News
HAY FESTIVAL BOOKCLUB - To celebrate the Wesh poet Gillian Clarke's Selected Poems, Jane moderated an online reading and discussion of Gillian's work on 20 March 2025. You can watch the readings & conversation here.
Windfall, Irish Nature Poems to Inspire & Connect, Hachette Ireland 2023, ed. Jane Clarke was recommended by Ron Charles in The Washington Post Book Club Newsletter on Friday 14 March 2025.
Jane's poem 'Coracle' is one of five postcard poems distributed in University Hospital Waterford and Waterford Library Service as part of the Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing, 17 - 22 February 2025. It is read here by poet & curator Kerrie O'Brien.
Where the River Rises: The Lyric Feature (RTE Lyric FM). In this radio programme, broadcast 2 February 2025, Jane explores the Avonmore River, Co. Wicklow through her poetry and in conversation with naturalists & historians. You can listen back here.
Mick Heaney chose Where the River Rises as his radio 'moment of the week' in the Irish Times, 7 February 2025 - 'Accessible without sacrificing authenticity or artistry, it's a documentary that meanders enjoyably rather than babbling on, its nearly paced flow pulling the listener in.'
Jane wrote a piece about her relationship with the Avonmore, featured on the RTE Culture website here.
Poem of the Week: Jane's new poem 'On Árainn' was poem of the week in The Irish Times on Saturday 28 December 2024. You can read the poem here.
On Ruins & Thresholds: an illuminating piece by poet & clinical psychologist Jonathan Totman about Jane's poem 'The Arch' from A Change in the Air', Bloodaxe Books 2023.
A poem is a small thing but it can reach far and wide: Jane's in-depth interview with reporter Alannah Ita Healy in the Roscommon People on 13 December 2024.
Roots: Where Textile Art Meets Poetry: Jane's piece for The Irish Times online about the Roots exhibition in Dublin Castle which features 50 textile and multi-media artworks in response to her poems. The exhibition had a four month run in the Coach House Gallery with 19,500 visitors.
Poetry Society: Jane judged the Poetry Society Members' Competition for Spring 2025. The theme was 'Stone', chosen by Jane while walking in the limestone landscape of the Burren in County Clare.
Strokestown International Poetry Competition 2025: Jane is the judge for the 2025 Strokestown International Poetry Competition. The competition is now closed.
Menu of Poems: Jane selected the poems for this year's Menu of Poems, a project of Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland. 12,000 Menus of Poems were distributed on 15 November 2024 to wards, waiting rooms, and other healthcare settings for patients, staff and visitors to enjoy. You can listen to all the poems here, including Jane's poem, 'The Yellow Jumper', from her collection When the Tree Falls, Bloodaxe Books 2019.
The Farming for Nature Handbook, E.E. Hart, B. Barry & B. Dunford, Dingle Publishing 2025: Jane's poem 'Caddisfly' features in this wonderful resource book for farmers and everyone interested in restoring nature.
Almanac, Twelve Poems for 2025, Candlestick Press: Jane's poem 'June' from A Change in the Air, (Bloodaxe Books 2023) features in this Almanac of Poems for 2025.
Visioning: Jane reads a new poem, Sightings, in this stunning film, Visioning by Jack Talty and Dan O'Connell. The film celebrates the beauty and uniqueness of the Burren landscape while encouraging us to appreciate the fragility of our local environments. It forms part of the Burrenbeo Trust Turas Project, funded by the Creative Climate Action Fund, Creative Ireland.
Tern the Tide: Jane reads her poem 'Little Tern Colony, Kilcoole' in this beautiful film about an innovative arts project celebrating the largest Little Tern colony in Ireland.
Magma Poetry Journal: Jane has three new poems ('Come October', 'Shoeing the Mare' & 'The Women from Crinnagh') in Magma 90 - Grassroots, published October 2024.
The North Magazine: "She is a poet of great skill, her language is shaped and eloquent, emotional but totally without sentimentality." - A Change in the Air is reviewed by poet Jim Caruth in the August 2024 issue of The North poetry magazine.
Newcastle Poetry Festival 2024: Jane's reading at the Newcastle Poetry Festival in May 2024 is available to watch on the Bloodaxe Books YouTube channel here.
Earth Sonnet: Mel Mercier's song cycle composition includes Jane's sonnet 'Dandelion', sung by Caoimhe Ní Flatharta. The show was performed in the Dublin Fringe Festival, September 2024.
Holy Show, Issue 06: The Mermaid Arts Centre & Holy Show magazine of contemporary Irish life & culture invited Jane to spend time as a kind of writer-in-residence on the Bray promenade in March/April 2024. Her poems and prose reflections accompanied by David Stephenson photographs feature in the 2024 issue of the Holy Show.
Arts Council of Ireland: Jane has received a Literature Bursary 2024 for the completion of her fourth collection.
DCU Centre for Climate & Society: Jane gave the closing reflection and read three poems at the Climate Justice Across Generations Conference, 16 April 2024. It's available to watch here.
Given from A Change in the Air, Bloodaxe Books 2023, is translated into Italian here for the Bologna in Lettere Festival 2024 by poet & translator Viviana Fiorentino.
Soul Feast, Bloodaxe Books 2024: Jane's poem 'Spalls' from A Change in the Air features in this recently published companion anthology to the much-loved Soul Food, Bloodaxe Books 2007.
Nothing But The Poem Podcast: An in-depth consideration of three of Jane's poems is summarised by poet Aoife Lyall, presenting a revealing and insightful look at 'When Winter Comes', 'Hers' & 'Daily Bread'. It is available to listen to here.
As part of a Forward Prizes & University of Brighton partnership, Maya Hopkins created an animation film of Jane's poem 'At Purteen Harbour' from A Change in the Air (Bloodaxe Books 2023). It is available to watch here.
Nás na Rí Singers commissioned Conor O'Reilly (composer, chorister & conductor) to set Jane's poems 'Legend' and 'Brigid' for performance in St. Brigid's Church, Kildare in May 2024.
Limerick Literary Festival 2024 invited Jane to read 'Ballinabarney' from A Change in the Air (Bloodaxe 2023) for April is Poetry Month. The reading is available to watch on YouTube here.
Forward Prizes 2024: Jane is one of the five judges for the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2024.
The 2024 International Book & Pamphlet Competition: Jane judged the Poetry Business poetry competition 2024.
Turas - Journeys in Environmental Stewardship: Jane is meeting Farming for Nature Ambassadors and writing poems inspired by their work, as part of this Creative Climate Action project with Burrenbeo.
The textile arts collective, element15 is collaborating with Jane in preparation for their exhibition in the Coach House, Dublin Castle from October 2024 to January 2025. The individual artists are creating work which responds to one or more of Jane's poems. More details to follow.
New Poems: Jane has new poems in Issue 142 of Poetry Ireland Review, edited by Mary O'Donnell as well as the journals HIVE & Ogham Stone. Another new poem is online here on Zocalo Public Square. 'White-tailed Eagles' was chosen by poet Emma Must in her January 2024 curation of Irish eco-poetry. Jane also has a new poem in the Winter 2023 issue of the Butcher's Dog Poetry Magazine and in the Winter 2023 issue of Irish Mountain Log. She has a new poem in I Am the Wind: Irish Poems for Children Everywhere, edited by Lucinda Jacob and Sarah Webb (Little Island Books 2023). 'Praise' was inspired by Jane's visit to the farmer & author James Rebanks in the Lake District, courtesy of the Ireland Chair of Poetry Travel Award 2022. Jane's poem 'Witness' inspired by the life of Jennie Wyse Power, a member of the Ladies Land League and Cumann na mBan, features in Issue 140 of Poetry Ireland Review, edited by Annemarie Ní Churreáin.
'Butter for Queens' from A Change in the Air features with a short commentary in the April 2024 issue of The Simple Things online magazine.
Books for Breakfast: Jane introduces and reads 'Passage' from a Change in the Air in the latest edition of this podcast, here at 21 minutes. Poet & podcaster Enda Wylie describes A Change in the Air as "a collection which displays an impressive, pared back emotional restraint, precise observations of the natural world and an exploration of how people and landscapes, the voices of the past and present can affect our lives, all traits evident in her previous two collections ..."
'Sing', a poem from Jane's debut collection, The River, featured in the Irish Times on Christmas Eve, 2023.
A Change in the Air, Jane's third full-length collection published by Bloodaxe Books in May 2023, was shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2023 and the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2023 and longlisted for the Laurel Prize 2023, an annual award for the best collection of nature & ecopoetry.
The T S Eliot Prize 2023 newsletter of 2 November 2023 focused on Jane's collection A Change in the Air with a featured poem, Readers' Notes, an excellent review by John Field and four exclusive YouTube videos of Jane speaking about her work and reading three poems. The newsletter can be read here.
The Poetry School invited the ten poets shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2023 to reflect on their writing process. Here are Jane's writing notes. The Poetry School also asked the poets shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection to write about the inspiration for a poem. Jane reflects on writing 'Pit Ponies of Glendasan'. You can read the piece here.
A Change in the Air is reviewed in this video by Evelyn Byrne as part of the Young Critics scheme, a partnership between the T S Eliot Prize and the Poetry Society's Young Poets Network.
Coracle, Jane's new sequence of ten poems on the theme of biodiversity loss was published by the Museum of Literature Ireland on 3 November 2023. This limited edition (150) is available in the MoLI shop & online here. 'Barnacullian Bog', a poem from Coracle (MoLI 2023) features in the Irish Mountain Log Winter 2023 issue, alongside an article about peatland restoration in Co. Wicklow.
Windfall: Irish Nature Poems to Inspire and Connect , edited by Jane Clarke and illustrated by Jane Carkill was published by Hachette Books Ireland in November 2023.
Ahead of the publication of Windfall: Irish Nature Poems to Inspire and Connect (Hachette Ireland 2023), Jane recommends five anthologies of nature poetry on the Shepherd.com website.
Ballinasloe Orb: A line from Jane's poem 'The Suck' (The River, Bloodaxe Books 2015) is inscribed on a sculpture in Slí na hAbhainn Park, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. The sculpture was created by Jacqueline Pyle for Galway European Capital of Culture 2020.
A Change in the Air was reviewed in The Irish Times, Poetry Ireland Review, The Yorkshire Times, Books Ireland, The Alchemy Spoon and the Dundee University Review of the Arts. Extracts can be read in the reviews page of this website.
Poem of the Week: Jane's poem 'Pit Ponies of Glendasan' from A Change in the Air featured in the Scotsman Magazine on 3 June 2023. "This week's poem is by the Irish poet Jane Clarke. Her work has a clarity and precision to it, a matter-of-factness that helps give form to the depth and weight of the words, which explore everyday living, past and present, and what shapes us as humans."
Bookanista featured two poems online, 'Her first' and 'Wife' to mark the publication of A Change in the Air on 25 May 2023. The feature can be read here.
A film of Jane reading her poem 'Dressing My Mother For Her Grandson's Wedding' featured on Books Ireland on 24 May to mark the publication of A Change in the Air. You can watch it here.
On RTE Radio 1's Countrywide, Saturday 27 May 2023, Jane read 'Butter for Queens', a poem from her new collection A Change in the Air (Bloodaxe Books). You can listen back here.
'All the Horses She's Ever Loved', a poem from A Change in the Air was Poem of the Week in The Irish Times on Saturday 20th May 2023. You can read it here.
A Change in the Air had its Bloodaxe Books online launch on 23 May, hosted by editor & poet Neil Astley. You can watch it back here. Jane had in person launches in Dublin, Wicklow and London.
RTE Radio 1's Countrywide interviewed Jane for a special programme about the rivers of Co. Wicklow on Saturday 29 April. Jane read three poems from her new collection and spoke about Wicklow's biodiversity and how living there has inspired her writing. You can listen back to the full programme here and here.
'Dressing My Mother For Her Grandson's Wedding', from A Change in the Air features in the current issue of BANSHEE literary journal.
'After', the opening poem in A Change in the Air features in the current issue of the US poetry journal Rattle. You can read it here.
Dublin Book Festival interviewed Jane ahead of her sell-out event at the National Botanic Gardens in February 2023. She talks about her forthcoming collection with Bloodaxe Books, A Change in the Air. You can read the feature here.
'Recipe for a bog', a poem from Jane's sequence of poems inspired by the Avonmore River, features in the special Eavan Boland edition of Poetry Ireland Review, Issue 38. This poem will also feature in Jane's forthcoming collection with Bloodaxe Books, A Change in the Air.
Element 15, a contemporary arts collective are working on an exhibition in which the individual artists will respond to one of Jane's poems in their chosen media. The exhibition will be held in the Coach House, Dublin Castle from September 2024.
On RTE Radio 1's CountryWide, 21 January 2023, Jane read her poem 'The Yellow Jumper' from When the Tree Falls. You can listen back here.