In late July, Poetry Ireland announced Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, as one of 20 ‘Poetry Towns’ across Ireland. This new initiative will see more than a hundred free poetry-related activities take place in 20 towns across the island of Ireland between 10th and 18th September 2021. Carrick-on-Suir in Co Tipperary will be among the Poetry Towns, with activities for the town being organised by Poetry Ireland in partnership with Tipperary County Council Arts Office. Tipperary Arts Office has partnered with Linda Fahy of Tudor Artisan Hub and Margaret O’Brien of Writing Changes Lives to coordinate the programme locally.

As part of the initiative, Poetry Ireland, together with its local authority partners, have appointed a Poet Laureate for each participating town, with talented local writer Billy Fenton representing Carrick-on-Suir. The chosen Poet Laureates, will be commissioned to write a poem honouring their Poetry Town and its people. Each poem will be revealed and presented to the people of the participating towns at a series of flagship online events, one of which will be hosted in each town, which will feature contributions from local poets, artists and musicians.

There will also be a wide variety of additional activities in the Poetry Towns. These will include a series of poetry events involving local poets; poetry workshops; public poetry displays, including ‘Poetry Underfoot’; and a range of physical activities called ‘Poems that Move You’, which will vary from town to town. Local businesses, including cafés and chemists, will also be participating in the activities to celebrate their towns by distributing ‘pocket poems’ to customers. The full programme is available below and events can be booked through the Poetry Ireland website link below.