Presented in association with Poetry Ireland
Circles Cycles Creativity
Saturday 1 June
Anita’s, Mountshannon - 4.30pm
€15/ €13 with wristband
Circles Cycles Creativity is an intergenerational poetry and musical celebration of the sacred feminine.
It brings together three exciting poets Molly Twomey, Kerri Ní Dochartaigh and Eleanor Hooker in an event interspersed with music from mother/daughter duo Mary MacNamara and Sorcha Costello.
Eleanor Hooker
Eleanor Hooker’s third poetry collection Of Ochre and Ash (Dedalus Press) won the 2022 Michael Hartnett Award. A recipient of the Markievicz Award, her chapbook Where Memory Lies was published by Bonnefant Press in the Netherlands. Her poetry appears in many anthologies, the latest of which is Windfall: Irish Nature Poems to Inspire and Connect (Hachette)
Eleanor’s poetry has been published internationally in Ireland, UK, USA, Holland, Romania, Hungary, India, Australia and Italy. Her work has appeared in literary journals including: Poetry Ireland Review; POETRY; New England Review; Poetry Review; PN Review; Agenda; Archipelago; The North; The Stinging Fly; Winter Papers; New Hibernia Review; Banshee and Hive. Eleanor read her poem ‘Float to Live’, commissioned by the RNLI to mark their bicentenary, at the Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey 4 March 2024.
Eleanor is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Limerick. She holds an MPhil (Distinction) in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin, an MA (Hons) in Cultural History from the University of Northumbria, and a BA (Hons 1st) from the Open University. Eleanor is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. She’s a helm and Press Officer for Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat. She began her career as an Intensive Care Nurse and midwife.
Molly Twomey
Molly Twomey grew up in Lismore, Co Waterford. Her debut collection, Raised Among Vultures, was published in 2022 by The Gallery Press. It won the Southword Debut Collection Poetry Award and was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize for Best First Collection. She was awarded the 2023 Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary and is working on her second collection.
Kerri ní Dochartaigh
Kerri ní Dochartaigh is a mother, writer and grower.
Her work currently explores ideas of emergency, interconnectedness and ecologies of care.
Her first book, Thin Places, was published by Canongate in Spring 2021, for which she was awarded the Butler Literary Award 2022, and highly commended for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021.
Cacophony of Bone was published by Canongate in May 2023 and was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2023.
She lives in Clare with her family
Mary McNamara
Music was a way of life when Mary was growing up in East Clare. Born in the townland of Clondanagh between Tulla and Feakle, from an early age she was in the company of the great masters of Irish Traditional Music of the region such as John Naughton, Martin Rochford, P.
Joe Hayes, Francie Donnellan, Joe Bane and Bill Malley. And there was plenty of musical guidance and inheritance from her parents who were both from musical families. Mary learned much from her mother Ita whose discernment in music was unquestionable, with a musical pedigree reaching back many generations. Mary’s musical style was further honed and perfected as a young girl sitting by the fireside in the homes of Mikey Donoghue in Ballinahinch and P. Joe Hayes of Maghera and then Sunday afternoon sessions with Joe Bane and Bill Malley in Lena's Bar in Feakle. This unique musical nurturing has resulted in Mary being a highly respected musician performing at home and abroad and also one of the most sought-after teachers of Irish Music today.
Sorcha Costello
Awarded with the prestigious Gradam Ceoil TG4 Young Musician of the Year 2021, Sorcha Costello is a traditional Irish fiddle player from Tulla Co. Clare and hails from a family emersed in traditional Irish music. From a young age, Sorcha has enjoyed performing nationally and internationally including tours of New Zealand, Australia and America already this year. She is also in high demand as a teacher of music, especially in her home area of East Clare because of her ability to transmit her unique style which has the trademark rhythm and swing qualities of generations of her family.
Released in June 2023, Sorcha Costello’s new album The Primrose Lass is a solo fiddle album which encompasses a unique variety of both old and new tunes. The style and flow of this album resembles Sorcha’s love of the old tradition, evidenced through the swing, rhythm and uncomplicated playing of tunes. Deeply rooted in the East Clare style, yet containing all her other musical influences from around the world, this album keeps the listener engaged throughout. Both accompanists on the album, John Blake (guitar + bouzouki) and Catherine McHugh (keyboard) weave their way around Sorcha’s fiddle playing to create a warm, comfortable atmosphere. This debut solo album has resulted in two RTE Radio 1 Folk award nominations for Sorcha, including ‘best folk instrumentalist’ and ‘’best emerging artist’ 2023.