It’s been a while. First there’s the matter of my most recent contribution to The Guardian‘s Country Diary. As the more long-memoried of you will recall, I wrote about Newgrange for December. And I went back to Brú na Bóinne for the start of May, which gave me the opportunity to spend more time at Knowth, an equally fascinating if somewhat less famous place

So (thanks again to Paul Fleckney for the commission and his editorial support), I was delighted to have the chance to write about Knowth here.

We spent time in the Boyne Valley and then went on to Strokestown in Co Roscommon to attend the Strokestown International Poetry Festival. I have been meaning to attend that festival for many years, but it always coincides with International Dawn Chorus Day. Which has meant that, heretofore, I was usually involved in some birdsong event or other. However, I have stepping back a little from my teaching and facilitating work (including my sciency work) to focus on my own writing. So this year I was able to attend!

It was a wonderful festival with some fabulous readings from Sam Furlong and Eilish Martin who have recently published collections with the wonderful Macha Press; as well as Kate Newmann, Noel Monahan, and many others, including the esteemed Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. It was great to have the chance to catch up with old friends also.

Not only did I attend, I also read from my now-published excerpt of my work-in-progress novel, A Wolf’s Breath (WIP, but coming along nicely, thank you). I was very honoured to read as part of the launch of Cyphers Magazine (99). And what great company to be in!

Many thanks to everyone at the festival for all the organising; and especially to Eiléan, Natasha Cuddington, Léan Ní Chuilleanáin, Joe Woods & Áinin Ní Bhroin at Cyphers Magazine.