Poetry Encounters, a special series of artist-poet, readings and discussions, presented in association with Poetry Ireland to mark Butler Gallery's 80th Anniversary. Artists whose work features in Butler Gallery's 80th Anniversary Collection Exhibition share and exchange insights into their own work with poets. The poets read from their collections, explore the exhibition and consider how the visual arts have influenced their writing.

February 22nd, 2023

Michael Beirne, born in Carlow in 1958, studied fine art at the Crawford School of Art, Cork. Solo exhibitions of his work include David Cunningham Projects, San Francisco (2009); Sligo Arts Centre (2007); Butler Gallery, Kilkenny (2005); and Temple Bar Galleries + Studios, Dublin (1999). Selected Group Exhibitions include Fenton Gallery, Cork (2000); RHA, Dublin (1997); Clock Tower Gallery, New York; and Arhus Kunstbygning, Denmark (both 1996). Beirne was commissioned by The Arts Council to produce work for the touring school show 'Heroes' (1986). Apart from The Arts Council, his work is included in the collections of Butler Gallery, Kilkenny and Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork as well as several significant private collections in Ireland and abroad.

Jess McKinney is a poet from Inishowen, Donegal, currently living in Dublin. In 2020, she completed my MA in Poetry at Queen's University Belfast, where she was awarded the Irish Chair of Poetry Student Award. In 2021, she took part in the Dedalus Press Mentorship Programme, and Seamus Heaney Centre Poetry Summer School. Her writing has appeared in The Belfield Literary Review, The Moth, The Stinging Fly, Banshee, SAND, Channel, Abridged, The Poetry Jukebox and New Island anthology The New Frontier: Writing from the Irish Border, with upcoming work in The Cormorant. Her debut pamphlet 'Weeding' was published with Hazel Press in September 2021, and launched at the London Review Bookshop, where it remained on their Best Seller List for several weeks. It was additionally shortlisted for the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award 2021, and Saboteur Awards 2022. Most recently she was awarded a place on the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series 2022, as one of the top ten emerging poets in Ireland.


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