Thursday, Oct 2 – Sunday, Oct 5
NEWCASTLE WEST CO. LIMERICK
READINGS | MUSIC | POETRY | FILM | LAUNCHES | TALKS | COMEDY | EXHIBITION | STORYTELLING | POETRY TRAIL
Éigse Michael Hartnett 2025
Welcome to Hartnett Country and to this year’s Eigse Michael Hartnett Literary and Arts Festival. It is our hope that you will join us for some or all the events which we have lined up in this year’s festival programme which will run from Thursday, October 2nd to Sunday, October 5th in Newcastle West.
Éigse Michael Hartnett began life in 2000, following the death, in October 1999, of the poet Michael Hartnett, a native son of Newcastle West. It was our way of honouring Michael’s legacy as one of Irish poetry’s most original, lyrical and independent voices.
Every year since, Éigse has sought to continue and enrich that legacy by bringing together poets and musicians, writers, thinkers and artists in his home-town. This year, once again, we offer a wide-ranging programme that includes a lively opening parade along with poetry, music, readings, humour, history, talks, film, a bus tour, a poetry trail, and workshops.
Ours is a warm, intimate and friendly festival that holds out the hand of welcome to all. Do come and join us.
Éigse Michael Hartnett is made possible through the backing and funding of the Arts Council and of the Limerick City and County Council Arts Office. We are grateful for their continuing support.
This year’s organisers are Mary Carroll, Deirdre Cussen, Vincent Hanley, Rachel Lenihan, Rose Liston, Vicki Nash and Norma Prendiville.
We strongly recommend that people book in advance on our website so as not to be disappointed. Tickets will also be sold at door, provided numbers have not been exceeded.
As part of our preparations for Éigse 2025 we decided to ask Paula Meehan to be our special guest on Opening Night, 2nd of October.
Her remit was to ‘speak from the heart about her memories of Michael Hartnett’. She did so by framing her thoughts in the form of A Letter to Michael Hartnett. This was written on the 1st of October 2025, the night before the Éigse in his name opens in his native Newcastle West, County Limerick. The result is truly magnificent and deserves to be shared with Michael’s family, and his many friends and ardent followers who didn’t make it to the Library in Newcastle West on the night.
Dearest Michael,
Tomorrow I will rise with the sun and take to the road and by eight-ish I will stand to speak of you before a crowd of your devotees in your home town where your name will be on everyone’s lips. Being blessed for the most part — but you have to allow, as you’d say yourself: there’s always the one.
The Éigse founded in your name will be opened with ceremonials and celebrations through all the arts, on its twenty fifth birthday. If fate allows, I’ll be there to sing your praises, to sing them to the high heavens, where I hope you reside with the cherubim and seraphim, your ears ringing with their choral magic. I’ll say you were and are of greatness wrought. I’ll offer gratitude for the poems you carried, for the pure music of your shining spirit. So many of us will be gathered in your name and cherishing all you stand for.
I’ll be aware, too, of your black sardonic eye on proceedings somewhere in the otherwhere of elsewhere; aware especially of how you hated poets going on, and on. And weren’t afraid to let them know. Now as I enter my anecdotage and my crankitude, I can hear your voice in my ear:
‘Just tell them I’m not the worst.’
That’s what you whispered one night as I rose to introduce you to students in a small back room, over fifty years ago. After the reading they would have died for you, each and every one of them, so thoroughly had you enchanted them. I remember the joke you told them at the end of your reading: ‘What do you get if you cross a donkey with a bag of onions? A ride that would bring tears to your eyes’.
‘Come to the Éigse,’ said Norma Prendiville, ‘and speak from the heart about Michael for twenty minutes.’ Michael, I’ll speak from the heart you broke. You broke the hearts of all of us who loved you.
You were our purest poet. Our own Orpheus.
Even Eavan Boland, who reckoned there was no Orpheus in Ireland, came to understand the Orphic nature of your lyric. I extract from ‘Irish Poetry’, the poem she dedicated to you, where she tells how over a pot of tea one winter’s evening you — began to speak of our own gods.
Our heartbroken pantheon:
No Attic light for them and no Herodotus.
But thin rain and dogfish and the stopgap
of the sharp cliffs
they spent their winters on.
And the pitch-black Atlantic night.
And how the sound
of a bird’s wing in a lost language sounded.
You made the noise for me.
Made it again.
Until I could see the flight of it: suddenly
the silvery, lithe rivers of your south-west
lay down in silence.
And the savage acres no one could predict
were all at ease, soothed and quiet and
listening to you, as I was.
As if to music, as if to peace.
Eavan, who always referred to you as Mikey, with great fondness.
I first met you, Michael, in Grogan’s Castle Lounge in South William Street in my native city of Dublin. The poet’s horror hole a friend called it, a poet already sober, a rare enough thing in Grogan’s Castle Lounge. In those days fadó, fadó.
It is nineteen eighty-three and I am just back home to Dublin. I have been studying for a Masters of Fine Arts degree, in Washington State in the far Northwest of the United States. I brought two slim volumes with me when I left for the States – poets I had never met in person, but I considered them poetical mother and father to my craft or sullen art.
The books were Eavan Boland’s 1980 volume In Her Own Image and your 1975 volume A Farewell to English. When I met you that first time in Grogans, introduced by Tommy Smith, I told you I had the whole of the title poem, dedicated to Brendan Kennelly, by heart. Go on so, said you, prove it. I did. By heart. With only a few wobbles.
I think you were gobsmacked. You asked to see poems for, you said, I must be a poet. I showed you one I had in my pocket — do young poets
still carry new poems on their person? Maybe on their mobile phones ….. I showed you one and you said it wasn’t very good. I showed you another and you said that was much better. The real thing. Of course, I paid no heed to your critique. Isn’t arrogance a protective force when you’re a baby poet?
If I had the whole poem by heart then, I have only fragments now, but it comes back to me when I need it. It gets me through as much as it gets through to me, the beautiful, sustained meditation on our politics. our culture, our colonised minds. Your masterpiece of scorn and hurt and resistance.
In the choppy waves of loneliness in an American university the poems kept me on some kind of even keel. They were part of the reason I came back to Ireland despite the terrible prospects.
‘What are you going home for? Sure all the kids are going the other way?’ ’What are you coming home for. There’s no work here.’
The era of last one to leave the country turn out the lights. The era of redundancies, butter vouchers, dole queues, heroin hitting the poor communities of the inner city like a juggernaut, moving statues, The Kerry Babies, Anne Lovett, The Heavy Gang. The Troubles live on TV every night.
You understood I came home to get the poems I needed to get.
What did we talk of on those walks by the Camac River, that palindromic waterway? Oh, you could fascinate from Akhmatova to Zozimus. You were dazzling in your erudition. You had the names, and the naming and so took possession of every blooming thing, of every wingèd thing and creature of the riparian zone. In two tongues.
I found blessing and curse in every poem. You were countryman. You were cosmopolite. You were ancient. You were avant garde. You were
honey. You were vitriol.
Kind. Ferocious. Wicked. Lonely. So lonely, Michael, for your boy and your girl, for Niall and Lara, your beautiful children.
I carried your poem ‘Death of an Irishwoman’ like a holy fire. You understood that the most important culture bearers come in humble guise, like the Zen master scrubbing the kitchen floor of the monastery. Your ‘ignorant’ grandmother Bridget Halpin who gave you Irish, who handed you the tool you would use to decolonise your mind. Decolonise our minds.
You were the wounded healer.
Death of an Irishwoman
Ignorant, in the sense
she ate monotonous food
and thought the world was flat,
and pagan, in the sense
she knew the things that moved
at night were neither dogs nor cats
but púcas and darkfaced men,
she nevertheless had fierce pride.
But sentenced in the end
to eat thin diminishing porridge
in a stone-cold kitchen
she clenched her brittle hands
around a world
she could not understand.
I loved her from the day she died.
She was a summer dance at the crossroads.
She was a card game where a nose was broken.
She was a song that nobody sings.
She was a house ransacked by soldiers.
She was a language seldom spoken.
She was a child’s purse, full of useless things.
I carried that poem into workshops, workshops in universities, in prisons (sometimes on the same day). I read it with women prisoners, with the political prisoners in Portlaoise, with the men in Arbour Hill High Security Prison, in recovery programmes. I brought it into art colleges, into classrooms all over the country, into other countries.
Everyone has loved someone from the day they died. Some creature. Some thing.
Only last week at a workshop in Kilmore Quay I read that poem and there was a gasp, an audible intake of breath on the line, ‘I loved her from the day she died.’ She will never die, your grandmother, bearer of Irish, cultural heroine, your grandmother Bridget Halpin.
Those last few years of your life, your ever faithful friend Tony Curtis would drive myself and Theo (Dorgan) out to Dundrum where you lived close by what you called The Sentimental Hospital, known to the rest of us as The Central Mental Hospital. You were dying in the loving care of Angela Liston.
The October of your going was radiant and glorious. But the day of your funeral it lashed. Early to the town for the burial, we took shelter in a pub. A man came in and said there’s a fierce crowd in for a funeral. Dinny Hartnett, the postman — his brother the poet is after dying. You would have liked that, Michael. You would like that the woman in the Pound Shop gave us armfuls of umbrellas, all the umbrellas in the shop, and wouldn’t take any money. Sure bring them back when the funeral’s over.
I did a poetry reading in Limerick a while back, in the City Gallery under Eddie Maguire’s magnificent portrait of you, the one on the front of your Collected Poems. Una McCarthy, who has recently retired as Director of the Gallery, had fought a long hard battle to wrest the funding for it and get it back to Limerick from a private collection in the United States. You hung there, your black eyes boring into me, as intensely as they had in life. You could read minds, an uncanny gift. You were drawn to the wounded in bar or street. I saw people open to you like flowers – they felt your nobility of spirit, your deeply empathetic heart.
Michael, I hope wherever you are that this Éigse energy in the streets of the town of your birth will touch you. Your name is on every tongue. You are cast in bronze in the marketplace. The rain flows down your beautiful face, mingles with the tears you shed for your mother, for your father in his blanket of snow.
I send this letter into the void, dear Michael, in gratitude, devotion and fond memory.
Sincerely,
P. Meehan
Éigse 2025
Participants and Programme of Events
gala Opening, Thursday, October 2
7.00pm: Drum Dance Ireland workshop in the Square followed by parade to the library.
Drum Dance Ireland is run by its Swiss director and manager Urs Wenk who moved to Ireland in 2002.
Originally a teacher for West African drumming and collaborating with dancers offering African dance classes and workshops he changed style and offer adapting to the people here making it all much more inclusive and fun orientated.
Working with all age groups from toddlers, to teenagers right up to the elderly people and also all levels of abilities he is keeping things simple in order to make sure everyone gets involved.
With more than 80 drums and over 150 percussion instruments Urs and his collaborators often offer drum circles and interactive shows for events of all kinds.
For parades at festivals Drum Dance Ireland can facilitate workshops to get groups of people actively involved in the performance.
With hundreds of parades and thousands of shows and workshops performed the experience is there to know what event organisers want and the crowds love.
7.30pm: Join the colourful, lively and festive Umbrella Street Parade
8.00pm Official Opening
Official opening of festival with Minister Patrick O’Donovan, Mayor John Moran, and Limerick Arts Officer Etain McCooey. Poet Paula Meehan will be our special guest along with singer/ musician Oonagh McMahon.
No invitation needed.
Venue: Newcastle West Library.
Admission: FREE
Minister Patrick O’Donovan from Newcastle West, was appointed Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport in January 2025. Prior to this, he was Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
He has also served as a Minister of State in numerous departments since 2013. He was first elected to the Dail in 2011. He is married to Eileen, and they have three young children.
Minister Patrick O’Donovan TD is the only elected representative from Limerick who sits at cabinet.
Friday, October 3
11am We mark the 50th Anniversary of Hartnett’s A Farewell to English with poet Theo Dorgan at Springfield Castle and with a stop in Broadford.
Bus leaves Longcourt House Hotel at 10.45am but booking required.
Venue: Springfield Castle
Admission: €15 plus extra for bus.
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/theo-dorgan-at-springfield-castle-tickets-1580407805289
Theo Dorgan is a poet with ten collections published, the most recent being Once Was A Boy, which received the accolade of One City, One Book 2024 in his native Cork.
His most recent publication is the novel Camarade, published in June of 2025.
Dorgan is also a documentary screenwriter, translator, essayist and editor. Among his translations are three volumes from the French of Syrian poet, Maram al Masri and a translation into Irish of Gypsy Ballads by Federico García Lorca, Bailéid Giofógacha .
In 2022 he devised the script for ANU’s production of Staging the Treaty T (now also a film available from IFI, both directed by Louise Lowe), and in 2023 he scripted and presented the multi-award-winning Alan Gilsenan documentary for TG4, An Buachaill Gealgháireach/ The Laughing Boy.
Two of his long poems, Sappho’s Daughter and Ériu and Amergin, have been set to music by Colm Mac Con Iomaire.
Translations of his books have been published in Greek, Italian and French.
He is a member of Aosdána.
2.00pm-4.00pm: Órchloch, Alchemy, an exhibition of ceramics by members of The Painted Pot
Venue: The Red Door, The Square.
Admission: FREE
Nestled in the heart of artisanal tradition, the Painted Pot Collective is a vibrant community of passionate potters dedicated to preserving time-honoured techniques, each piece lovingly shaped by hand. Their works embody a harmonious balance of form, texture, and glazes. This showcase highlights how each potter brings their own voice to traditional techniques—celebrating the raw, tactile beauty of clay and the craftsmanship that unites them all.
Whether you’re drawn to primitive expression or refined sculptural pottery, “Órcloch ” offers a rich journey through both ancient pottery techniques and individual creativity.
Órcloch literally means gold stone.
The alchemy that is ceramics, from earth through fire transforming stone into something of significant value.
Pottery is a unique medium that not only requires skill in the craft itself but a flair for design and aesthetics. When creating from clay, the item can indeed be a functional item such as a vessel with purpose, no flaws, or cracks, and handles that can hold the weight of the container and its contents. This demonstrates the finer skill in the craft of pottery yet the decoration and presentation, an imprint of the artist.
Every surface has been touched and carefully formed by the maker’s hands, an intentional story they wish to convey. Clay echoes the personality of each artist to be expressed. From colourful characters to nature inspired collections and modern designs, it is the alchemy of stone to gold that every potter has the opportunity to manifest.
This exhibition features a collection of ceramic works from a variety of local artists, each showcasing their unique talents incorporating the traditional pottery methods of hand-built and pottery wheel pieces expressing a diverse range of styles.
The exhibition will run in The Red Door, The Square from 2.00pm to 4.00pm on Friday, October 3 and from 2.00pm-3.00pm on Saturday, October 4.
3.00pm Afternoon Tea with The Six Marys, a humorous jaunt through the decades with writer Jean Farrell and singer/actor Catherine Gallagher.
Booking recommended.
Venue: Desmond Complex
Admission: €15
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afternoon-tea-with-the-six-marys-a-humorous-jaunt-through-the-decades-tickets-1609577532729
THE SIX MARYS tells the story of six girls called Mary, over six decades of their lives. It is very funny and very true to life. The play has been greatly enjoyed by audiences all over Ireland.
THE SIX MARYS is written and narrated by Jean Farrell, with supporting actress/singer Catherine Gallagher.
Excerpts from diaries are interspersed with songs and soundtracks from the different eras. The audience is brought on a journey depicting the social history of the times: the comics, the catechism and the stork; the nuns, the processions and the gym slips; the hops, the hopes and the ‘big day’; the babies, the teenagers and reality.
This journey of self-discovery is laced with one-liners guaranteed to make you laugh!
Catherine Gallagher, left, and Jean Farrell.
6.00pm Launch of new collection Deep Curve and poetry reading with Robyn Rowland
Venue: Red Door Gallery, The Square.
Admission: FREE
Robyn Rowland is Irish-Australian and lived between Ireland, Turkey, and Australia until the end of 2019, when she returned to Australia as her father’s companion then carer. He died at home aged 102 in 2022. Her book Steep Curve (2024) is that journey together in narrative poetry: ‘a book of remarkable moments and enduring love’ (Kevin Brophy).
She has twelve poetry books (Australia, Ireland and Turkey), including two bilingual, Turkish translations, Mehmet Ali Çelikel: Under This Saffron Sun—Safran Güneşin Altında and This Intimate War Gallipoli/Çanakkale 1915—İçli Dışlı Bir Savaş: Gelibolu/Çanakkale1915.
Her work has also been published in national/international journals, over fifty anthologies, eight editions of Best Australian Poems and she has earned various awards and short-listings. Her work has been translated into various languages and she has read in India, Portugal, Ireland, the UK, the US, Greece, Austria, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkey, and Italy.
By invitation, she has filmed readings for the National Irish
Poetry Reading Archive which can be seen on You Tube.
Robyn has previously been a guest of Éigse Michael Hartnett and will also conduct a writing workshop at this year’s Éigse.
8.00pm The Blue Road, a revealing film about the life and writings of the late Edna O’Brien.
Venue: Desmond Complex.
Admission: €8
Saturday, October 4
10 am – 1 pm Adult Writing Workshop with Dr. Robyn Rowland AO
Venue: Desmond Complex
Admission: €40
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-workshop-with-robyn-rowland-tickets-1745423872789
Living flames – Burning words
A Workshop with Fire
From brushfires, to bog fires, through the flame of the holy spirit to the pagan fires of solstice, fire has been both warm companion and feared and capricious renegade. The elements of fire, water, earth and air are primal sources of inspiration and image. This workshop explores the nature of fire in its many forms, the relationship of fire to feeling, the transformative and destructive power of fire, and its use in ritual.
Photographic material relating to Australian bush fires is explored. Robyn will also explore the use of fire in her own work as examples. This workshop focuses on the emerging meaning of fire and the flame for each writer.
The workshop begins with a talk by Robyn on her own use of the ‘the particular’, analysing her poetry and some prose. It then moves into a guided moment followed by writing towards the topic, a period of writing, and feedback for each participant on their work in terms of the topic set. Each participant is given notes to keep relating to the topic for each workshop, as well as copies of Robyn’s or other poems, which exemplify themes.
This workshop can be appropriate for and has been successfully conducted with, established and early writers; poets and prose writers. We will work with pen and paper, not laptops
This workshop will have limited numbers and requires booking. Cost €40.
11.00am Michael Hartnett Memorial Lecture with journalist, commentator and author Justine McCarthy who will give her unique take on matters national and international.
Venue: Desmond Complex
Admission: €10
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/michael-hartnett-memorial-lecture-with-justine-mccarthy-tickets-1609711603739
Justine McCarthy is an author and a columnist with The Irish Times.
She has won numerous awards for her journalism, including the Broadsheet Columnist of the Year three times.
Her book titles are Mary McAleese, The Outsider (1999); Deep Deception: Scandals in Irish Swimming (2009); and An Eye an Ireland: New and Selected Journalism (2023).She is currently writing a memoir.
She was the first woman to deliver the annual Michael Collins-Arthur Griffith oration at Glasnevin Cemetery and is a former adjunct professor of journalism at University of Limerick.
1.30pm Renowned musician and uilleann piper, Louise Mulcahy talks about piping and Limerick women pipers with some tunes to light the way.
Venue: Desmond Complex.
Admission: €10
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-celebration-of-women-in-uilleann-piping-1800s-1900s-louise-mulcahy-tickets-1609716979819
A Celebration of Women in Uilleann Piping 1800s-1900s – Louise Mulcahy
Join internationally acclaimed and multi-award-winning uilleann piper Louise Mulcahy at Éigse Michael Hartnett 2025 for a joyous celebration of Women in Piping.
Alongside her incredible musicianship, Louise’s groundbreaking research work on women in uilleann piping has received worldwide critical acclaim. Louise has performed and presented her research work at many prestigious events, broadcasts, festivals, universities and also presented the landmark documentary for TG4 titled Mná na bPíob in 2021.
A trawl through the annals of Irish traditional music quickly demonstrates that the uilleann pipes is an instrument long associated with male players and throughout history women have been in the minority within this tradition.
Louise has unearthed the astonishing stories of the remarkable women who played the uilleann pipes during the 19th and 20th centuries.
This exciting celebration will trace the story of women in piping dating from the 19th century to the present day. As part of this special presentation Louise will perform on a beautiful set of uilleann pipes once owned by the master piper Liam O’ Flynn.
2.00pm-3.00pm Órchloch, Alchemy continues at The Red Door in the Square
Venue: The Red Door, The Square.
Admission: FREE
Nestled in the heart of artisanal tradition, the Painted Pot Collective is a vibrant community of passionate potters dedicated to preserving time-honoured techniques, each piece lovingly shaped by hand. Their works embody a harmonious balance of form, texture, and glazes. This showcase highlights how each potter brings their own voice to traditional techniques—celebrating the raw, tactile beauty of clay and the craftsmanship that unites them all.
Whether you’re drawn to primitive expression or refined sculptural pottery, “Órcloch ” offers a rich journey through both ancient pottery techniques and individual creativity.
Órcloch literally means gold stone.
The alchemy that is ceramics, from earth through fire transforming stone into something of significant value.
Pottery is a unique medium that not only requires skill in the craft itself but a flair for design and aesthetics. When creating from clay, the item can indeed be a functional item such as a vessel with purpose, no flaws, or cracks, and handles that can hold the weight of the container and its contents. This demonstrates the finer skill in the craft of pottery yet the decoration and presentation, an imprint of the artist.
Every surface has been touched and carefully formed by the maker’s hands, an intentional story they wish to convey. Clay echoes the personality of each artist to be expressed. From colourful characters to nature inspired collections and modern designs, it is the alchemy of stone to gold that every potter has the opportunity to manifest.
This exhibition features a collection of ceramic works from a variety of local artists, each showcasing their unique talents incorporating the traditional pottery methods of hand-built and pottery wheel pieces expressing a diverse range of styles.
The exhibition will run in The Red Door, The Square from 2.00pm to 4.00pm on Friday, October 3 and from 2.00pm-3.00pm on Saturday, October 4.
3.00pm: The Poems are Still Coming: featuring performance poet Natalya O’Flaherty and Dean Browne who will read from his new collection.
Venue: The Red Door, The Square.
Admission: €10
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-poems-are-still-coming-natalya-oflaherty-and-dean-browne-tickets-1615289868479
Natalya O’Flaherty is a celebrated poet and performer from Dublin, renowned for her distinctive blend of rhythm, accent, and expression. Her work spans a wide array of themes, from incisive social commentary to introspective self-reflection, resonating across genres and mediums. Natalya skillfully bridges the gap between classic and contemporary poetry, captivating diverse audiences with her performances. Her career began at city-centre open mic events and has since flourished into a dynamic journey. Highlights include multiple acclaimed appearances on The Late Late Show, headlining the multi-media show More Than Words as part of MusicTown, and performing at major festivals such as Electric Picnic and Other Voices. She delivered a poignant rendition of Sinéad O’Connor’s Three Babies for An Post’s Glastonbury special and has facilitated poetry workshops for young people across Ireland. Internationally, she has represented Ireland at events like the Cyprus National Poetry Slam.
Natalya has also undertaken significant commissions, creating pieces for RTÉ’s A Woman’s World and Shine A Light projects, as well as for organizations including the Ombudsman for Children, Body & Soul, Procter & Gamble, Accenture, Laing O’Rourke, and Irish Tatler. Her journey into music has seen her collaborate with Tebi Rex and appear on the dance track ‘Comedown Chorus’ by UK producer Ghoulish, remixed by dubstep legend Skream.
Dean Browne received the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2021 and his pamphlet, Kitchens at Night, was a winner of the Poetry Business International Pamphlet Competition; it was published by Smith|Doorstop in 2022. Recent poems have appeared in London Magazine and New York Review of Books. His first collection After Party is just published by Picador (September, 2025).
4.00pm-5.00pm: Poetry Slam, featuring short-listed poems from our Hartnett Single Poem competition and other poems.
Venue: Whelans Bar, Maiden Street.
Admission: FREE
We are delighted to announce that due to popular demand, Slam Éigse is back this year – and we want YOUR words on our stage! Audience members will get to experience performances from Natalya O’ Flaherty and Dean Browne at the earlier event, before sharing their own work or listening to performances of emerging writers. We invite you to join us and be part of an afternoon of energy, expression & creative risk-taking.
Special guest Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa will open the Poetry Slam with a reading of some of her own poems and a Finnish take on some of Michael Hartnett’s works.
If you wish to participate in the competition, submit your original poem by 19th September 2025 for your chance to be 1 of 10 finalists competing for the title Slam Éigse Winner 2025 and cash prizes. Finalists will have a chance to perform their poems from 4pm. Send entries to slameigsemichaelhartnett@gmail.com.
Whisper it, shout it, rhyme it, rap it – just make it yours!
For more information and entry details, visit https://eigsemichaelhartnett.ie/ or find us on X, Facebook or Instagram. This event is in association with Poetry Ireland.
6.00pm: Book Launch of West Limerick Ink, a first anthology by local writers from the Desmond Scribblers writing group.
Venue: Longcourt House Hotel.
Admission: FREE
The Desmond Scribblers is a local writers’ group based in Newcastle West. Set up in 2018, the group draws its members from a variety of backgrounds and includes a number of published authors. Work by members of the group has appeared in various anthologies and publications. The group has also produced a variety of Christmas Miscellany programmes for local radio and more recently, took part in a reading to mark Poetry Day Ireland.
West Limerick Ink is its first anthology and includes stories, poetry and essays. It brings together the work of thirteen unique voices and their varying perceptions on a range of universal themes.It is dedicated to the memory of Newcastle West-born poet Michael Hartnett.
8.30pm: Gala Concert with Oscar winning singer/ songwriter Glen Hansard in concert.
Venue: Longcourt House Hotel.
Admission: €30 plus booking fee.
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gala-concert-with-oscar-winning-singersongwriter-glen-hansard-tickets-1615333599279
Glen Hansard’s journey began in Dublin in the early 1980s, when he left school at 13 to busk on the streets. In 1990, he formed the rock band The Frames, which released its debut album in 1991 and quickly became a powerhouse in Ireland. With albums like Fitzcarraldo (1996) and Burn the Maps (2004)—which topped the Irish charts and produced hits such as “Fake” and “Finally”—the band achieved national recognition. Along the way, The Frames opened for major acts like Bob Dylan (2007) and performed at prominent venues like the Hollywood Bowl and Lollapalooza (2004)
Hansard’s acting in the indie film Once (2006), alongside Markéta Irglová, catapulted him to international fame. The movie, featuring the song “Falling Slowly,” earned critical acclaim, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song (2008) . This success led to a musical adaptation, Once The Musical, which debuted Off-Broadway in 2011 and later on Broadway, winning eight Tony Awards .
In 2012 Hansard released his solo debut, Rhythm and Repose, and embarked on a global tour that spanned North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. He followed this with It Was Triumph We Once Proposed, a poignant EP tribute to Jason Molina in 2015, and in the same year released the Grammy‑nominated solo album Didn’t He Ramble. His fourth solo effort, This Wild Willing, arrived in 2019 on ANTI‑ Records, accompanied by a European tour and several music videos.
Throughout his career, Hansard has performed in esteemed venues such as Carnegie Hall (2016) and the Sydney Opera House (2016), and graced stages at major festivals including Newport Folk, Montreux Jazz, Cambridge Folk, and Lollapalooza. He’s also collaborated with celebrated artists, featuring on Robbie Robertson’s Sinematic in 2019, and sharing creations with Eddie Vedder, Joni Mitchell tributes, and the ‘Music of Van Morrison’ and ‘The Music of Patti Smith’ celebration at Carnegie Hall.
In later years, Hansard continued to give back—recording in Paris (2018) and spotlighting homelessness through his seasonal charity shows in Dublin. In March 2022, Glen and Markéta were honoured on an Irish An Post stamp celebrating Oscar winners.
Hansard continues to tour with Markéta Irglová as part of the Swell Season where they have recently released their critically acclaimed album Forward, which has been supported by tours throughout Europe and North America.
For Children
1.30pm: Story Time with Sadhbh Devlin for 5-8 year olds.
Venue: Library.
Admission: FREE
Sadhbh Devlin is an award-winning writer of adorable Irish-language picturebooks. Her book Geansaí Ottó (Futa Fata, 2020) won the LAI Book of the Year Awards in 2021 and became Ireland’s first outdoor Scéal Trail. Her book Amuigh Faoin Spéir (Futa Fata, 2022) won Gradam Réics Carló in 2023.
She is also the author of the A Special Gift Donor Conception series of four picturebooks which were shortlisted for a European Fertility Society, Fertility Care Award in 2023. Sadhbh was the dlr Libraries Writer in Residence in 2019/2020 and the DCU Irish Language Writer in Residence in 2022.
She lives in Co. Wicklow with her husband, twin daughters and a cheeky kitten named Pico.
3.00pm: Writing Workshop for Children, aged 8 and upwards, with Sadhbh Devlin (Limited to 15)
Venue: Library.
Admission: FREE but booking at library essential.
Sadhbh Devlin is an award-winning writer of adorable Irish-language picturebooks. Her book Geansaí Ottó (Futa Fata, 2020) won the LAI Book of the Year Awards in 2021 and became Ireland’s first outdoor Scéal Trail. Her book Amuigh Faoin Spéir (Futa Fata, 2022) won Gradam Réics Carló in 2023.
She is also the author of the A Special Gift Donor Conception series of four picturebooks which were shortlisted for a European Fertility Society, Fertility Care Award in 2023. Sadhbh was the dlr Libraries Writer in Residence in 2019/2020 and the DCU Irish Language Writer in Residence in 2022.
She lives in Co. Wicklow with her husband, twin daughters and a cheeky kitten named Pico.
Sunday, October 5
11.00am: The Story of Irish Food with professional chef, broadcaster and food historian Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire
Venue: Longcourt House Hotel.
Admission: €10
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-story-of-irish-food-with-mairtin-mac-con-iomaire-tickets-1615343579129
Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire is a professional chef, food historian, broadcaster and a senior lecturer at Technological University Dublin. He is co-founder and chair of the biennial Dublin Gastronomy Symposium, former trustee of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, and currently course chair of the Masters in Gastronomy and Food Studies in TU Dublin, the first such programme in Ireland.
He is co-editor with Eamon Maher of ‘Tickling the Palate’: Gastronomy in Irish Literature and Culture (Peter Lang: 2014), New Beginnings: Perspectives from France and Ireland (Peter Lang: 2023), and with Rhona Richman Kenneally on ‘The Food Issue’ of The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies (2018), and in 2021, Máirtín guest edited a special issue of Folk Life on Irish food ways. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, edited books, conference proceedings and encyclopaedias, and is a regular contributor on food history, chefs and restaurants in the media.
In 2018, he presented an eight-part television series for TG4 called ‘Blasta’ celebrating Ireland’s food heritage.
Along with Michelle Share and Dorothy Cashman, he is co-editor of the new European Journal of Food Drink and Society.
He is co-editor on the award-winning Irish Food History: A Companion (Royal Irish Academy; EUt+ Academic Press, 2024).
In 2025, he was awarded his second PhD on championing food studies within the field of Irish Studies.
12.30pm Join us to hear award-winning writer Róisín Maguire, author of Night Swimmers, in conversation and reading new work.
Venue: Longcourt House Hotel.
Admission: €10
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/award-winning-writer-roisin-maguire-in-conversation-tickets-1615344832879
Roisin Maguire lives by the sea in Northern Ireland, and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Queen’s University.
She has worked as a nightclub bouncer, bus driver and primary school teacher – and is a keen scuba diver and fisherwoman who swims every day of the year in the Irish Sea.
Night Swimmers is her debut novel.
Picture – Muiread Kelly
3.00pm: Munster and Ireland rugby hero Keith Earls will talk life and rugby with sports writer and author Tommy Conlon.
Hosted by Seamus Hennessy in association with Shannon Transport Ltd.
Venue: Longcourt House Hotel.
Admission: €10
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/munster-and-ireland-rugby-hero-keith-earls-tickets-1615549424819
Keith Earls played 101 games for the Irish national rugby team and scored 36 tries. An all-time Munster great, he played 202 times for his province and scored 64 tries. The flying winger is one of the most prolific finishers in the history of the game here.
In October 2021 he published his memoir, Fight or Flight: My Life, My Choices. It became an immediate best-seller and won the An Post Irish Sports Book of the Year award. Written in conjunction with the Sunday Independent sportswriter Tommy Conlon, Keith revealed for the first time his diagnosis in 2013 for bipolar disorder. As one of Ireland’s most popular sportsmen, his book had a major impact on the mental health conversation in Ireland, particularly among young men who were experiencing similar struggles.
In the four years since he has received thousands of grateful communications from a wide range of readers. He spoke also about the class divide in rugby and the social challenges that came with growing up in his beloved Limerick neighbourhood, Moyross.
Fight or Flight has been re-issued multiple times since its first edition and continues to sell in bookshops across the country.
Tommy Conlon is a veteran sportswriter with the Sunday Independent. In addition to his book with Keith Earls, he has ghostwritten memoirs in collaboration with prominent Irish stars such as Ronnie Whelan, Shane ‘Cake’ Curran and John ‘The Bull’ Hayes.
A native of Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim, he is the co-author of a non-fiction book, The Kidnapping, which was published to widespread acclaim in 2023. He has been living in Limerick City for the last 20 years and is a regular visitor to Thomond Park, the Gaelic Grounds and the Markets Field.
Irish-language poet and editor Aifric Mac Aodha has been named the winner of the 2025 Michael Hartnett Poetry Award for her third collection, Old Friends (The Gallery Press, 2024)
Described by judges as “affecting” and “at times dark,” the collection marks a “significant achievement” in Mac Aodha’s poetic career. The poems are written in Irish, with English translations by fellow poet David Wheatley.
Judges Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhaigh and Louis de Paor praised the collection, stating:
“There is an unmistakable linguistic assurance in these poems alongside an agility in poetic form, in which the narratives are often half-obscured beneath the surface of the poem, amplifying the mysteriousness and emotional sensitivity of the work. There is a sense that she is consistently expanding the resources of the language as she continues to sharpen her own poetic idiom. She has a particular gift for finding cadence between words in surprising ways.”
The award, worth €8,000, will be presented on the opening night of Éigse Michael Hartnett 2025, taking place on Thursday, 2 October in Newcastle West, Co. Limerick. The award is supported by Limerick City and County Council and Arts Council partnership framework agreement.
Responding to the announcement, Aifric Mac Aodha said:
“It is a great pleasure and an even greater surprise to receive the Michael Hartnett Poetry Award. In his ‘Poem for Niall, 7’ – a poem full of love and humanity – Hartnett tells us that ‘ink speaks and paper speaks’. Poets can only say what they have to say through their poems, and poetry can be difficult to achieve. For those reasons, it means a great deal to me that the judges have chosen my collection, Old Friends. I am grateful to them, to the festival organisers, and to my translator, David Wheatley.”
Aifric Mac Aodha is the Irish-language editor of Poetry Ireland Review. Her debut collection, Gabháil Syrinx (The Taking of Syrinx), was published by An Sagart in 2010. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including POETRY for Young Irish Poets, and has been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Czech.
She has taught in St Petersburg, New York, and Canada, and has lectured in Old and Modern Irish at University College Dublin (UCD). She has received multiple bursaries from The Arts Council. Her latest collection, Old Friends, with translations by David Wheatley, was published by The Gallery Press in 2024. She lives in Dublin, where she works for the Irish-language publisher An Gúm.
David Wheatley, born in Dublin, has published four collections with The Gallery Press and two with Carcanet Press.
Buann Aifric Mac Aodha Duais Filíochta Michael Hartnett, 2025 do Chnuasach Dátheangach Old Friends.
Ainmníodh file Gaeilge agus an t-eagarthóir Aifric Mac Aodha ina buaiteoir ar Dhuais Filíochta Michael Hartnett 2025 i ngeall ar a tríú cnuasach, Old Friends (The Gallery Press, 2024).
“Corraitheach” and “dorcha ar uairibh” an cur síos atá déanta ag na moltóirí ar an gcnuasach agus is “gaisce suntasach” é an cnuasach i ngairm filíochta Mhic Aodha. Is i nGaeilge atá na dánta, agus leaganacha Béarla curtha orthu ag an bhfile David Wheatley.
Mhol moltóirí Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhaigh agus Louis de Paor an cnuasach go haer, agus bhí le rá acu:
“Tá ardmhuinín teanga agus aclaíocht foirme filíochta le sonrú go follasach sna dánta seo agus scéalta leathbháite faoi dhromchla an dáin aici a chuireann le mistéir agus le béim mhothálach na filíochta. Braitear go bhfuil leathadh leanúnach á dhéanamh aici ar acmhainn na teanga fad is atá faobhar á chur aici ar a friotal filíochta. Tá bua ar leith aici cling agus uaim agus rím a bhaint as focail ar bhealach nach mbeifí ag súil leis.“
Bronnfar an duais, ar fiú €8,000 í, ag oíche oscailte Éigse Michael Hartnett, 2025, a bheidh ar siúl Déardaoin, an 2 Deireadh Fómhair i gCaisleán Nua Thiar, Contae Luimnigh. Tacaíonn Comhairle Cathrach agus Contae Luimnigh agus comhaontú creata comhpháirtíochta na Comhairle Ealaíne leis an duais.
Dúirt Aifric Mac Aodha, mar fhreagra ar an bhfógra:
“Díol áthais dom an gradam seo. Sa phíosa álainn, ‘Dán do Niall, 7’, dearbhaíonn Ó hAirtnéide go ‘labhraíonn dúch’ is go ‘labhraíonn pár’. Ina chuid dánta a nochtann file ar bith a phriocadh anama féin. Ní furasta dán a chur i gcrích ach ábhar sásaimh/iontais i gcónaí d’fhile nuair a thugann léitheoir taitneamh dá shaothar. Ar an ábhar sin, is rímhór agam é gur roghnaigh na moltóirí Old Friends (The Gallery Press, 2024). Tá mé an-bhuíoch díobhsan, de Peter Fallon, agus de David Wheatley, aistritheoir an leabhair.”
Tá Aifric Mac Aodha ag obair ina heagarthóir Gaeilge le Poetry Ireland Review. D’fhoilsigh An Sagart an chéad chnuasach filíochta léi, Gabháil Syrinx, sa bhliain 2010. Cuireadh dánta dá cuid i gcló ar irisí éagsúla, POETRY Young Irish Poets ina measc. Aistríodh a saothar go teangacha éagsúla, an Fhraincis, an Ghearmáinis, an Iodáilis, an Spáinnis agus an tSeicis san áireamh.
Bhronn An Chomhairle Ealaíon mórchuid sparánachtaí uirthi. Is é Old Friends (The Gallery Press, 2024) an cnuasach is déanaí léi. Tá cónaí uirthi i mBaile Átha Cliath, áit a bhfuil sí ag obair ina heagarthóir cúnta leis an nGúm.
Contact
To contact Éigse send us a message using the contact form below or call us on 087 038 9902.
For details on accomadation options in Newcastle West and further information visit: http://www.newcastlewest.ie
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