Poetry Ireland is an organisation for poets and poetry, in both Irish and English, in the island of Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. It is a public body that receives support from The Arts Council of Ireland

Arts Council of Ireland

The Arts Council of Ireland was founded in 1951 by the Government of Ireland to encourage interest in Irish art and channel to funding from the state to Irish artists and arts organisations...

  and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland

Arts Council of Northern Ireland

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is the lead development agency for the arts in Northern Ireland....

. It was founded in 1978 by John F. Deane

John F. Deane

John F. Deane is an Irish poet and novelist. He founded Poetry Ireland and The Poetry Ireland Review in 1979.-Career:...

 and is based in Proud's Lane, off St Stephen's Green, Dublin. Its thirtieth anniversary in 2008 was celebrated by events all over Ireland culminating in an event at the Irish College in Paris

Irish College in Paris

The Irish College in Paris was for three centuries a major Roman Catholic educational establishment, for Irish students. It was founded in the late sixteenth century, and closed down by the French government in the early twentieth century....

.

Mission

Poetry Ireland is dedicated to developing, supporting and promoting poetry throughout Ireland by creating meaningful interaction by the public with poetry. It is committed to creating performance and publications opportunities for poets at all stages of their careers. It seeks to promote access and excellence by embracing and fostering poetry and language as tools for living.

Director

The director since 2001 has been Joe Woods

Joseph Woods (poet)

Joseph Woods is an Irish poet and Director of Poetry Ireland since 2001. Born in Drogheda, he studied biology, chemistry and subsequently took an MA in poetry...

; his predecessors have included Theo Dorgan

Theo Dorgan

Theo Dorgan is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He currently lives in Dublin.- Career :Dorgan's poetry collections are The Ordinary House of Love ; Rosa Mundi; and Sappho’s Daughter...

 and Rory Brennan

Rory Brennan

Rory Brennan is an Irish poet, born in Westport, County Mayo.-Life:Rory Brennan lectures in Dublin City University. He was previously a presenter and programme maker on RTÉ Radio. He is ex-director of Poetry Ireland, He has educated at Trinity College Dublin and NUI Maynooth. He has lived in...

.

Publications

Poetry Ireland publishes Poetry Ireland Review

Poetry Ireland Review

Poetry Ireland Review is a journal of Irish poetry published quarterly by Poetry Ireland, the national Irish poetry organization.Poetry Ireland Review publishes the work of both emerging and established Irish and international poets. In line with keeping the journal fresh, vibrant and progressive...

, a journal of Irish poetry, which is published quarterly and includes the work of both emerging and established Irish and international poets. In order to keep the journal fresh, vibrant and progressive, it appoints a new editor every four issues.

Poetry Ireland's bimonthly newsletter Poetry Ireland News includes information on readings, competitions, festivals, opportunities, articles and essays.

Education

Poetry Ireland's Writers in Schools Scheme supports visits by writers to primary and post-primary schools throughout the Republic of Ireland. The program has been running for over thirty years. It has proved to be an enriching and informative scheme for both students and writers. In addition it organises a Poetry Aloud competition for school students speaking (reciting) poetry.

Poetry Ireland has cooperated with Schools Across Borders in a creative writing project.

Poetry Ireland is also involved in the Poets' Chair, a film archive of contemporary Irish poets who write in both English and Irish. The archive is a record of living Irish poets for future generations as well as an invaluable educational resource bringing poets and their work to life through film. It includes recordings of Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...

, Eavan Boland

Eavan Boland

-Biography:Boland's father, Frederick Boland, was a career diplomat and her mother, Frances Kelly, was a noted post-expressionist painter. She was born in Dublin in 1944. At the age of six, Boland's father was appointed Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom; the family followed him to London,...

, Moya Cannon

Moya Cannon

Moya Cannon is an Irish author.Cannon was born in 1956 in Dunfanaghy, County Donegal. She studied History and Politics at University College Dublin, and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge....

, Louis de Paor

Louis de Paor

Louis de Paor is a well-known poet in the Irish language. Born in Cork in 1961 and educated at Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh, de Paor edited the Irish language journal Innti, founded in 1970 by Michael Davitt, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Liam Ó Muirthile and Gabriel Rosenstock...

, Brendan Kennelly

Brendan Kennelly

Brendan Kennelly is a popular Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. He is now retired and occasionally tours the USA as university lecturer.-Early life:...

, John Montague

John Montague (poet)

John Montague is an Irish poet. He was born in New York and brought up in Tyrone. He has published a number of volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories and two volumes of memoir. He is one of the best known Irish contemporary poets...

, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin is an Irish poet born in Cork .-Life:Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin is the daughter of Eilís Dillon and Professor Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin. She was educated at University College Cork and The University of Oxford. She lives in Dublin with her husband Macdara Woods, and they have one...

, Ciarán Carson

Ciaran Carson

Ciaran Gerard Carson is a Belfast, Northern Ireland-born poet and novelist.-Early years:Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast into an Irish-speaking family...

, Michael Longley

Michael Longley

Michael Longley, CBE is a Northern Irish poet from Belfast.-Life and career:Longley was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and subsequently read Classics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he edited Icarus...

, Sinéad Morrissey

Sinead Morrissey

Sinéad Morrissey is a poet from Northern Ireland.-Life:Raised in Belfast, she was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where she took BA and PhD degrees, and won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 1990...

, Cathal Ó Searcaigh

Cathal Ó Searcaigh

Cathal Ó Searcaigh is an Irish poet who writes in the Irish language .Ó Searcaigh was born in Gort a' Choirce, a town in the Gaeltacht region of Donegal, and lives at the foot of Mount Errigal...

, Gerald Dawe

Gerald Dawe

Gerald Dawe is a Northern Irish writer and poet.-Early life:Gerald Dawe was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and grew up with his mother, sister and grandmother. He attended Orangefield Boys School across the city in East Belfast, a leading progressive liberal state school...

, Máire Mhac an tSaoi

Máire Mhac an tSaoi

-Background:Mhac an tSaoi was born as Máire MacEntee in Dublin in 1922. Her father, Seán MacEntee, a native of Belfast, was a founding member of Fianna Fáil, a long-serving TD and Tánaiste in the Dáil and a participant in the Easter Rising of 1916. Her mother, County Tipperary-born Margaret Browne...

, Paul Muldoon

Paul Muldoon

Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published over thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 - 2004. At Princeton University he is both the Howard G. B. Clark ’21 Professor in the Humanities and...

 and Dennis O'Driscoll

Dennis O'Driscoll

Dennis O’Driscoll is an Irish poet, essayist, critic, and editor born in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland. Although not widely recognized in the United States, he is considered one of the best European poets of his time. In all, he has written eight books of poetry, two chapbooks, and a...

,

Austin Clarke collection

Poetry Ireland has transferred a collection of books consisting of the library of Austin Clarke

Austin Clarke

Austin Ardinel Chesterfield Clarke, is a Canadian novelist, essayist and short story writer who lives in Toronto, Ontario. Born in St...

 and books formerly owned by the poets John Jordan

John Jordan

John Jordan may be:*Sir John Newell Jordan , British diplomat*John Jordan , American basketball player and coach for the University of Notre Dame*Johnny Jordan , English footballer...

and Tanya Touwen to the Special Collections at the University College Dublin Library . The collection of 5,000 books were once mainly the property of Austin Clarke. Poetry Ireland also transferred a collection of its papers there.

Information and resource service

Poetry Ireland provides information and resources for both new and established poets, as possible. This includes everything from assessments and writers workshops to readings, copyright and general literary advice.

It also offers advice on everything to do with poetry in Ireland, from event advice, contacting poets or suitable books to read.

Readings

Poetry Ireland provides support for readings by poets. Its website provides up-to-date details on readings and events in Ireland.