Mayo poet named Decade of Centenaries Writer in Residence
MAYO County Council's Arts Service has welcomed poet Martin Dyar as the 2023 Decade of Centenaries Writer in Residence.
The residency will enable the Swinford native 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 collection is the most important private collection of Irish history material in public hands, comprising over 100,000 items spanning 400 years.
The Centenaries Programme complements the ongoing 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 to 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.
Martin Dyar grew up in Swinford. He teaches in the School of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin.
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.
With composer Ryan Molloy, Dyar 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.
His poetry has been included on the Leaving Cert prescribed poetry syllabus.
The initiative is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries Programme.