Tag: Poetry Ireland

The Heart of Summer

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This summer, Olivia O’Leary, acclaimed journalist and presenter of RTÉ Radio 1’s Poetry Programme, will host The Heart of Summer, a feast of poetry and music in some of Ireland’s great historic houses.

Produced by Poetry Ireland in partnership with the OPW, guests joining Olivia will include some of Ireland’s finest poets and musicians, including Paula Meehan, Tom French, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and Bernard O’Donoghue.

Performances will take place in four of the OPW’s iconic historic properties: Doneraile Court in Co. Cork, Derrynane House in Co. Kerry, Glebe House and Gallery in Co. Donegal, and Emo Court in Co. Laois. Several of the concerts will be recorded for later broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1’s The Poetry Programme.

Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh

On Saturday 6th July at 8pm, Olivia will be joined by celebrated Irish poets Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh and Bernard O’Donoghue, as well as visual artist and singer Ceara Conway, at Doneraile Court in Co. Cork. Originally built in the 1700s, Doneraile Court is the centrepiece of a four hundred acre estate in North Cork. This great Irish house is opening to visitors for the first time in summer 2019 following an extensive restoration programme.

Irish Times Poetry Now Award winner Paddy Bushe, poet and children’s author Enda Wyley, and acclaimed traditional singer and musician Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh will be Olivia’s guests in Derrynane House in Caherdaniel, Co. Kerry on Saturday 13th July at 8pm. Standing at the very tip of the stunning Iveragh Peninsula, Derrynane House is the ancestral home of Daniel O’Connell, one of the great figures in modern Irish history. Derrynane was one of the great influences on O’Connell’s life, and now displays many relics of his life and career.

Paula Meehan

Olivia is joined by poets Paula Meehan and Martin Dyar, as well as singer-songwriter Farah Elle in Glebe House and Gallery in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal on Saturday 20th July at 8pm. Set alongside gorgeous Glenveagh National Park, Glebe was once the home of the renowned artist Derek Hill, and now displays collections of Islamic and Japanese art, as well as 300 works by leading twentieth-century artists including Picasso.

On Saturday 27th July at 8pm, Kilkenny-born poet Tom French, bilingual writer Deirdre Brennan and Dublin-based woodwind instrumentalist, composer and music producer Seán Mac Erlaine will join Olivia at Emo Court in Portarlington, Co. Laois. Emo Court House is one of architect James Gandon’s neo-classical masterpieces. Set in lush parklands, the house is surrounded by beautiful gardens, a lake, woodland walks and many fine trees and shrubs.

Tickets to each event cost €10 (€8 concessions), and can be booked online here.

Words Lightly Spoken

Here is a link to the podcast Words Lightly Spoken which was posted on the RTÉ website yesterday. With thanks to the producer, Claire Cunningham.

In this episode of the new Arts Council-funded podcast Words Lightly Spoken, Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh reads her poem Filleadh ón Antartach, and the English translation, Return from Antarctica, by Billy Ramsell, from her collection The Coast Road, published by The Gallery Press.

Launch of ‘Calling Cards’

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Wednesday 21st November at 7pm in Poetry Ireland, 11 Parnell Square East, Dublin 1.

The Gallery Press and Poetry Ireland present the lauch of Calling Cards, an anthology of ten younger Irish poets with translations into English.

In a novel partnership between Poetry Ireland and The Gallery Press Calling Cards introduces a new generation of Irish-language poets to a wider audience. This vibrant anthology includes prize-winning authors of several collections as well as three who have yet to publish a book. The translators include some of Ireland’s finest poets. Edited by Peter Fallon and Aifric Mac Aodha.

Poems in Irish
Máirtín Coilféir • Proinsias Mac a’ Bhaird • Aifric Mac Aodha • Marcus Mac Conghail • Caitríona Ní Chléirchín • Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh • Doireann Ní Ghríofa • Caitlín Nic Íomhair • Simon Ó Faoláin • Stiofán Ó hIfearnáin

Translations
Colette Bryce • Ciaran Carson • Peter Fallon • Alan Gillis • Medbh McGuckian • Paul Muldoon • Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin • Peter Sirr • David Wheatley

Available to pre-order

Published: November 2018
RRP: €12.95 paperback / €18.95 hardback
ISBN PBK: 978 1 91133 755 3
ISBN HBK: 978 1 91133 756 0

Parnell’s Walking Stick

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Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh was recently presented with Parnell’s Walking Stick. Cut by Charles Stewart Parnell himself in Avondale Wood in 1889 or 1890, this stick has a rich literary history. It came into the possession of Brinsley MacNamara, who, in turn, gave it to the poet W.R. Rodgers. It was later passed on to Conor Cruise O’Brien, who conferred it on Séamus Heaney.  In 1998 Heaney entrusted it to Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, and it was she who decided to bestow it on Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh. The presentation occurred in Poetry Ireland on Parnell Square at a reading of Ní Ghearbhuigh’s new collection, The Coast Road (The Gallery Press, 2016).