Rita Ann Higgins Readings
‘Rita Ann Higgins’ Tongulish continued to show this artful, innovative poet taking liberties with the language, her disenchanted politics matched with an enchanter’s way with words…’ – John McAuliffe, The Irish Times (Poetry Books of the Year)
Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins published her eleventh collection Tongulish with Bloodaxe in 2016. Her other books of poetry and prose includes Sunny Side Plucked (Poetry Book Society Recommendation) (1996), An Awful Racket (2001), Throw in the Vowels: New & Selected Poems (2005) and Ireland Is Changing Mother (2011) from Bloodaxe, and Hurting God: Prose & Poems (2010) and Our Killer City: isms, chisms, chasms and chisms: essays and poems (2018) from Salmon.
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Ahead of a special event in Galway celebrating her poetry, Rita Ann spoke to Seán Rocks about her life and work on RTE Radio 1's Arena on 5 March. Listen here.
Rita Ann Higgins wrote about 'learning to accept praise' for RTÉ Culture online ahead of this event. The page also includes a video of Rita reading ten poems. Read the piece here.
Details of the event on 20 March 2024 are below.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Cúirt International Festival of Literature, Town Hall Theatre, Galway, Sunday 28 April 2024, 7.30pm
Several Bloodaxe poets will be appearing at the 2024 Cúirt International Festival of Literature. Now in its 39th year, the festival will be taking place in Galway, Ireland, 23-28 April.
Rita Ann Higgins will be reading at the final event of the 2024 festival, on Sunday 28 April at 7.30pm. She will be sharing the stage with fellow poets Susannah Dickey, Elaine Feeney and Jackie Kay at the Town Hall Theatre in Galway. Rita Ann Higgins has published twelve books of poetry and prose, most recently Tongulish (2016) from Bloodaxe.
Tickets: €16 / €20. Booking and further details here.
PAST EVENTS
Celebratory Event in Galway, March 2024
'An Evening Celebrating the Work of Rita Ann Higgins' was held at the Town Hall Theatre in Galway on Wednesday 20 March 2024. The evening included readings of Rita Ann Higgins' poems by writers including Elaine Feeney, Mary O'Malley and Sarah Clancy, plus a discussion with Rita Ann herself.
A video of the event is available to watch here.
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Click here for links to TV & Radio interviews with Rita Ann Higgins
‘Tongulish, her 11th book of poetry, finds Higgins as intensively inventive and deliciously subversive as ever… The rebellious, innovative Higgins is one of his [James Joyce’s] distinctive heirs. Like Joyce, she knows just how to beat up the English language and her use of mythology, Irish language and Ireland’s past put her own inimitable stamp on her bang up-to-date present.’ – Martina Evans, The Irish Times
[07 March 2024]
