Margaret Atwood to headline Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s The Poetry Weekender in September
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in association with Poetry Ireland is delighted to announce The Poetry Weekender, a two-day celebration of poetry taking place at dlr LexIcon and its environs on the 17thand 18th September 2022.
Programmed by Poet in Residence Jessica Traynor and Poetry Ireland, The Poetry Weekender is kindly funded by Creative Ireland.
Councillor Mary Hanafin said that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is delighted to partner with Poetry Ireland on The Poetry Weekender: “it will give audiences on opportunity to hear from some of the best poets writing today, including the incredible and inspirational Margaret Atwood, as well as an abundance of home-grown talent.”
The Poetry Weekender programme includes a poetry masterclass with Costa Prize-winner Hannah Lowe, a words and music workshop for teens with musician Farah Elle, and a Gingko walk around Dún Laoghaire led by poets Rosamund Taylor and Katie Donovan.
The Carbon Project, a new pamphlet of eco-poetry edited by Jessica Traynor, and the culmination of workshops given to local writers during her residency will be launched as part of The Poetry Weekender. Contributors include Sree Sen, Monica de Bhailís, Charlotte Buckley, Jane Robinson and more.
There will be a celebration of the latest issue of the much-loved Poetry Ireland Review, edited by Professor Gerald Dawe with ‘Poetry Ireland Review by the Sea’, featuring readings by celebrated poets Jean O’Brien, Simon Ó Faoláin, John O’Donnell, and Moya Cannon.
Saturday’s headline event at dlr LexIcon Studio features Costa Prize-winner Hannah Lowe, Varuna Writer’s Residency recipient Catherine Phil MacCarthy, Forward Prize winner Stephen Sexton and poet and musician Maija Sofia.
On Sunday 18th September, The Poetry Weekender will culminate with the headline event The Poetry of Margaret Atwood, at the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire. One of the world’s most renowned writers, Margaret Atwood will read from Dearly, her latest collection of poetry. She will also talk about her poetry influences and the state of the world in what promises to be a fascinating conversation with author, archivist, and scholar Catriona Crowe.
Best known for her fiction, Margaret Atwood’s ground-breaking and bestselling novels include The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, Oryx and Crake, among others. However, she has, from the beginning of her career, been one of the world’s most significant contemporary poets. She is one of the very few writers equally accomplished in fiction and poetry.
Her 2020 collection Dearly is a stunning achievement, and this headline event The Poetry of Margaret Atwood is much anticipated.
Tickets are on sale from Friday 5 August, at 1pm
