Hare’s Breath by Brian Kirk Artwork by Rosaleen Fleming 2023 was an important year for me, primarily because I published my second poetry collection Hare’s Breath (Salmon Poetry). It’s been six years since my first collection After The Fall was published and I’m very proud of the poems that make up this new collection. I was delighted to launch the collection to a full house at Books Upstairs (a very important independent bookshop) in November and also very happy to have John Murphy introduce the book to the world. John has been a huge part of my writing life as first reader and mentor for alm ..read more

My second poetry collection Hare’s Breath will be launched at Books Upstairs on Sunday 26th November 2023 at 2.30pm. I’m delighted to say that John Murphy, who is an extraordinary poet and writer, will introduce and launch the book for me. John, along with fellow Hibernian poets, Amanda Bell and Jane Robinson were good enough to write some very kind words for the back cover also. My first collection After The Fall was published almost exactly six years ago, and I hope this collection builds on the themes and styles that emerged in that first book. I’ve had time to write plenty of poems and ch ..read more

The Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The closing date for entries is 5th November 2023 so get your poems polished as soon as possible ..read more

27 April 2023: Poetry Day Ireland Event in Tallaght Library ‘Message in a Bottle’ Platform One Writers Event for Poetry Day Ireland 2023, organised by Eileen Casey: Unacknowledged Legislators of the World Tallaght Library: Poetry Day Ireland Platform One Writers Written by Eileen Casey The Unacknowledged Legislators of the World aims to focus on the tradition of poets such as William Blake/Shelley, (including more modern poets). These poets sent out distress cries, highlighting physical, political and spiritual abuse of power.  Poets who used their poems as a container for dist ..read more

Stony Thursday Book, No.18 Winter 2022 Every year around this time I compile a roundup of what I’ve done from a writing point of view during the old year. This year started out being all about the novel but ended up being grounded in poetry. This is also the first year in a long time when I haven’t published a single short story. I have written a few recently so hopefully that will change soon. I’m still on the look out for a publisher for my Novel Fair 2022 winning novel Riverrun, and I intend to continue to work on that in 2023. But, as I say, the year has been all about poetry. My workshop ..read more

This year the Bray Literary Festival runs from Thursday 29th September to Sunday 2nd October 2022. We have a huge list of great writers with over 18 events running over the weekend, including Booker Prize nominated Claire Keegan, Donal Ryan, Nuala O’Connor, Kevin Power and many more. You can download the very exciting programme here. The poetry and flash competitions were extremely competitive this year and the shortlists have now been published. The winners will be announced at the special BLF Culture Night Event in Bray Town Hall on Friday 23rd September, which also features singer-song wri ..read more

I was honoured to be asked to launch Anton Floyd’s new poetry collection ‘Depositions’ on World Refugee Day 20th June 2022. Anton is a fine poet and good friend, and his new collection is an important and impressive achievement, concerned as it is with the traumatic experience of exile and displacement. The core of the collection consists of 120 tercets borrowing something from the haiku/senryu format, a selection of which has been translated into 20 languages, many by people who have a direct experience of displacement. This short form section seeks to articulate the experiences of asyl ..read more

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This year in October the Red Line Book Festival celebrates 10 years with a huge range of events, some in person, some virtual. You can view the full programme here. I’m so happy to be hosting a real live event in the Civic Theatre (my first live event in a long time!) celebrating the short story with authors Deirdre Sullivan and Lucy Caldwell. We’ll hear short readings from both writers and then we’ll get down to the business of the short story, what it is and how it works. ‘The Beauty of Brevity’ takes place on Monday 11th October at 7pm and you can book your tickets here. The festival is al ..read more

27 April 2023: Poetry Day Ireland Event in Tallaght Library ‘Message in a Bottle’ Platform One Writers Event for Poetry Day Ireland 2023, organised by Eileen Casey: Unacknowledged Legislators of the World Tallaght Library: Poetry Day Ireland Platform One Writers Written by Eileen Casey The Unacknowledged Legislators of the World aims to focus on the tradition of poets such as William Blake/Shelley, (including more modern poets). These poets sent out distress cries, highlighting physical, political and spiritual abuse of power.  Poets who used their poems as a container for dist ..read more