Cork City Libraries first ever Eco Poet-in- Residence will engage communities interested in the ecology of the city; the flora, the fauna and the human ecology. 

Cork City Libraries is delighted to announce the appointment of Keith Payne as the Eco Poet-in-Residence for the city. Keith will engage communities on the ecology of the city, natural and human, through poetry and creative thinking. This appointment is funded by Creative Ireland and will run until Spring 2023. 

‘Cork City Libraries contribute significantly to the artistic and creative life of the city and we are delighted to continue our support of the arts making creativity and writing accessible to all,’ says Patricia Looney, Cork City Libraries, ‘we are very thankful to Creative Ireland for enabling this appointment which is the first Poet-in-Residence for Cork City Council Libraries. Keith will engage communities and all ages on the ecology and sustainability of the city through writing and creative thinking, while also encouraging dialogue on ecology and action.’ 

Keith is an award-winning poet and translator and has published seven collections of poetry in translation and original poetry. He was writer in residence for the Red Line Book Festival 2020, John Broderick Writer in Residence 2021, and in 2022 was awarded an Artist in the Community Scheme from Create, for work with refugees in Athlone for the project Tales my Granny Told me. He is Curator of the Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Poetry Bursary between Ireland and Galicia and a member of Crosswinds: Irish and Galician Poetry and Translation, at the Moore Institute, University of Galway. He was awarded an An Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Literature Bursary in 2022. 

‘Cork city has the capability of providing something for everybody, and I hope there will be something for everybody during the CORK ECO CITY residency’ says Keith. ‘This is your city and will be my city for the duration of the residency, and beyond, I hope. I am interested in the ecology of the city; how we move about the place, roving the streets, turning corners to what we find living there. From Crosses Green to Tramore Valley Park, from Blackpool on to the roar of ‘a truck heading for Mallow’. I want to hear what you have to say about your city, and how you say it; about what grows under your feet, what flies over your head, the sounds in your ears – yes, those bells! – but also the Irish, English, Spanish and French you hear; the Ndebele, Kekewa, Igbo and Bangla. The accents from across the city and the globe that keep Finnegan awake and alive to the bubbling sound of things being various. So much to celebrate in Cork.’

The residency creatively supports Cork City Council’s high-level goals of an environmentally sustainable city by proactively engaging and empowering citizens to make the city climate resilient through creativity as well as a city promoting culture, heritage, learning, health and wellbeing. Cork City Council is keen to take a leading civic role in climate action.  Creatively this residency will engage communities in healthy living options and build a sense of belonging with our increasingly diverse community.  

Keith will be running translation workshops, which will bring those languages, and their speakers, ever closer to us; a Wanderlust book club on the literature of walking: from Bashō to Frank O’Hara, Laurie Lee to Tommy Pico, and our own adopted Corkman, Martín Veiga of Crosses Green. There will mentorships for poets working toward their first collection, a series of workshops on the Body and the Poem with dancer and adopted Corkonian Inma Pavon, as well as readings, talks and guest writers.

All events and workshops are open to the public, are free of charge, and no previous experience is necessary. The residency particularly encourages participants from underrepresented groups, people with disabilities and citizens for whom English is not a first language to participate. 

For more details please see Cork City Libraries FaceBook and Twitter or contact directly [email protected]

Notes:

Keith is an award-winning poet and translator and has published seven collections of poetry in translation and original poetry. He was writer in residence for the Red Line Book Festival 2020, John Broderick Writer in Residence 2021, and in 2022 was awarded an Artist in the Community Scheme from Create, for his work with refugees in Athlone on the project Tales my Granny Told me. He is Curator of the Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Poetry Bursary between Ireland and Galicia and a member of Crosswinds: Irish and Galician Poetry and Translation, at the Moore Institute, University of Galway. He was awarded an Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Literature Bursary in 2022. 

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