Lunchtime Poems at the Fingal Poetry Festival 2022

• Location: Joe May’s Pub (upstairs), Skerries Harbour
  This event is not wheelchair accessible.
• Date and Time: Fri 16 September 2022, 1-2 pm
• Tickets (on Eventbrite or at the door): €8 (€6 unwaged*)
  Please bring coins for the Honesty Box if you want to buy soup/sandwich.

*Fingal Poetry Festival aims to be as inclusive as possible and to provide access to our events to all. There are many FREE events during the Festival. If you are on a low income or unwaged, please avail of the reduced ticket rate for ticketed events.

Secure your tickets now on Eventbrite (booking fees apply except for free events),
or come early – there will be tickets available on the day.
Online booking ends 24 hours before the event starts.
💥 Go to our full programme here💥

The first of our festival lunchtime readings in this iconic Fingal location features poets Michael O’Loughlin and Breda Wall Ryan with music by Muireann McDonnell.
Poetry, music and a bite to eat overlooking beautiful Skerries Harbour – what’s not to like??

Michael O’Loughlin

Michael O’Loughlin was born in Dublin in 1958. He and Dermot Bolger founded Raven Arts in Finglas in the 1970s. He has published seven collections of poetry, including Poems 1980-2015, and most recently Liberty Hall (2021). He is also a critic, screenwriter, translator and commentator. He lived for many years in Spain and the Netherlands but now lives in Dublin.

He has been Writer Fellow in Trinity College Dublin, and has held Residencies in Galway, Riga and Paris. In 2017 he was the UNESCO City of Literature Writer in Residence in Prague. His poetry has been translated into many languages, including French, Czech, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.

He is a member of Aosdána.

‘Something new is happening here and knows that it is happening. O’Loughlin manages to ride the surge of discourses and histories in order to arrive in the free literate domain of the achieved poem.’

Seamus Heaney

Breda Wall Ryan

Breda Wall Ryan lives in Co. Wicklow. She has M.Phil. in Creative Writing (Distinction) from Trinity College, Dublin.

Her short stories have won prizes, but in recent years she has concentrated on poetry. Individual poems have won the iYeats Poetry Contest, Poets Meet Painters, Dromineer Poetry Competition and Over the Edge New Writer of the Year.

She was selected for Poetry Ireland Introductions Series, 2014 and was awarded Second Place in the Patrick Kavanagh Award, Third Prize in The Rialto/RSPB Nature Poetry Competition, and was shortlisted for a Bridport Prize.

Nominated several times for a Pushcart Prize, Forward Prize and Best of the Net Award, she won the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition, 2015 and the Dermot Healey International Poetry Award in 2017. She has been awarded bursaries by Wicklow Arts, The Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon and the Heinrich Boll Association Achill, and residencies Ty Newedd, Wales; Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Co Monaghan; Cill Rialaig Arts Centre in Kerry and Heinrich Boll Cottage on Achill.

In a Hare’s Eye, her first collection from Doire Press, won a Shine/Strong Award. Raven Mothers, also Doire Press, appeared in 2018. She is finalising her third collection, due in 2023.

Muireann McDonnell

Muireann McDonnell is a 16 year old singer songwriter from Skerries.

Influenced by artists such as Prince, Sinead O’Connor and even Frank Sinatra, Muireann has an individual and original style. Her soft tones produce atmospheric and emotional music. Muireann, although young, has played supporting slots with Mundy, Aslan and Aoife Scott. She represented Ireland at The Junior Eurovision in Tbilisi in Georgia in 2017 with an original song in the Irish language ‘Suile Glasa’.

Muireann has performed at many festivals and events, including Vantastival, Sunflower Fest, The Temple Bar Tradfest and celebrating the memory and 50th birthday of Mic Christopher in Whelan’s whilst performing with The Pale, Paddy Casey, Mark Geary and Lisa Hannigan. Muireann appeared on The Ray D’Arcy show with some of Ireland’s top musicians such as Jerry Fish, The Pale, Cry Monster Cry, Davy Lyons, Mundy and Eleanor McEvoy where again they performed Mic Christopher’s Heyday as a promo for their show in The National Stadium.

She has won many competitions including the junior section of The Midlands Busking Festival, Forestside Songwriter of the Year and has recently recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios London.

Secure your tickets now on Eventbrite (booking fees apply except for free events),
or come early – there will be tickets available on the day.
Online booking ends 24 hours before the event starts.
💥 Go to our full programme here💥