performers like Jim Morrison, P.J. Harvey and Joni Mitchell. Remember when Seamus Heaney described the lyrics of Eminem in glowing terms, that he had “created a sense of what is possible - not just through his subversive attitude but also his verbal energy.” So, what can make a song also a poem, and a poem also a song, will be discussed by two writers up to their tonsils in poetry, criticism and performance - former Sunday Times book reviewer and programmer of Jazz at Johnstown, Tom Mooney, and the front man of Cursed Murphy Versus the Resistance and author of two novels for Faber, John the Revelator (2009) and Shall We Gather at the River (2013), Peter Murphy. Both will compile a list of ten singer-songwriters whom they believe are or were excellent poets. This is a free event to mark Poetry Day Ireland.

Booking is advisable. Contact Wexford Library at (053) 919 6760.

The World’s Wife

Thursday 27 April, 7pm Wicklow Library, The Mall Main Street, Wicklow, Co. Wicklow A67 X504

Free

Come and celebrate Poetry Day Ireland with a performance of Carol Ann Duffy’s funny, sublime and subversive collection of poems, The World’s Wife. A deft, tongue-in-cheek, no-holds-barred exploration of the women behind the scenes, hidden from history. Let Mrs Midas, Mrs Aesop and even Queen Kong step up and tell their tale. Performed by actor and storyteller Carmel Stephens.

Ulster

BRIGHT IDEA: Síol | Seed

Wednesday 26 April, 10am – 1pm | Thursday 27 April, 3pm – 5pm

Garradh Cholm Cille, Falcarragh, Co Donegal, F92 W2H7

Free, first-come, first-served

Síol/Seed, a collaborative and bilingual project for Poetry Day Ireland on Thursday 27 April, invites the public to create origami poetry sculptures on seed paper to be buried in the earth, blossoming into a rainbow of colors during the LGBTQIA+ arts festival Bród na Gaeltachta in July 2023. The project combines poetry workshops, sculpture, the environment, and community engagement, with the input of award-winning Irish language poet Máire Dinny Wren and multidisciplinary artist Leanne McLaughlin. Pobail Le Chéile CLG will provide the community garden at Garradh Cholm Cille as the site for the burial and budding of the poetry creations. The project is an initiative of Bród na Gaeltachta and will be steered by TG4 actor and BnaG founder Pól Penrose. It aims to celebrate the richness and beauty of the Gaeilge language and culture while encouraging a reconnection with nature and place in the Gaeltacht community.

BRIGHT IDEA: ‘Here is a brighter garden* [in a bottle!]’

Thursday 27 April, 10am-11.30am / 5pm – 6.30pm

The Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast

£2 https://crescentarts.org/

‘Here is a brighter garden* [in a bottle!]’ is a poetry workshop that invites participants to plant a poem and nurture it as it grows.

This workshop, facilitated by Bebe Ashley, has three key elements. Participants are first invited to build a small garden in a bottle, we’ll then write a poem on paper embedded with wildflower seeds, and finally plant our poems into the garden. Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be able to watch the seed paper germinate and our poems bloom.

*Emily Dickinson

Supported by the Poetry Day Ireland Bright Ideas

Bursary New Script for Mental Health Travelling

Apothecary Wednesday 26 April – Friday 28 April, various times GROW and GÁP community gardens

Wednesday 26 April, 10am – 1pm: Poetry and Sculpture Workshops

Thursday 27 April, 3pm – 5pm: Poetry Day Ireland reading and ceremonial burial of poetry creations

Contact and booking email: COORDPOBAILLC@ GMAIL.COM

Contact telephone: 074 980111/ 0833975203

Supported by the Poetry Day Ireland Bright Ideas Bursary

Youth Action, 14 College Square N, Belfast BT1 6AS Grey Point, Helen’s Bay, Bangor BT19 1LE Free www.nlb.ie/campaigns/mental-health

The New Script for Mental Health Travelling

Apothecary is a brand-new, portable pharmacy, created by the New Script for Mental Health campaign. It will set up shop in 4 locations over 3 days, from 27-29 April, including community gardens, a youth project and a beach on the Co. Down coast. Approximately 80 people in total are expected to participate. It will prescribe, in the words