Decade of Centenaries Writer in Residence Announced

Date: 29-06-2023

Mayo County Councils Arts Service is delighted to welcome Poet Martin Dyar as the 2023 Decade of Centenaries Artist in Residence.

The Centenaries Programme complements the on-going programme of annual State commemorations with special commemorative events on the centenary of key historical events. The aim of the State centenary commemoration programme for the years from 2021 – 2023 is to ensure that this complex period in our history, including the Struggle for Independence, the Civil War, the Foundation of the State and Partition, is remembered appropriately, proportionately, respectfully and with sensitivity.  

The residency will enable Martin to research, develop and present new work sensitive to the historical context of the period, in response to the Decade of Centenaries commemoration programme by working with the Jackie Clarke Collection.

Martin will engage with the Jackie Clarke Collection from July to November. The Jackie Clarke Collection is the most important private collection of Irish history material in public hands, comprising over 100,000 items spanning 400 years.  

Martin Dyar grew up in Swinford in Mayo. His first book of poems Maiden Names (Arlen House) was shortlisted for the Pigott Poetry Prize and was a book of the year selection in both the Guardian and the Irish Times. He won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 2009. He is the editor of the anthology Vital Signs: Poems of Illness and Healing, published by Poetry Ireland. His next book of poems, The Meek, will be published by Wake Forest University Press in Autumn 2023. With the composer Ryan Molloy, he has written a poetry song cycle for soprano, harp and flute, titled Buaine na Gaoithe, which toured nationally in 2018. He has been the recipient of an Arts Council Literature Bursary Award, and has held fellowships at the University of Iowa, the Washington Ireland Programme, and at the University of Limerick. He poetry has been included on the Leaving Cert Prescribed Poetry Syllabus. He teaches in the School of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin.

Further information and updates on the residency will be available from Mayo County Council Arts Service mayoarts@mayococo.ie or on our website www.mayo.ie. 

This initiative is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the  Decade of Centenaries Programme