Strokestown International Poetry Festival kicks off this weekend

After much anticipation, the 2024 Strokestown International Poetry Festival will take place this May Bank Holiday weekend, running across three days from Friday, May 3^rd, to Sunday, May 5^th inclusive, with the venue being the magnificent Strokestown Park House and Gardens.

  As ever, this year’s event promises to be a great festival, with a number of very high profile names in the world of writing and poetry – locally, nationally, and further afield – set to feature as speakers/performers over the three days, in addition to the myriad of different exciting events that have been organised.

Friday

The first day of the festival will see a ‘Roscommon writers reading’ taking place with Gerry Boland, Louise C Cole, Jessamine O’Connor, and Michael O’Dea. This will be followed by speakers Rita Ann Higgins and Thomas Lynch, two extremely accomplished writers.

Saturday

The second day will kick off with a poetry workshop delivered by Roscommon poet Jane Clarke. There will also be a screening of ‘Learning Gravity/The Undertaker’, followed by a bilingual poetry reading with Celia de Fréine and Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair.

Two launches will follow this reading: the launch of ‘Washing Windows IV: Irish Women Write Poetry’ with Liz McManus, Jackie Lynam, Phyl Herbert, and Shauna Gilligan (among others), and a book launch with Tony Curtis and Gerard Reidy, which will see the two writers present new work.

The evening’s events will include two more poetry readings – one featuring Patrick Deely and Enda Wyley, and another with Jane Clarke, Pat Boran, and Mary O’Donnell – and the day will wrap up with a ‘Los Lorcas: Poetry in Concert’ event, which will see poets Partridge Boswell and Peter Money perform with guitarist Nat Williams.

Sunday

The final day will deliver another busy line-up of events to wrap up this year’s festival, kicking off with a talk from poet and filmmaker Pat Boran. This will be followed by the launch of ‘Cyphers 97’.

Then, at 2 pm, the winner of the Strokestown International Poetry Festival Competition will be announced, with readings from shortlisted poets and the winner to be included.

Novelist and festival curator Belinda McKeon will deliver the Joan McBreen Lecture following the competition results, and after this lecture, a launch will take place in which Eva Bourke, Geraldine Mills, and Joseph Woods will present new work.

The last poetry reading of the festival will then take place, featuring Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Peter Sirr, and this will be followed by ‘Brilliant Mysteries: Music and Poetry’, another poetry-infused musical entertainment event, this time featuring Duke Special and James Harpur.

Tickets/more details

To buy tickets for any of the events taking place this weekend, visit StrokestownPoetryFest.ie, where further details about this year’s events and the festival in general can be found.

You can also keep up to date with all the latest updates by following the festival and its hashtag on social media.