Kilkenny's Broadsheet is a ‘Pandora’s box full of elements of the human condition’

The Kilkenny County Council Arts Office officially launched the 24th edition of the Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet during the Kilkenny Arts Festival earlier this month in the Parade Tower.

It was launched by Kilkenny Arts Festival Poet in Residence, Martina Evans and Kilkenny County Council’s Arts Officer, Mary Butler. The aim of the publication is to give local writers a platform for their work. Published since 2000, it continues to be a treasured platform for writers to showcase their work. This year 110 poems were submitted by 60 writers for consideration, with 13 poems selected for publication by Irish poet James Harpur.

The Broadsheet was beautifully illustrated by local designer and illustrator Tim Harper of Wax Botanical.

Poets selected for publication included: Cathy Hogan, Fergal Canton, Ian Chambers, Janis Woodgate, Alice Bennett, Gobnait Kearney, David Kirby, Susie Lamb, Noel Howley, Carmel Hogan, Angela Esmonde, Aoife Riach and Paddy Doyle.

Writer James Harpur, this year’s editor, had the tough yet enjoyable task of selecting the poems for publication. James Harpur has published eight books of poetry, including The Examined Life (2021), a verse memoir of his time at boarding school. He has also published a debut novel, The Pathless Country, set in Galway, Dublin and London in the years leading up to the 1916 Rising. It was winner of the JG Farrell Award and shortlisted for the John McGahern Prize. He is a member of Aosdána and lives in West Cork.

‘I was deeply touched by these poems, with their tales of illness and loss, wistful longings, obsessions, gentle reflections on landscapes, and poignant memories of childhood: it was like opening a benign Pandora’s Box full of the elements of the human condition.’

Mary Butler, Arts Officer said that the Arts Office ‘is delighted to be providing an annual opportunity for established and emerging Kilkenny poets to be published and share their work with audiences new and old’.

The Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet Issue 24 is available free at the Arts Office, Patricks Court, Patrick Street, Kilkenny. It is also available from all the libraries throughout the county.