Poetry Day Ireland 2015

Poetry Ireland is presenting Poetry Day Ireland on Thursday 7 May 2015. We’re on a mission to make poetry both inescapable and irresistible, and we are actively inviting individuals, groups and organisations to get involved.

We have a number of headline events planned for 7 May (at least one in each province) including Paul Durcan in conversation with Tipperary hurling manager Eamon O’Shea at the Source Arts Centre in Thurles, poets/crime fiction writers Sophie Hannah and Paul Perry reading at Green St Court, a Yeats event in Thoor Ballylee, and an event at the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry/Londonderry.

Poetry Ireland’s Writers in Schools scheme will visit an island off the northern, western and southern coasts and approximately 10,000 patients in hospitals throughout the country will receive a menu of poems on the day through the AHCI (Network of Arts and Health Coordinators in Ireland).

Third level institutions including University College Cork and University College Dublin will be taking part, and all schools will receive a specially commissioned poetry lesson plan.

We’ll also be running a Poem in Your Pocket campaign, printing thousands of elegant mini cards with poems, which will be distributed all over the country to make sure that great poetry shows up in many unexpected places from Kerry to Derry.

All Poetry Day Ireland events and activities will be listed on a dedicated webspace at www.poetryday.ie.

We are inviting all libraries, arts offices, arts venues, bookshops, poets and poetry fans to get involved with Poetry Day Ireland.