Emily Cullen's Blog, page 4

Eilís Dillon Book Club starts tomorrow...

The past week has flown and I'm delighted to announce that the Eilís Dillon Book Club is now full with 25 members having signed up. Our first session takes place online tomorrow (Thursday, 8 October) at 7pm. Taking her novel, The Bitter Glass (1958) as our main focus, the Eilís Dillon Book Club will also discuss the author's life and legacy and feature special guests each week, including her daughter, renowned poet, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin , son, Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin , Anne Marie Herron , Siobhán Morrissey and Maureen O'Connor . In our first session we will ease into the book by chatting about our initial impressions of the text with a special focus on the Galway scenes and the world Dillon is creating. The Bitter Glass is an ideal choice for Galway’s Great Read, I think, for a number of reasons: 1) the book is set in Galway city and county and includes many lush descriptions of the landscape, the sea, the Connemara people, folklore and rich nathanna cainte or turns of phrase; 2) its plotline is engaging throughout, yet artfully simple – it keeps us compelled to read while the story arc is cohesive and enjoyable; 3) the time period in which the book is set – 1922 during the Irish Civil War – is resonant and, as such, addresses themes from our history that are especially notable in this second phase of the Decade of Centenaries; 4) the story is well told in prose that is clear and lucent and 5) last but not least, it is written by a homegrown talent – a true Galwegian. If you'd like to join us in spirit, we'd be delighted. The Bitter Glass is now available to read via Kindle here. (If you don't own a Kindle, you could download the Kindle app to your device). You can also read a sampler of the first three chapters of the novel for free on the Eilís Dillon website. Below is an outline of what we'll be exploring at the Book Club over the next four weeks. Happy reading!: The Eilís Dillon Book Club is presented by Galway Public Libraries as part of Galway's Great Read funded by Creative Ireland, Galway County Council and the Decade of Centenaries.

Announcing the Eilís Dillon Book Club as part of Galway's Great Read

The name Eilís Dillon always had an intriguing ring for me. I recall the book cover we had at home with its curious title, Across the Bitter Sea, and the world-weary, sphinx-like gaze of its dark-haired heroine on the cover, gently confronting the reader, with a crumbling ruin in the background, an ocean and a seated gentleman. I knew the book had that sweeping ‘saga’ look about it, but to my child's eyes, it seemed like something of a tome - too large and prohibitive. So, it was not until relatively recently that I finally got my hands on a copy of the novel that had graced our shelves in my childhood home in Carrick-on-Shannon, and knuckled down to reading it. Ambitious in its historical time span (1851-1916) and thematic reach, yet written with a fluid and compelling touch, it's no wonder the novel achieved bestseller status when first published in 1973. After years of being unfairly neglected, Eilís Dillon is a name to conjure with once again. So many Irish households own at least one copy of an Eilís Dillon novel and yet we hear so little about her. Why so? Now, in her centenary year, it is heartening that there are celebrations taking place throughout October and November across Galway city and county and I’m delighted to announce that, as part of Galway’s Great Read, I will be facilitating the free online Eilís Dillon Book Club for Galway Public Libraries throughout the month of October. “I was born, in Galway in 1920, into a world of ghosts”, Dillon wrote in her captivating memoir, Inside Ireland (1982) and we will be unpacking what exactly the writer meant over the course of the book club sessions with a special focus on her 1958 novel, The Bitter Glass - the first of the six historical novels written by her. I decided to explore The Bitter Glass because of its richness as a socio-historical document of the civil war era in Ireland (relevant in this decade of centenaries) and as a novel that evokes the whitewashed homesteads and turf-fires of Connemara. Eilis Dillon’s West-of-Ireland sensibility and deep feeling for the landscape and its people pervades her books, offering glimpses of the songs, traditions and folklore of the Galway hinterland. While Across the Bitter Sea is probably her most famous novel, The Bitter Glass is a quiet work of art with its simple storyline and tense plot that raises subtle, yet haunting, questions around the 'Irish conscience' and that also explores themes of confinement, especially apt in our pandemic era. Gripping enough to read in a couple of sittings, I know it will be ideal for our book group discussions. I was also impressed to discover that the book was included in the Peter Boxall's 1001 Books you must read before you die compendium and that the great Eudora Welty was "completely won by it...the world of Connemara was flawlessly conveyed". Each week, on Thursday evenings from 7pm, (beginning on 8th October), we will focus on particular passages in the book, discuss the novel’s themes and also have a chat with a special guest who will enrich our understandings. With the truism of its very opening sentence, proclaiming that: “Galway was like a different world”, how apt that it is Galway's Great Read for 2020! To register for a place click on this link and be sure to sign up for each of the 4 sessions. I look forward to chatting with you about this fascinating and highly versatile writer. The first three chapters of The Bitter Glass are now available to read for free on the Eilís Dillon website here. The book will also be available via Kindle very soon. Happy reading and I hope you might join us for what promises to be a fun and engaging exploration of a truly gifted writer!

Book review: One Hundred Views of NW3 by Pat Jourdan

Renowned author and artist, Pat Jourdan's new novel, One Hundred Views of NW3 paints a vivid picture of London in the early 1960s through the eyes of Stella, recently graduated from art college and finding her feet in the world. With her clear aesthetic vision of the 36 scenes she is going to paint, Stella accrues much more material from life than she bargains for. A kind of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman, without the egotism of Joyce, Pat’s painterly eye observes small, mundane realities through a fresh lens; her detached, autofictional voice looks askance at her own 20s as if through an artist’s viewfinder. We witness her internal thought processes making sense of each scene as it unfolds around her – a curious combination of the bohemian and the pragmatic. With Jourdan’s characteristic flair for detail, the book is shot through with nuggets of psychological wisdom, insight (there many fascinating asides gleaned from Stella’s Liverpool art school training) and a searing honesty about her struggles. Her lost tampon vignette is like a whole new feminist antidote to John Donne: “Making contact with the magic little thread was like discovering radium or America; suddenly there was hope. The next worry was that by tugging at this little strand she might break it. It had never done, ever, before but there could always be a first time. In fact Stella had never thought of it. Writhing about, rolling over on this dirty carpet, she felt in sight of success. A lookout in the crow’s nest. Land ahoy.” (p. 38) We witness Stella’s hard-won lessons about the grasping, predatorial men who leave her to pick up the pieces as they drift in and out of her life. Though never didactic or preachy, this book will certainly consolidate your feminist sensibilities. (How were standards for men ever so low and so acceptable?!) The topography of London is laid out seamlessly as Clapham Common, Shepherd’s Park, Stockwell Green/Road, Hampstead Heath and many other locales are brought to life, while the excitement around the burgeoning poetry scene is palpable. One Hundred Views of NW3 is also a social document of a time when smog filled the London air, the Vietnam war was waging and Tom Jones’s “It’s Not Unusual” topped the charts. Often struggling to pay her rent and to afford her next meal, the book highlights the plight and privations of young artists who have to find ways “to get by in other occupations”. I also read it as an indictment of a system and a time that was hostile to fledgling female artists starting out with no supports in place, and when work as a secretary, nurse or cleaner was an unavoidable destiny. Opting for the latter, Stella joins the ‘Daily Maids’ agency and notes that: “it was impossible to draw or sketch at work even when a house or flat was empty. But she always kept a small notebook in a pocket for any rapid lines of poetry that might occur, worried that if not written immediately, they would disappear forever. Otherwise entire days were wasted with nothing to show for her efforts. The houses re-dirtied themselves, there was no result much longer than an hour. So much of the work ordinary people did was like this; untraceable and repetitive.” (p. 62). Pat’s poetic gifts for language also pervade the book. On her first date with Dave, she is led “through galleries towards the showcases filled with clocks. The ticking of so many timepieces together made a clacking sound as if these hulking grandfather and grandmother clocks were chattering together over centuries while London traffic milled about outside in messy chaos.” (p. 7). Pat gallantly changes the names of her characters so we are left wondering about the identity of many of the seriously dodgy male poets in the book, especially ‘Stu’. The renowned female poet, Stevie Smith, is the only one permitted her true name. What is apparent, however, is that we are smack bang in the era of the Mersey Sound poets when even Ginsberg himself trekked to the UK to check out the new craze for poetry. Glancing at my second-hand copy of The Mersey Sound Penguin Modern Poets now, I’m struck by the gaping lack of a female poet in the slim volume - containing Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten - though, tellingly, a maniacal female ‘fan’ is depicted on the cover, reminding us that women were clearly perceived as the accessories and the cheerleaders, rarely ever the art-makers. (Interestingly, much of the poetry in The Mersey Sound doesn’t hold up so well at a remove from its time, looking rather trite and self-involved now). One Hundred Views of NW3, on the other hand, is perfectly paced with just the right mix of wisdom-laced narrative summary and lively direct speech to keep us wanting more. What shines through, indomitably, is Stella’s genuine interest in people and curiosity about the world around her, no matter how tough her travails. She is never self-pitying through hardships and heartbreaks, but always a remarkable combination of pragmatic and inventive. And, most of all, she finds true elation and 'natural highs' in her art and in the creative process: “It was being an artist after all that was important.” This book’s combination of heart, great prose and insight into early ‘60s England makes it a compelling and rewarding read. One Hundred Views of NW3 is available now from Amazon in both print edition and Kindle editions. See: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pat-Jourdan/...

More poetry updates: Roscommon Schools' Poetry Prize & my first YouTube reading

Before the global COVID-19 pandemic, I had just started as poet-in-residence at Scoil Phobail Mhic Dara in Carna, in the beautiful Connemara Gaeltacht. At NUI Galway, I was able to move my last Creative Writing seminars of the semester online. I was also looking forward to giving a reading at the wonderful Strokestown International Poetry Festival this weekend with poet, Simon Lewis. While event cancellations and postponements are unfortunate for everyone involved, the most important thing is that we are all staying safe, remembering that "our health is our wealth". 

On a positive note, it has been uplifting to judge the Roscommon Schools' Poetry competition for the Strokestown Poetry Festival and to read so many poems of every day celebration from primary and secondary students. The winners of the competition - for both primary and secondary schools - were officially announced on the Festival website today. I read over 450 entries "blind" in batches, so I was delighted to see a good mix of boys and girls among the winners and highly commended poets (see the list of winners and highly commended poets below)



Visit this link to read the winning poem from both primary ("Earth"), and secondary ("Lunatic"), schools. My individual comments have been sent to the recipients and I look forward to watching out for the names of these fledgling writers as they make their first incursions into print in the not-too-distant future. I'm grateful to Strokestown Poetry Festival committee for asking me to judge the competition. 

In other exciting news, I gave my first live reading on Youtube for The Holding Cell last Wednesday, 29th April at 7pm and you can watch the reading here. It was an exhilarating experience; slightly nerve-wracking but also highly enjoyable. Huge thanks to everyone who tuned in and eased me on my maiden voyage with technology - it certainly helped! 

Giving my first live YouTube reading from my kitchen last Wednesday


Though it feels somewhat odd for me to invite 'subscribers', I plan to announce future short readings in the not-too-distant future, now that my new YouTube channel is "off the ground", and the best way you can find out about upcoming releases is to click the 'subscribe' tab on the page. So I urge you to do so.
Hats off to the wonderful Simon and Rozz Lewis for taking the brilliant initiative of setting up the Holding Cell during this time of global crisis and thanks so much to them for inviting me to read. For a full line-up of readers and schedule of readings, check out The Holding Cell website here. 

A tribute to Eavan Boland

My head is full with Eavan Boland this evening. She has left us too soon, (she passed away suddenly yesterday at the age of 75), and the country is in mourning for its great national poet. After years of enjoying her poetry, I felt blessed to finally meet her in the Summer of 2018, when I was one of eight poets selected to participate in a masterclass she was leading for Poetry Ireland during the Kilkenny Arts Festival. When Eavan entered the room, there was a palpable hush of admiration. During the next two hours, Eavan rigorously assessed and dissected a poem by each of us. To observe a master at work is always a privilege and a delight. We were all deeply impressed by her incisiveness and verbal acuity as a brilliant “line editor” – the term she humbly applied to herself that day. She only had to appraise our drafts quickly to grasp the core of the piece and what it had the potential to become. 


Eavan Boland (1944-2020) RIPMagnanimously, she also invited us to send her one additional poem by email after the workshop, to which she would respond soon with suggestions. On 27 August 2018 I was fortunate to receive a considered reply in which she wrote with gentle encouragement about one of my stanzas: “I know that making a cut can be painful. But there might be some argument for making it here.” She also found the Achilles heel of my draft – a didactic tendency in the exposition – and wrote the following: “In summary there really is so much of worth and energy in this poem that I think it would really benefit from revision. Didacticism is a temptation for every single poet, and is worth resisting! But without it there is an eloquent strong poem here.” How sage and true her advice. I remain on guard now for a whiff of didacticism in my writings, knowing that I will treasure the message she sent me. Poetry is a lifelong journey and apprenticeship, and I keep the photo taken of us all with Eavan that day above my desk to nudge me not to stint or slacken in my creative efforts. 
Eavan Boland (centre) with the participants of her masterclass, August 2018. I'm left of the poet
I don’t claim to be an expert on Eavan’s corpus of work by any means. However, I have had some occasions for close reading her poems when I explored them with undergraduates in Irish Studies seminars at NUI Galway (her poems about Irish migrant experience and the liminal spaces of the diaspora) and her poems about the Famine and the Irish landscape with American exchange students from Villanova University who were at NUI Galway for the semester. The latter poems, in particular, impressed my exchange students who were rendered speechless, with glassy eyes, when they googled ‘famine roads’ only to discover maps with meandering boreens like tributaries that tapered off into nothing, before ever reaching the ocean. They were dumbstruck at the calculated cruelty of Lord Trevelyan and his committee. Eavan bravely squared up to the great tragedy of the Famine through the lens of art, expressing the ineffable when few others were attempting to do so. In tackling the patriarchal hegemony of the Irish canon, her immersion in, and engagement with, Irish culture and the Irish tradition was profound. Lulled by the romance of the 18th century Aisling tradition and by the sovereignty myths of Banba, Eire and Fodhla, I confess that I hadn’t critically considered the import of the figuration of Ireland-as-woman for myself as a young Irish female writer until I read Eavan’s book, Object Lessons. "I could not a woman accept the nation formulated for me by Irish poetry and its traditions," she wrote, rejecting a "fusion of the national and the feminine which seemed to simplify both."In terms of my own developing body of work, as a new mother living in the Galway suburbs, I was keenly aware that Eavan had celebrated the ordinary wonders of a woman’s life in the suburbs of Dublin, elevating the everyday granular details of her reality to art, like her great mentor, Patrick Kavanagh, before her had done for the small farms of rural Ireland. I felt truly free to write about my struggles with breast feeding, about adjusting to motherhood, about the vicissitudes of parenting a child with special education needs and also about attuning to the quiet joys of children, the wonder of “night feeds”, the miracles amid the challenges. In sum, Eavan Boland has bequeathed us many treasures; we are blessed to be able to enjoy her rich legacy. If you are not familiar with her poems, now is a great time to seek them out on sites such as Poetry Foundation or Poem Hunter.com for starters. Ar Dheis De go raibh a h-anam. Although it’s a sombre week to embark on a new adventure with technology, in the wake of Eavan's passing, I will be giving my first live youtube reading for the Holding Cell tomorrow evening (Wed, 29 April) at 7pm and the poet's generous legacy and spirit will be foremost on my mind. Please join me live from my kitchen at 7pm by clicking here.https://youtu.be/YJemsDRXwyU

A few thoughts about poetry for National Poetry Month

Happy National Poetry Month! Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, this occasion was conceived to remind the public that poetry matters and that poets have a vital role to play in our culture. It has since become the largest literary celebration in the world, with millions of readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, curators, publishers, and, of course, poets, marking poetry's important place in our lives. 
Through the centuries, humankind has reached for poetry in volatile times for a variety of reasons. We turn to it for solace and comfort, for inspiration and distraction, for sheer beauty of image and word music, to attenuate our loneliness and isolation, to remind us of our common humanity and the uncommon reach of our souls, to motivate us for change and revolution. Sometimes the volta of a poem is the vital lever we need to pivot around our dogging worries, to jolt us into action with a fresh resolve. 

It is also true to say that people sometimes find poetry obscure, that it can challenge us as readers. There is a sense in which we can get hung up on its explainability, however. Christopher Logue wisely uttered that “poetry cannot be defined, only experienced,” something which  Billy Collins  articulated memorably in his poem, “ Introduction to Poetry .” One of the pleasures of reading poetry is mulling over its reverberations, over that which might elude us at first. If I find myself grappling with a poem – (even poets do this on occasion!) - I try to encounter the poem on its own terms, rather than dismiss it as arcane. “If a poem is completely confusing,” writes Rhian Williams in  The Poetry Toolkit, “start with listening for its sounds, marking its rhythms, thinking about its form. These starting points can open up a route to a more satisfying understanding.”

As we confront the unchartered territory of a global pandemic, National Poetry Month is a welcome light to help us navigate through this darkness. In our recent history, poems such as W.H. Auden’s poem “September 1, 1939” which found the poet “uncertain and afraid” at the outbreak of World War II, gained new resonance in the wake of 9/11. Though it invited some controversy too, the poem, which moves beyond stasis, took on a quasi-religious status, with Auden “showing an affirming flame” at its end. Similarly, Brendan Kennelly’s poem “Begin” touched, and was shared by, many New Yorkers in the days after the attacks. In terms of its power to inspire revolution, we recall that poetry played a crucial part in the Peace Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement, the Gay Liberation Campaign and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. During the more recent Arab Spring, four lines of poetry from Abu Al-Qasim Al-Shabi’s poem “Will to Live,” captured the emotions of Tunisian protesters in their struggle for democracy and proved a powerful, unifying cry for freedom: ‘If one day, a people desire to live, / then fate will answer their call / And their night will then begin to fade, / and their chains break and fall.’ This quatrain was repeatedly uttered, emblazoned on t-shirts and shared orally & across social media. I have written elsewhere on this blog about how the silenced women of Afghanistan are harnessing the power of the two-line landay form as a platform of resistance. 

Last year, in my role as Director of  Cúirt  International Festival of Literature , I was thrilled to be able to bring two powerful spoken word poets and activists to Galway audiences: Palestinian poet, Rafeef Ziadh and African-American poet,  Patricia Smith . You can hear their gripping performance, which was hosted by Olivia O’Leary and recorded live at the Town Hall for RTE Radio 1’s Poetry Programme at this link. (Also note that  Cúirt  will be going digital this year and will be broadcast online and entirely free. Congratulations to new Director, Sasha de Buyl and all the festival team on a great initiative!).  
It is heart-warming that many people are currently sharing and exchanging poems again; poems such as "Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver with its potent lines “whoever you are, no matter how lonely, / the world offers itself to your imagination” and John O’Donoghue’s “This is the time to be slow, / Lie low to the wall / Until the bitter weather passes.” The American poet and activist, Audre Lorde stated that “. . . poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of light within which we can predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change.” My hope is that our collective sharing of our favourite poems during this international crisis and beyond, will remind us of the very real power of poetry to inspire, comfort, delight and affirm. And, in so doing, illuminate the quality of light within our own lives. If you would like to receive a free daily poem in your inbox, I would encourage you to do sign up for up for a  Poem-a-Day  and also to subscribe to the  Poetry Foundation newsletter . 
As a champion of poetry and poets, through the courses that I teach (‘Creative Writing’ to undergraduates and ‘Appreciation of Poetry’ for Adult Education at NUI Galway) and through the various arts events and activities I organise from time to time, I have assembled quite a storehouse of thoughts and ideas about the form, some of which I’d like to share with you here. I hope they might bring a little bit of comfort and inspiration at this time of uncertainty. 
On how poetry is born:
·      “A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.” – Robert Frost
·      “You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart.” – Carol Anne Duffy
·      “Poetry is everywhere; it just needs editing.” – James Tate
On what poetry is – expressed in a poem:
                   ‘Poetry is thatwhich arrives at the intellectby way of the heart.’
- R.S. Thomas
On the sensations of poetry – some ‘slanted truths’:
·      “If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it.” – Emily Dickinson
On poetry and the mind:
·      “Poetry is a great mental accelerator” – Joseph Brodsky
·      “Poetry is an espresso shot of thought” – Daljit Nagra
On poetry and the heart:
·      “Poetry is the universal language which the heart holds with nature and itself.” – William Hazlitt
On the uplifting nature of poetry:
·      “Poetry excites the moment with hope.” – Patrick Kavanagh
On poetry and humanity:
·      “A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone's knowledge of himself and the world around him.”  - Dylan Thomas
·      “It [poetry] is a widening of consciousness, an extension of humanity. We sense an ideal version when we read, and with it arm ourselves, to quarrel with reality.” – David Constantine
On poetry and music:
·      “Each word has a little music of its own” which “poetry arranges so it can be heard” - Kenneth Koch

“    "The poet is the bearer of rhythm. In the infinite depths of the human spirit, which are beyond the reach of morality, law, society and the state, move sound-waves akin to the waves embracing the universe…” – Alexander Blok 
·      “Poetry is the music of being human.” – Carol Anne Duffy
On poetry and language:
·      “Poetry is language at its most distilled and powerful.” – Rita Dove
·      “Poetry is the art of using words charged with their utmost meaning.” – Dana Goia
On poetry and silence:
·      “Poetry is the place where language in its silence is most beautifully articulated. Poetry is the language of silence… One way to invigorate and renew your language is to expose yourself to poetry.” – John O’Donoghue
·      “The true poem rests between the words.” ― Vanna Bonta
On poetry and the 'Poetic':
·      “All genuine poetry in my view is anti-poetry” – Charles Simic
On poetry and truth:

"The ethical responsibility of the poetry is emotional accuracy." – Helen Vendler 
·      “A poet must never make a statement simply because it sounds poetically exciting; he must also believe it to be true.” – W. H. Auden
On poetry’s revolutionary power:
·      “Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness.” - Alice Walker

A great grand finale for our 'Flesh and Blood' Doire Press Tour

Sincere thanks to everyone who came out to our reading in Galway City Library on Thursday evening. What a memorable tour it has been from start to finish, taking in Belfast, Dublin, Cork and our grand finale in Galway. Huge thanks to my publishers at Doire Press, John Walsh and Lisa Frank, to our tour organiser, the multi-talented Ruth McKee and to my fellow poets, Simon Lewis and Michael J.Whelan . It's been a great pleasure reading with Simon and Michael, as well as great fun getting to know them both and I've enjoyed every minute. Thanks also to Ruth and Lisa for twisting my arm to play a few tunes on the harp at the end of our final reading. I played a mazurka in D major, a jig in E minor and that beautiful 17th century piece composed by harper, Rory Dall Ó Catháin, 'Give Me Your Hand'. It was fitting note to end upon given that the third section of my book, Conditional Perfect , is inspired by the history and music of the Irish harp!
Me reading from Conditional Perfect (Doire Press) at Galway City Library
Simon Lewis reading from Ah, Men! (Doire Press)
Michael J. Whelan reading from Rules of Engagement (Doire Press)

We had a great crowd at the Library The '3 Musketeers' of the 'Flesh & Blood' tour: Simon, Emily & Michael
With some of my lovely friends who came out to support me: Anne, Blathnaid & Susan I was delighted to play a few tunes at the end of the reading

Final reading of the 'Flesh and Blood' Doire Press tour tomorrow in Galway

Last Wednesday, 6th November, Simon, Michael, Ruth and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Cork city for our reading at the City Library. We were thrilled to have a full house and a warm and engaged audience. Huge thanks to everyone who came to support us in Cork
Michael J. Whelan, Simon Lewis, Emily Cullen & Ruth McKee Emily Cullen with renowned Cork-based poet, Thomas McCarthy Reading in Cork City Library Me with some of my wonderful, supportive family and Cork relatives It's hard to believe that our 2019 Doire Press Autumn/Winter Tour will culminate in our final reading tomorrow at 6:30pm in Galway City Library! I'm especially delighted that we'll be concluding our travels back on my own home turf and I look forward to seeing many friends, old and new, at the Library tomorrow. It's been a great pleasure getting to know my two fellow poets on the tour, Michael and Simon, swapping stories and reading along side both. I think our varied, contrasting voices complement each other well and make for a fun and encompassing range of poetry. Thankfully the feedback from audiences to date, in Belfast, Dublin and Cork, has been highly positive. As always, the reading tomorrow evening is free and everyone is warmly welcome! Thanks to The Galway Advertiser and Arts Editor, Kernan Andrews, for this lovely write up about our event which appears in this week's edition of the paper

So come along tomorrow evening and please tell your friends and spread the word! Thanks x

All set for Achill Harp Fest!

Well, the car is nearly packed up and the harp will be the last thing to go in as we set off for the 2019 Féile Chruite Acla - Achill International Harp Festival where I'll be giving a reading and recital with multi-talented musician, Sile Denvir at 4pm tomorrow and also a free talk on the 'Irish harp as trope, icon and instrument' on Monday at 11:30am. Check out the exciting programme full of gems below and on the festival website at: http://achillharpfestival.ie/!

  I have an extra spring in my step today because acclaimed novelist, Neil Hegarty, whose new novel The Jewel is out now and garnering multiple accoldades, has recommended my book, Conditional Perfect, in today's Irish Independent. I'm honoured that my book is among his current stack of bedside reads and what a great, eclectic list it is too. Thanks so much Neil for the kind mention! 
How lovely that Neil Hegarty is reading my new book and in such great company too!

Flesh and Blood and Gut (strings!) - all happening this week!

This is an action-packed week when much Weetabix-consumption will be required! Having taught Creative Writing and 'Landscape, Literature & Culture' seminars to some of my students at NUI Galway already this week I'm getting set to read from my new collection, CONDITIONAL PERFECT, at the lovely Vintage Room, at the WorkmansClub in Dublin at 6:30pm tomorrow (Wednesday) evening along with two wonderful poets, my fellow travellers on the Doire Press 'Flesh and Blood' tour, Michael Whelan and Simon Lewis . 
Dublin friends, this is a free event and we hope you can join us! Then one further Creative Writing seminar on Thursday (how I love teaching this subject!) and then on Friday I'm bound for Achill where the 2019Achill Harp Fest will be kicking off and where I'm honoured to be giving a poetry reading and recital along with the multi-talented Síle Denvir at 4pm on Sunday and a free illustrated talk on the 'Irish harp as trope, icon and instrument' at 11:30am on Monday. The full line-up can be viewed here. All very exciting! Congrats to Laoise Kelly and the Achill Harp Fest committee on another wonderful programme this year!
Next stop on the 'Flesh and Blood' tour tomorrow is.... Dublin! <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; mso-themecolor:hyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} span.textexposedshow {mso-style-name:text_exposed_show; mso-style-unhide:no;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection</style><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DawZmrRsg_..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="549" height="556" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DawZmrRsg_..." width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><span class="textexposedshow"></span></span>