This spring I will lead an 8-week course with title 'writing as a reader / reading as a writer.' The course is offered as part of the Irish Writers Centre Academy 's Spring 2026 programme. This is an online course. Beginning on Thursday 5 March 2026, it will run weekly between 6.30pm - 8.30pm Dublin time. Limited spaces available. Book your place here . Full course information on the IWC website , and below. Course Summary: As poets and writers we are first and foremost readers mediating external material, text and otherwise, in the process of making new work. And as readers operating in the digital age we are increasingly aware of the creative potential of reading and repurposing. In ‘writing as a reader / reading as a writer’ participants will exercise their capacity to read creatively, critically and intuitively, and to employ source material directly towards literary composition. This is a generative course incorporating regular writing tasks underpinned by carefully se...
On Saturday 22 March we will reprise our collaborative performance 'Housing Data ~ Sonified: The Sound and Poetry of Ireland's Housing Data' at Ormston House , a contemporary art gallery in Limerick city centre. This 10-movement composition incorporating my original poem 'Press Play' was created and is performed in collaboration with composer and pianist David Bremner and violinist Larissa O'Grady . It premiered on 23 April 2024 at TU Dublin Recital Hall . Ormston House says: Data related to Ireland's severe housing crisis converted into a multi-movement work for violin and keyboard, with readings of appropriated/found texts. The concert explores the ‘sonification’ of data related to Ireland’s severe housing crisis. The artists have sifted through data from sources including CSO, Central Bank, and Global Property Guide looking for insight about what is driving the crisis and the suffering caused by it. This data is converted into a multi-movement work for...
Guest editors can charge magazines with an energy and relevance they had hitherto only potentially or theoretically possessed - and this could not be better illustrated than with this latest issue of The Stinging Fly, edited by Dave Lordan. The Stinging Fly has established a reputation as the "go-to" place for those in Ireland looking for new and exciting writing, but when it comes to poetry it has fallen a little short of doing something truly remarkable or breaking the mould. With this issue, Lordan, a singular presence in Ireland's contemporary poetry scene, has sought to rectify this - while his notes on its editing articulate refreshing views on writing, editing and criticism. I'm happy he has chosen to include my poem 'The Executioner's Confession' in his issue. Also included is work by several poets who for me have stood out over the last few years, among them Kimberly Campanello,...
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