Irish Writers Centre Climate Writing Session #5

The Irish Writers Centre Climate Writing Sessions began in 2021 as a free online series originally founded and curated by Lynn Buckle, followed by Kerri Ní Dhochartaigh and Alice Kinsella. The project brings together writers, scientists, and activists to explore how storytelling can respond to the climate crisis. Supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, we hope to create a space for writers of all forms, whatever their level of experience, to engage with climate-related themes through discussion and creative practice.

Now in our fifth year, we continue our focus on the intersection of science, activism, and literature. Five one-hour sessions (7–8pm) will take place across April, May, June, July, and September, with a sixth session devoted to the announcement of the winner of the Irish Writers Centre Inaugural Climate Writing Prize.

For our fifth session we are delighted to welcome poet Jane Clarke and Brian O'Toole and Gilly Taylor of Wildacres Nature Reserve and Biodiversity Education Centre who will be in conversation on poetry and climate action in Wicklow and the broader Irish landscape.

There will be an audience Q&A following the discussion.

More info on the Climate Writing Prize: Each session of the Climate Writing series will end with hosts leaving a writing prompt for attending writers. Attendees can then enter the Climate Writing Prize with:

up to 1,500 words of fiction

or

up to 150 lines of poetry based on any of the five sessions prompts.

The winning piece will be awarded €250 and publication in Channel with a runner-up receiving a course bursary for the Irish Writers Centre worth €250. The aim of the Prize is to encourage writers to develop their work beyond the sessions, and to explore the genre of climate writing.

You can submit to the Climate Writing Prize via our website here.

The Irish Writers Centre would like to thank the support the Climate Writing Programme has received from Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.

About our guests:

Jane Clarke is the author of three poetry collections with Bloodaxe Books: The River (2015), When the Tree Falls (2019), A Change in the Air (2023). She edited Windfall: Irish Nature Poems to Inspire and Connect (Hachette Books, Ireland, 2023) and co-authored The Hare’s Corner: Making Space for Nature (New Island Books, 2025). Jane’s fourth collection Coracle will be published by Bloodaxe in October 2026. www.janeclarkepoetry.ie

Brian O’Toole and Gilly Taylor are the co-founders of Wildacres, a multi-award-winning Nature Reserve and Biodiversity Education Centre in Southeast Wicklow. Wildacres is set on 34 acres of land, bordered by the beautiful Redcross river. After decades working in the corporate space, the couple established this Environmental Social Enterprise. Their mission is to help restore Ireland’s declining biodiversity and to inspire and empower as many people as possible to make a positive difference for our natural heritage. They achieve this through engaging workshops, tours and private events for individuals, community groups, NGO’s, State bodies, colleges, and businesses.