An Rinn's Áine Uí Fhoghlú has been named as the Poet Laureate for Dungarvan as part of the Poetry Town initiative.
Poetry Towns is a Poetry Ireland initiative which will see more than a hundred poetry-related activities take place in 20 towns across the island of Ireland between 10th and 18th September 2021.
Aine comes from the Gaeltacht of An Rinn. Her published works include poetry: Aistear Aonair (1999); An Liú sa Chuan (2007); Ar an Imeall (2011); adult fiction: Crúba na Cinniúna (2009); Uisce faoi Thalamh (2011); Éalú (2013); non-fiction: Scéalta agus Seanchas – Potatoes, Children & Seaweed (2019) – a bilingual memoir recorded from the older generation in her area; and teenage fiction: Pincí sa Ghaeltacht (2012); Labhairamach.com (2017). Her latest teenage fiction is due for publication in 2021.
Áine has won commissions and bursaries from The Arts Council, Ealaíon na Gaeltachta and Foras na Gaeilge. Prizes won for her writing include the Michael Hartnett Poetry Award, Oireachtas naGaeilge Literary awards, Strokestown Duais na Gaeilge award, Listowel Writers’ Week. Prescribed texts for the Junior Cycle include her work. She is a recent recipient of an Arts Council Literature Bursary which supports her as she now works on her fourth collection of poetry.
She says it is a great honour to accept the nomination and continue West Waterford's great traditions.
"The Déise area of west Waterford, with Dungarvan at its heart, has a long tradition of poetry going back through the centuries, Donnchadh Rua Mac Conmara and Máire Ní Dhonnagáin being just two of the better-known poets associated with the locality in the past. In that proud tradition, it is a great honour for me to accept my nomination as Laureate for Dungarvan and I look forward to working with Waterford City and Council Arts Office and all the other parties who have made the exciting 2021 Poetry Town project possible. Poetry is for everyone, let's make sure everyone knows it!".
All Poet Laureates announced today are either from the respective local area or have strong connections with it and have been commissioned to write a poem honouring and reflecting their Poetry Town and its people.
As part of the week-long Poetry Town celebrations next month, each Poet Laureate will reveal and present their poem to the people of their Poetry Town at a series of flagship online events, one of which will be hosted in each town. Each event will also feature contributions from other local poets, artists and musicians (further details about these events is available on the Poetry Town website).
Further activities will include a series of poetry events involving local poets; poetry workshops; public poetry displays, including ‘Poetry Underfoot’; and a range of physical activities called ‘Poems that Move You’, which will vary from town to town. Local businesses, including cafés and chemists, will also be participating in the activities to celebrate their towns by distributing ‘pocket poems’ to customers. The full programme of activities for each town will be made available on the Poetry Town website during the last week of August.
Commenting, Director of Poetry Ireland, Niamh O’Donnell said: “We are delighted we could secure such a strong cohort of Poet Laureates for this exciting newpoetry initiative, which is characterised by collaboration and communal experiences."
“The aim of Poetry Town is to celebrate the vitality and strength of our towns and communities, and to shine a light on the wealth of creativity and talent that can be found in them. The diversity of this talent is reflected in the selection of Laureates, which includes both well-known visionary poets and new powerful voices."
