Join members of the Country Life Poets Group for a special afternoon of poetry reading accompanied by music by local artist, Diarmaid Moynihan.

A group of poets from across the West of Ireland will join together to perform a selection of their poems in the National Museum of Ireland at Turlough Park.

It promises to be a special afternoon of poetry and live music which celebrates creativity and brings the written word to life. There will be readings from six remarkable poets whose voices capture a wide variety of different topics.

Whilst on site, why not explore our recently launched poetry trail as part of OnSight 2024/25: Silent Objects/Spoken Lives. 

This events takes places from 3pm to 4.30pm on Saturday, 14 June 2025, at the National Museum of Ireland - Turlough Park, Castlebar.

Suitable for adults and children. Booking is required. Email BookingsCountryLife@museum.ie or telephone the Bookings Office on +353 94 90 31751.

Find out more about our poets below:

Edel Burke Winner of Dromineer Poetry Competition 2017, highly commended iYeats PoetryCompetition 2017; Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award 2022; Cuirt Poetry Prize 2023; Westival 2023; Published in a number of Journals including New England Review; Banshee; Crannóg; The Stony Thursday Book; The Cormorant Broadsheet and Book; The Carbon Project; Poetry as Commemoration UCD.

Ger Reidy was born near Westport, Co. Mayo. He has won several national poetry competitions and has been the recipient of a number of bursaries and residencies sponsored by the Arts Council and Mayo County Council. He has published four poetry collections, Pictures from a Reservation, Drifting Under the Moon, Before Rain, and most recently Clay as well as a collection of short stories called Jobs for a Wet Day.

Jean Tuomey lives in Co Mayo. Her Chapbook Magical Thinking was highly commended in Fool for Poetry 2021. She won the Jonathan Swift award for poetry in 2021 and St Francis Hospice poetry prize in 2022. She is published in national and international journals, received mentorship from Mayo Co. Council for work on a novel in 2021 and the Cathaoirleach Award for Contribution to the Arts in Mayo 2023. Her debut collection Swept Back (Lapwing) was launched in Dec 2022. She facilitates writing groups for creative and therapeutic purposes.

Peggie Gallagher’s poems have been published in Poetry Ireland, Cyphers, Southword, Atlanta review and Envoi amongst others. She won the Listowel Writer’s Week Poetry Collection Prize and has been shortlisted for the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry competition and the Strokestown International Poetry Competition. Her poetry collection Tilth was published by Arlen House.

Susie Fry was born in Co. Dublin and has lived in Co. Mayo since 1984. She has been published in The Stony Thursday Book, 2020, The Cormorant, 2019 and in the anthology Irish Women Write Poetry, Arlen House, 2017.

Winifred Mc Nulty is from Leitrim and Leicester and lives in Donegal, her poems have been published in Poetry Ireland, Banshee, Mslexia, Cyphers, Under the Radar, The North and other magazines. She has won the iYeats and Westport poetry prize and was shortlisted for this year’s Strokestown Poetry Award. Her book High Shelves and Long Counters was published in 2012. She is currently working on an Artist in the Community project, funded by the Arts Council and on a poetry film project funded by an artist bursary from Donegal County Council.

Musician Diarmaid Moynihan is regarded as one of Ireland’s most creative uilleann pipers and composers. After founding the groundbreaking band Calico, who released two award winning albums, Diarmaid has gone on to work with many cutting-edge folk musicians including Donal Lunny, Alain Stivell, Liam O’ Maonlaí, Guidewires, John Spillane, British jazz pioneers Carmina and many others. He has appeared on many tv and radio shows and has written the theme music for a number of documentaries on TG4. His newest recording, Black Brook is as part of a trio, entitled Moynihan with siblings Donncha and Deirdre and was released in 2022.