Latest news with #SalmonPoetry
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Wexford author to launch new poetry book focused on his hometown
The book provides nuanced and many-sided explorations of Irish and diasporic life – with particular focus on Eamonn Wall's hometown of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, and on St. Louis, Missouri, where he had lived for the past two decades. According to his publisher, Salmon Poetry, 'the book is also a homage to the lives of those who have been written out of history, and a personal response to a town that has changed but endured.' A focal point of the collection is Annie Murphy-Flood, the author's grandmother, who arrived in Enniscorthy as a newly married young woman in the early 20th century to open a business and start a family. Eamonn is a prolific writer who has previously published Writing the Irish West: Ecologies and Traditions. He has also published a number of essays in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune and many more. Eamonn has lived in St Louis since 2000 and is the Smufit-Stone Corporation Professor of Irish Studies, as well as a Professor of English Studies, at the University of Missouri-St Louis (UMSL). At UMSL, he curates the monthly Irish lectures, readings, and concerts series for UMSL Global, is currently the Director of their annual summer study abroad programme at the University of Galway, as well as teaching various classes on Irish writing. He has received a number of awards commending his contribution to Irish writing; the Durkan Prize from the American Conference for Irish Studies, the Irish Echo Award for distinguished service to Irish Arts and Culture in North America, as well as being the first Irish-born academic to be elected as President of the American Conference for Irish Studies. Recognised for bridging the gap between American and Irish Culture, he was asked to lead the St Patrick's Parade in St Louis last year, where he was joined by Fianna Fáíl Senator Shane Curley. In double joy for the family, his sister Sinead led the Enniscorthy procession with great excitement.
Irish Times
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Poem of the Week: Seated Beside Iggy at a Dinner Party
It's hard not to feel intimidated. After all, this is the man who invented the stage dive, bare-chested haloed father of punk rock, ecstatic, bloodied, wing-torn Icarus, resurrected, strutting his tail feathers, embracing the legend of the fall. Puts you in mind of your mother, who, on her sixtieth birthday, skydived from a height of ten thousand feet, the crack of her ankle breaking heralded her triumphant descent, into the family hall of fame. You wait until they've served dessert, a rich chocolate ganache tart, garnished with the season's first strawberries, before turning to glance sideways at his face, its hush of concentration, each spoonful manna from heaven lifted reverently to his lips, rapt expression a cross between Tiny Tim's and Scrooge's as they feasted on the ghost of second chances and the promise of Christmas all year round. Swivelling in your seat, you clear your throat; it's now or never. When will you again get the chance to crack the code of how to live like tomorrow is a conspiracy of the imagination? He puts down his spoon, like he's got all day, waits for you to form the words. If you don't mind me asking, your face reddening, how do you do it; how do you live like you're never going to die? He gestures to your untouched plate: the scalloped pastry's golden crust, the heady marriage of chocolate and cream, the curvaceous blush of summer fruit. A gift from the gods, he says, beckoning; go on, dive in. Anne Tannam is the author of four poetry collections, the latest of which, dismantle, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2024. She is poet in residence with Poetry Ireland (May 2023 to May 2025).
Irish Times
29-04-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Poem of the Week: The Book of Kells Library
I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. - Jorge Luis Borges The Long Room They raised the roof and roofbeams, made room for more books. Shelves, like stairs to Paradise Scriptorium, folio 124 Elsewhere, centuries ago, a young monk leans over his work - with goose-feather pen and oak-apple ink. In scarce window light makes careful copy: TUNC CRUCIFIXERANT… then were crucified with him two thieves - recalling you too will be with me in Paradise. Cabinet Holding You and I move alongside the lit cabinet glass, inspecting every angle of its single page display. In queue, inching forward, next to the man from Buenos Aires. But none came like you, your lined notebook, and sharpened pencil. In low reverent light you copy out the Latin text. Louise C Callaghan's latest book, Bee, I Am Expecting You: New & Selected Poems, is due for publication soon from Salmon Poetry.
