Eavan & Evolution: Irish Women Poets

Eavan Boland (1944–2020) is recognised as one of the finest female voices in Irish Literature. Much of her work examined the Irish national identity and the role of women in Irish history. Through her poetry and prose, she wrote honestly about her experiences of living in Ireland, motherhood, love, history, mythology and the feminine life. Eavan explained that she “wanted to put the life I lived into the poem I wrote. And the life I lived was a woman’s life.”

Join Olivia O’Leary in conversation with three of Ireland’s finest female poets, Victoria Kennefick and Liz Quirke, as they talk about their poetry, being a female poet in Ireland and how Eavan paved the way for the next generation of Irish female poets.

Olivia O’Leary is a journalist, writer and current affairs presenter. In recent years, she has presented the popular RTÉ Poetry Programme. A wonderful advocate for poetry, Oliva, showcases Ireland’s emerging poets and pays homage to the rich poetic tradition that exists in this country.

Victoria Kennefick is a poet, writer and teacher from Co Cork now based in Co Kerry. Her first collection, ‘Eat or We Both Starve’, published by Carcanet Press, was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2021. It is an Irish Times Best Poetry Book for 2021 and was also selected as one of The Telegraph's Best Poetry Books to Buy 2021. Victoria has been shortlisted for the Dalkey Book Festival Emerging Writer of the Year 2022.

A poet and scholar from Kerry with two collections from Salmon Poetry (‘The Road, Slowly’ in 2018 and ‘How We Arrive in Winter’ in 2021), Liz Quirke is an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar, a Galway Doctoral Fellow and is completing a PhD through Creative Practice in Poetry on Queer Kinship in Contemporary Poetry. Liz lectures in Creative Writing in the School of English and Digital Humanities at University College Cork.

All events or shows will be filmed or photographed. Buying a ticket affirms your consent to the filming, sound recording, or photographing of yourself as a member of the audience. Photography and recordings are strictly forbidden without the permission of the Listowel Writers' Week Literary Festival Management.