Decade of Centenaries
Poet Martin Dyar is the Decade of Centenaries Writer in Residence 2023.
The Decade of 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 enabled Martin to research, develop and present new work in response to the Decade of Centenaries commemoration programme by working with the Jackie Clarke Collection.
Over the course of the residency, Martin engaged with a group of local writing enthusiasts and students from Muredach’s College. The writers each produced poems in response to the theme of New Ballina Poems. Contributors to the manuscript were Marie Loftus , Catherine Gilmartin, Sheila Garvin, Patricia Greaney, Helen Quinn Dawad, Bertha Cooke, Anne Marie Forbes, Audrey Robinson, Mike Absalom and Bridie McAndrew. St Muredach's College teacher and contributor of a poem, Alan Conmy , and students Jamie Brown, Kian Boland, Keelan Langdon, 'Ka Paw Say', Liam Moyles, Séamus Clarke, James Brogan, Iarla Dunford, David Newcombe, Colum Clarke.
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.
This initiative is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries Programme