Jane Clarke's A Change in the Air: reviews, interviews & Books of the Year 2023
‘A Change in the Air, Jane Clarke’s third collection, is a quiet, stoical meditation on fragility and mortality. Humanity takes its place within the rhythms of a natural world built on acceptance, community, and renewal. The title promises the best kind of revolution: freshness and wholesomeness – and the poems which follow deliver on this … In Jane Clarke’s hands, clarity, purity and strength speak for themselves. Her words are weighed and used sparingly. They take your breath away.’ – John Field, T S Eliot Prize reviewer
Irish poet Jane Clarke's third full collection A Change in the Air was published by Bloodaxe in May 2023. It was longlisted for the 2023 Laurel Prize for nature writing and ecopoetry and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2023, the T S Eliot Prize 2023 and Ireland's Farmgate Café National Poetry Award 2024. Across six sequences these intimate poems of unembellished imagery accrue power and resonance in what is essentially a book of love poems to our beautiful, fragile world.
Jane Clarke was the first poet to represent Ireland at the Festival du Printemps des Poètes in Luxembourg, 25-27 April 2025. Eleven poets from all over Europe (Spain, Cataluña, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal, Slovakia, France & Luxembourg) participated in the festival, which was supported by the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture, Embassy of Ireland, Luxembourg and Poetry Ireland. A feature about this ran in the Wicklow People of 24 April 2025 here.
While in Luxembourg, Jane Clarke was interviewed by Chronicle.lu. She spoke about her new poem 'Legend', inspired by Ireland’s Patron Saint, St Brigid, and also talked about how her work has developed over the past twenty years, and about what inspires her poetry. The interview was published on 28 April 2025 here.
'I write poems that are deeply personal, as well as poems that speak to social and cultural change. While nature has been an inspiration to me since I first began writing, increased anxiety about the environmental crisis has deepened my commitment to poetry as a means of inspiring action by evoking care and concern for the natural world.' – Jane Clarke, Chronicle.lu
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US distribution via Consortium Book Sales
US PODCAST WITH JANE CLARKE
The Glimpse podcast: A Space for Feeling and Thinking with Jane Clarke, Series 2, Episode 8, Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, 1 May 2025
Jane Clarke was in conversation about her work with poet and novelist Seán Hewitt for The Glimpse podcast from the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation in the USA.
Jane read her poem ‘Spalls’ from her third collection A Change in the Air, and they discussed the poem in great depth.
In the second part of the podcast, Jane read and spoke about Natasha Trethewey’s chilling poem ‘Incident’.
‘Jane Clarke writes poems of lyrical beauty and real heart. Rich with the tradition of Irish pastoral or nature poetry, a whole landscape can live inside one of her carefully tuned lines. But from the rich soil of tradition, Jane brings forward a poetry that is subtly changed, alert to political and social issues and fraught as nature writing so often is now with anxieties about the changing climate. In Jane's poems, we can hear echoes of voices past and present, the farmlands of Seamus Heaney, the lyricism of Kerry Hardie. And there's also a melodic sense of nature in all its fine detail, a chorus made by water, growth, diversity, precious and under threat. And if that wasn't enough, there's always a strong emotional core too: love, desire, hurt, and comfort. All of these can be found in her poems.’ – Seán Hewitt, introducing Jane Clarke on The Glimpse podcast
‘Jane Clarke joins Seán Hewitt for the final episode in this season of The Glimpse, discussing dry stone walls, the power of writing with restraint, and bringing queerness to the Irish pastoral tradition. Jane reads her poem ‘Spalls’ and Natasha Trethewey’s ‘Incident’.’
The podcast is on the page below, along with a full transcript.
https://www.brinkerhoffpoetry.org/podcast/season-2/the-glimpse-s2e8-jane-clarke
THE LYRIC FEATURE PRESENTED BY JANE CLARKE
The Lyric Feature: Where the River Rises, RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 2 February 2025, 6pm - chosen for The Irish Times's 'moment of the week'
The Lyric Feature: Where the River Rises explores the nature and history of the Avonmore River through conversation with naturalists and historians as Jane follows the river from its source by the Sally Gap until it joins with the Avoca River. Throughout the programme, Jane reads poems which celebrate the nature of the Avonmore River, describe its fragility, and celebrate efforts being made to protect and restore it. Jane reads her poems ‘The Dipper’, ‘Lazy Beds’ and ‘Stepping In’ from her third collection A Change in the Air, and the title poem from her 2019 collection When the Tree Falls. She also reads her new poems ‘Barnacullian Bog’ and ‘Anna in Mayo’, the latter part of a sequence of poems inspired by the leader of the Ladies' Land League, Anna Parnell.
A beautiful and fascinating feature weaving together poetry, conversation and music. Available now on the RTÉ Radio Player. Jane reads her poems ‘The Dipper’ at 5.48, ‘Lazy Beds’ at 13:52, ‘Barnacullian Bog’ at 21:47, ‘When the Tree Falls’ at 29:43, ‘Anna in Mayo at 35:52 and ‘Stepping In’ at 44:44.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/lyricfm/the-lyric-feature/2025/0202/1494375-the-lyric-feature-sunday-2-february-2025/
Ahead of the broadcast, Jane wrote a piece about the programme for RTÉ Culture, in which Jane and the five contributors are pictured on location. The piece went online 31 January 2025.
https://www.rte.ie/culture/2025/0131/1494088-poet-jane-clarke-on-where-the-river-rises-the-lyric-feature/
‘Part travelogue, part rumination, The Lyric Feature: Where the River Rises (RTÉ Lyric FM, Sunday) traces the course of the Avonmore river in the company of the poet and long-time Wicklow resident Jane Clarke. Starting in the Sally Gap, Clarke meets naturalists, ecologists and historians to draw an absorbing geographical, environmental and cultural portrait of the river, from the woodlands of Clara Vale to the agricultural archaeology of Lough Tay. An adept guide, Clarke also punctuates each stop with a suitably themed poem, while showing how the Avonmore has “shaped the landscape, the flora and fauna and, of course, the people”. Accessible without sacrificing authenticity or artistry, it’s a documentary that meanders enjoyably rather than babbling on, its neatly paced flow pulling the listener in.’ – Mick Heaney, The Irish Times
Available online by subscription only.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/02/07/sean-moncrieffs-on-air-persona-cracks-and-a-dishwasher-meltdown-follows/
Roscommon People, Interview with Jane Clarke, Thursday 12 December 2024
An in-depth interview with Jane Clarke is featured in the Roscommon People of 12 December. Jane was speaking to reporter Alannah Ita Healy, and discussed her poetry, her career, and her time living in Roscommon – as well as how these memories has stayed with her over the years. Jane Clarke grew up on a farm in Co Roscommon, and has lived in Co Wicklow for the past thirty years.
‘In conversation with award-winning Roscommon-born poet Jane Clarke’
https://roscommonpeople.ie/a-poem-is-a-small-thing-but-it-can-reach-far-and-wide/
An article by Jane Clarke about the ROOTS exhibition at the Coach House at Dublin Castle went online in The Irish Times on 10 December, accompanied by photos of several of the artworks featured in the exhibition. The main photo at the top of the piece is Elaine Peden’s ‘Stepping In’ which responds to Jane’s poem of that name from her third collection A Change in the Air. ROOTS consisted of 50 textile and multimedia artworks in response to 30 poems from her three collections, plus her new poem ‘Roots’ which gave the exhibition its name.
‘The distinctive dialogue between poetry and visual art turns observers into participants and prompts them to respond profoundly to both the visual and sonic stimulation of the exhibition.’
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/12/10/roots-where-textile-art-meets-poetry/
Element15, Artist Focus: blog reviews, online December 2024
Rina Whyte responded to ‘Eggs’ from A Change in the Air. Her artworks were illustrated, along with pages from her notebook.
https://element15.ie/artist-focus-caroline-fitzgerald/
https://element15.ie/artist-focus-rina-whyte/
The blogs are now available to view in one place, including new features with artists Eimear Molony and Marie Dunne:
Jane read her new poem ‘Roots’, which gave the title to the exhibition, as well as ‘Against the Flow’ from her debut collection The River. She talked to Seán about how moving it was to see her poems displayed next to the artworks. A sound installation of Jane Clarke reading the featured poems is part of the exhibition.
A separate clip for this item has been made available.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22469791/
Two of the artworks were posted on RTE Arena’s page on X to illustrate the discussion, including ‘Against the Flow’ by Elaine Peden.
https://x.com/RTEArena/status/1864387465106100722
Jane Clarke was interviewed by Cormac Ó hEadhra on RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime on 18 November about Menu of Poems for hospitals. Launched in 2008, the Menu of Poems project provides poems cards to hospitals and other healthcare settings across Ireland. Poem cards will be placed on trays at mealtimes in hospitals throughout November 2024.
Jane Clarke feature from 2:19:29.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/drivetime/2024/1118/1481668-drivetime-monday-18-november-2024/
NEW JANE CLARKE POEM ON RTÉ COUNTRYWIDE
CountryWide, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 16 November 2024, 8.10am-9am
A new poem by Jane Clarke was featured on RTE Radio 1’s CountryWide on 16 November as part of an item on the forthcoming book The Farming for Nature Handbook. Her poem ‘The Caddisfly’ is included in that book, which will be published on 28 November 2024. Jane was introduced by presenter Philip Boucher-Hayes.
‘Poet Jane Clarke grew up on a farm in County Roscommon, and farming and nature are woven through her work.’
Jane Clarke's poem and the introduction are available as a separate clip:
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22461253/
An exhibition of textile and multimedia work in response to poems by poet Jane Clarke by artist collective element15 is currently on display at the Coach House Gallery at Dublin Castle.
Fifteen artists have responded to thirty-nine poems from across all three of Jane’s Bloodaxe collections, and recordings of Jane reading the poems echo through the exhibition as a sound installation. Entrance to Roots: A Dialogue in Textile and Poetry is free, and it runs until 19 January 2025. Over 7,000 people have already visted the exhibition.
This news piece in the Wicklow People features images of some of the artworks from the exhibition, along with a photo of Jane Clarke pictured on the opening night on 3 October 2024.
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/wicklow-district/exhibition-in-dublin-castle-inspired-by-works-of-wicklow-poet/a1771501952.html
The Honest Ulsterman, September 2024
‘There’s always an element of surprise when a poem finds its way into the world and all the more so when those poems coalesce into a collection. Almost twenty years since I wrote my first poem, the venture is as mysterious as ever and for that I am deeply grateful.’ – Jane Clarke
https://humag.co/features/a-change-in-the-air
The Friday Poem: Alert, electric, alive, online 24 May 2024
A wonderful review of Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air went online in The Friday Poem on 24 May 2024, coinciding with the first anniversary of the book's publication on 25 May 2023. The review takes its title from Jane's poem 'Stepping in' about swimming in her local river in Co Wicklow. See link below to hear Jane read the poem on RTE Radio 1's CountryWide.
'Jane Clarke is a revelation. Her poems are concise, often in elegant honed couplets and triolets – perfectly shaped, deftly crafted, well controlled and tempered – and her line endings are masterful, holding the moment in a breath before releasing the connecting thought.' - Maggie Mackay, The Friday Poem, introducing her in-depth review of A Change in the Air
The third episode of RTÉ Radio 1’s new weekly poetry series Poetry People featured an interview with Jane Clarke. On the eve of Earth Day, she was speaking to host Rachael Hegarty about poetry and the natural world, and was introduced as ‘one of Ireland’s great ecopoets’. Jane read her poems 'Camping at Bearna' from her second collection When the Tree Falls, and ‘Becoming’ from A Change in the Air.
Jane is introduced at 16:56. She reads her moving poem ‘Becoming’ at 22:25.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/poetry-people/2024/0421/1444860-copied-property-last-one-on-the-train-sunday-21-april-2024/
The Simple Things, Pause poem feature, April 2024 issue
Jane Clarke recorded her poem ‘Butter for Queens’ especially for RTÉ Radio 1's CountryWide. It aired on 27 May 2023 to mark publication of A Change in the Air and is still available as a separate clip. Introduced by Philip Boucher-Hayes.
An excellent review of Jane Clarke’s A Change in the Air is featured in the Spring 2024 edition of Magma magazine.
'Critical to Clarke’s celebrated third collection, A Change in the Air, is how land bears witness to history. Shortlisted, at the time of writing, for this year’s T.S. Eliot Prize, Forward Prize for Best Collection and longlisted for the Laurel Prize, the politics seep through like water in a bog. The voice avoids the rant and is more seductive and convincing for it.' – Lisa Kelly, Magma
https://magmapoetry.com/lisa-kelly-reviews-jane-clarke-jacqueline-saphra-and-william-letford/
Three poems by Irish poet Jane Clarke were read and discussed on the Scottish Poetry Library’s Nothing But The Poem podcast. Host Aoife Lyall (another Irish poet published by Bloodaxe) summarised the discussions that had taken place at the SPL’s Nothing But The Poem monthly reading group, and she began each section of the podcast by reading the poem she goes on to talk about. The three poems discussed in this podcast are ‘When Winter Comes’ and ‘Hers’, both from When the Tree Falls, and ‘Daily Bread’ from Jane Clarke’s debut The River.
‘Jane Clarke is the latest subject of the Nothing But The Poem podcast. Jane Clarke is an Irish poet; the author of three poetry collections and an illustrated poetry booklet. Our regular podcast host Sam Tongue is currently on paternity leave and this edition has Bloodaxe poet Aoife Lyall taking an immersive look into three of Jane Clarke’s poems, which were discussed at the online monthly meet-up of the Nothing But The Poem group.’
‘When Winter Comes’ is the first poem read and discussed. ‘Hers’ features from 9.19, and ‘Daily Bread’ from 18:05.
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/podcast/nothing-but-the-poem-jane-clarke/
Books for Breakfast, Episode 57, online Wednesday 14 February 2024
Jane Clarke read a poem on the Irish podcast Books for Breakfast on 14 February. She read and introduced ‘Passage’ from A Change in the Air.
The podcast also included an interview with Katie Donovan, editor of Distant Summers: Remembering Philip Casey, which was also discussed. Katie’s sixth collection May Swim will be published by Bloodaxe in May 2024.
‘Irish poets featured so strongly on the T S Eliot Prize [2023] shortlist. Jane Clarke’s A Change in the Air was published by Bloodaxe in 2023, that made the list; 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 the present, can affect our lives – all traits evident in her two previous collections The River and When the Tree Falls, both Bloodaxe Books as well.’ – Enda Wylie, speaking on Books for Breakfast
‘We're back with a show dedicated to a book commemorating the life and achievement of a fondly remembered writer: Distant Summers: Remembering Philip Casey, Writer, Fabulist, Friend, edited by Eamonn Wall, Katie Donovan and Michael Considine, Arlen House, 2024. We feature contributions by Katie Donovan, Dermot Bolger and Michael O'Loughlin, and Michael Agustin reading his poem from the book. We also cover the recently announced winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize and readings of poems by the two Irish shortlisted poets, Jane Clarke and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.’
Katie Donovan features from 7:34. Jane Clarke is introduced at 21:09.
https://booksforbreakfast.buzzsprout.com/1162427/14501327-57-remembering-philip-caseydedicated
Mslexia, 20 Questions: Jane Clarke, online 5 October 2023 (National Poetry Day)
https://mslexia.co.uk/magazine/blog/20-questions-jane-clarke/
Era Journal: UCL Arts and Culture, interview with Jane Clarke, online 25 January 2024
Ahead of the announcement of the winner, Emily Driver interviewed two poets shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2023 for UCL’s Era Journal: Jane Clarke, who was shortlisted for her third collection A Change in the Air, and Jason Allen-Paisant, the winner of the prize.
‘The poems that make up A Change in the Air manage to crystallise entire galaxies of feeling into short lyrics, even within singular lines, as if each word has been weighed by hand for value.’ – Emily Driver, Era Journal
Era Journal: UCL Arts and Culture, the T S Eliot Prize Readings, online 21 January 2024
Emily Driver also reviewed the T S Eliot Prize Readings for UCL’s Era Journal of 21 January 2024. She talked about both Jane Clarke and Abigail Parry’s readings.
‘A Change in the Air was one of my personal favourite collections in this year’s shortlist, which might be best described as the poetic equivalent of a wind chime – registering and translating the subtle changes in the atmosphere into lyrical forms. Gliding us through Irish life, history and landscape down to the last drop of dew, Clarke’s language is spare and purged of stylistic ornamentation. Her poetic power is drawn from her carefully selected material, from which no shade of quality escapes her vision.’ – Emily Driver, Era Journal
Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air was one of ten books chosen by Steve Whitaker for his Book Review Round-up for 2023 in the online regional newspaper The Yorkshire Times. He had reviewed the collection in depth back in July.
‘The still calm at the heart of Jane Clarke’s poems is the key to their extraordinary emotive power. Sufficiently detached to enable reflection, yet infused with the light of a daughter’s love, Clarke’s poems navigate a passage through a rural Irish landscape whose beauty is bound up indivisibly with the easy intuition of those who inhabit it and whose seasonally changeful, and comfortingly changeless, appearance is a conduit to meditation.’ – Steve Whitaker, The Yorkshire Times (Book Review Round-Up: 2023)
Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air was chosen by poet Tony Curtis as one of his books of the year for Part Two of The Lonely Crowd’s Books of the Year 2023 feature.
‘And in Irish poetry I am so pleased to see the success and acclaim for a former University of Glamorgan Masters alumna, Jane Clarke, whose new collection, A Change in the Air, is as good as anything from the UK this year...’ – Tony Curtis, The Lonely Crowd (Books of the Year 2023)
https://thelonelycrowd.org/2023/12/16/books-of-the-year-2023-part-two/
The Irish Times, Front page poem, Saturday 23 December 2023
Jane Clarke’s poem ‘Sing’ from her debut collection The River was featured on the front page of The Irish Times Christmas edition on 23 December 2023.
In print. Available online by subscription.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/01/05/sing-by-jane-clarke/
Planet Poetry: Jane Clarke, online 13 December 2023
An in-depth interview with Jane Clarke was featured on the Christmas edition of the Planet Poetry podcast. She was reading poems from her third collection A Change in the Air and talking about them in great detail with co-host Robin Houghton. The poems read were: ‘Christmas Morning’, ‘Crossings’, ‘You could say it begins’, ‘Raspberries’, ‘Becoming’, ‘First Earlies’, ‘Her first’ and ‘After we’re gone’. The interview was recorded down the line from Jane’s home in Co Wicklow.
‘I love Jane’s work – she’s a beautiful writer.’ – Peter Kenny, Planet Poetry
Jane Clarke’s T S Eliot Prize-shortlisted third collection A Change in the Air was the focus of the T S Eliot Prize e-newsletter of 2 November 2023. It featured Readers’ Notes, an excellent review by John Field, and videos of Jane Clarke reading from and talking about her book. Her poem ‘Spalls’ was featured in the newsletter.
‘A Change in the Air, Jane Clarke’s third collection, is a quiet, stoical meditation on fragility and mortality. Humanity takes its place within the rhythms of a natural world built on acceptance, community, and renewal. The title promises the best kind of revolution: freshness and wholesomeness – and the poems which follow deliver on this … In Jane Clarke’s hands, clarity, purity and strength speak for themselves. Her words are weighed and used sparingly. They take your breath away.’ – John Field, T S Eliot Prize Reviewer
John Field’s brilliant review is available in full on the T S Eliot Prize website:https://tseliot.com/prize/the-t-s-eliot-prize-2023/reviews/#jane-clarke
Readers’ Notes for A Change in the Air
https://tseliot.com/prize/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Clarke-Readers-Notes-2023.pdf
'Held together / by gravity and friction, hearted by handfuls of spalls,' A Change in the Air is tightly packed, taking shards of pain and piecing them together to form a cohesive collection which is rooted in tenderness. Exploring what it means to connect with each other and our surroundings against a shifting cultural background, Clarke's poems are filled with quiet moments of humanity and a constant respect for her subject matter ... Since Clarke describes her work as 'word music,' it is fitting the way this describes the collection itself. A Change in the Air is made up of six sequences and darts like the cormorant between ideas. Closing with powerful images that encapsulate the content, these poems linger like the disruption of water in the reader's mind ... Considering the scope of this collection, it could easily become disconnected, but instead the reader is continuously grounded by that which surrounds us: neighbours, rivers, and the resilient heather. Across both time and place, Clarke shows us that taking care of the land is taking care of each other, is taking care of ourselves. With its ambiguous title, A Change in the Air is asking us to engage with what that means as our environmental situation changes.' – Evelyn Byrne, reviewing A Change in the Air for the T S Eliot Prize Young Critics Scheme
Poetry School, T S Eliot Writers’ Notes, online 15 December 2023
This year, alongside the usual Readers’ Notes, the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Poetry School are collaborating on a set of Writers’ Notes for the shortlisted collections. These are educational resources for poets looking to develop their practice and learn from some of contemporary poetry’s most exciting and accomplished voices. Jane Clarke’s excellent piece about her creative process went online on 15 December 2023.
‘Writing a poem is all about intimacy and distance; we need to be able to bear the intimacy that good writing requires but we also need to be able to see the poem from the distance that editing requires. I want my poems to resonate with strangers; it is in the rewriting that the poem moves beyond me, finds its own identity and takes flight.’ – Jane Clarke
https://poetryschool.com/theblog/jane-clarke-t-s-eliot-writers-notes-a-change-in-the-air/
The Irish Times, Q&A interview, Saturday 28 October 2023
Jane Clarke was interviewed for a Q&A with Martin Doyle for The Irish Times. A 600-word piece appeared as a full-page spread in the print edition on 28 October. She spoke about the Windfall anthology which she has edited, her own poetry collections, her background in psychotherapy, her upbringing on a farm in Co Roscommon, and what drew her to nature poetry.
A longer version of the interview is available online by subscription.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2023/10/28/jane-clarke-for-months-i-was-steeped-in-nature-poetry-from-yeats-to-the-present-day/
Sunday Independent, ‘My Life in Books’, Sunday 29 October 2023
Jane Clarke was interviewed for the Sunday Independent’s ‘My Life in Books’ feature. It appeared in print on 29 October as an almost full-page feature. All her books, including the Windfall anthology, were mentioned in the introductory bio. The feature also ran in her regional newspaper Bray People on 8 November.
Under ‘The book you give as a present’, Jane recommended Neil Astley’s 2002 Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times anthology.
‘I often give people Staying Alive or any other anthology in that Bloodaxe series, so brilliantly edited by Neil Astley. There’s a poem for everyone there.’ – Jane Clarke.
In the section about books on her bedside table, Jane included ‘I Think We’re Alone Now by UK poet Abigail Parry’ – which is on the shortlist for the TS Eliot Prize 2023 along with Jane’s third collection A Change in the Air.
Available online in full by subscription via the Irish Independent's website. Read here.
The Poet and the Poem: Jane Clarke, US Library of Congress podcast, online 2 October 2023
Jane Clarke was interviewed by Grace Cavalieri for her half-hour Library of Congress podcast The Poet and the Poem. Jane read and discussed poems from her third collection A Change in the Air. She spoke about the different sections of the book, and about her upbringing on a farm in Co Roscommon. Jane was in the US to give readings from her new collection in Washington DC and in Princeton.
For the podcast, Jane read her poems ‘After’, ‘Dressing My Mother for her Grandson’s Wedding’, ‘All the horses she’s ever loved’ from the first section of A Change in the Air, followed by two poems from her sequence about the lead mining heritage of Co Wicklow: ‘Christmas Morning’ and ‘Pit Ponies of Glendasan’. She read a long extract from her poem about the creation of the Irish border, ‘You could say it begins’, which is based on interviews with women who live along the border. She ended by reading three poems from the final section: ‘At Purteen Harbour’, ‘Spalls’ and ‘June’.
‘This is my favourite book of yours. I think that this is just your crown jewel. This book is absolutely your voice without effort – it’s pure silk.’ – Grace Cavalieri, speaking on The Poet and the Poem podcast, on A Change in the Air
https://www.gracecavalieri.com/poetLaureates/featuredpoet_janeclarke2023.html
Jane was interviewed by Grace Cavalieri in 2019 about her second collection When the Tree Falls.
The Washington Post, Book Club Newsletter, Friday 29 September 2023
Ron Charles, Book Critic of The Washington Post, featured Jane Clarke’s poem ‘Shepherd’ from A Change in the Air in his Washington Post Book Club newsletter of 29 September. He hosted a public interview with Jane Clarke later that day in Washington DC at NYU's John Brademas Center.
‘Her verse attends so closely to the land and the people of her rural homeland that it makes us attend more closely to our own. This summer she published A Change in the Air, a collection that glides gently from caring for her mother to remembering the Troubles to moving into a new house in the countryside.’ – Ron Charles, The Washington Post Book Club newsletter
US ONLINE BOOKS FEATURE
Shepherd.com, The best books to make you fall in love with nature poetry (chosen by Jane Clarke), online September 2023
Jane Clarke was invited to choose five books about nature and the environment for the US book site Shepherd.com. She began by introducing herself and her new collection A Change in the Air.
‘Ever since my childhood on a farm poetry has helped me pay attention to the world around me. Like a naturalist’s field guide, nature poems name, depict, and explore what might otherwise pass unnoticed. Now in the midst of environmental crisis I believe poets have a role alongside ecologists, farmers, and foresters to protect and restore our threatened habitats and species. Writing nature poetry helps me face and express loss while celebrating what still survives. I value poetry that connects us to what we love and gives us courage to imagine different ways of living.’ – Jane Clarke
One of the five books she recommended was Neil Astley’s 2007 Bloodaxe anthology Earth Shattering: Ecopoems.
https://shepherd.com/best-books/to-make-you-fall-in-love-with-nature-poetry
Jane Clarke was invited to contribute to The Irish Times' feature on creativity which ran in print and online on 26 September.
‘I’ve learned that creativity is fed by playfulness, curiosity, sadness and love. There’s an element of mystery to making a poem, but it is also as practical as making a cake.’ – Jane Clarke, The Irish Times
The Forward Prize's 'Meet the Poet' interview with Jane Clarke went online on 25 August 2023, accompanied by the poem ‘Spalls’ from A Change in the Air, which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. Read via the Forward Prizes for Poetry website here.
An excellent detailed review of Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air was featured online in London Grip on 13 November.
‘Her delicacy of expression, her minutely-observed descriptions, her almost teasing understatements, all bring delight ... Clarke appears to relish the opportunity to draw with a fine pencil, as she offers precise descriptions of ordinary events and experiences.’ - Alwyn Marriage, London Grip
https://londongrip.co.uk/2023/11/london-grip-poetry-review-jane-clarke-2/
Jane Clarke's ‘inimitable and beautiful new collection’ A Change in the Air was given a brilliant in-depth review in the online regional newspaper the Yorkshire Times on 28 July 2023.
‘What animates Jane Clarke are love and endurance: artfully calibrated, each section of A Change in the Air is an emotional complement to the next, for each poem hangs on one, or sometimes several, exquisitely clarified observations of landscape and of the figures in it, magnified as if through water. The two are in any case indivisible – the agricultural terrain is presented as a series of potent images whose significance is a measure of the unseen connection anchoring people to the world that made them.’ – Steve Whitaker, Yorkshire Times
Books Ireland, Poet on Poet, online 21 June 2023
A wonderful in-depth review of Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air has gone online at Books Ireland in their poet on poet review series. Irish poet Eleanor Hooker was the reviewer. The feature linked to the video which Jane had made especially for Books Ireland of her reading her poem ‘Dressing My Mother for Her Grandson’s Wedding’ - also see below.
‘… outstanding lyrical poems of place and heart … Clarke’s poems are above all else accessible, and in being so, the poet honours her reader. She removes a language blind, bringing us to the beating heart of her work. A Change in the Air is a generous collection by a poet resolute but gentle in the matter of emotional truth.’ - Eleanor Hooker, Books Ireland
https://booksirelandmagazine.com/outstanding-poems-of-place-and-heart-eleanor-hooker-on-a-change-in-the-air-by-jane-clarke/
Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday 11 July 2023, 7-8pm
Jane Clarke was interviewed live down the line on RTÉ Radio 1’s arts programme Arena on 11 July. She was speaking to presenter Seán Rocks about her third collection A Change in the Air, and about her response to the book having been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. She read her poems ‘Crossings’ and ‘Lazy Beds’ from the book.
The interview is available as a 14-minute clip, illustrated with a photographic portrait of Jane Clarke taken for the RTÉ arts project Illuminations in 2020.
Wicklow People, online 7 July 2023
A feature on Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air having been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection ran in the Wicklow People of 7 July. The Wicklow Times also covered the story. Jane grew up on a farm in Co Roscommon, but has lived in Co Wicklow for nearly thirty years now.
https://m.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/wicklow-district/wicklow-poet-jane-clarke-shortlisted-for-prestigious-international-award/a843995742.html
COUNTRYWIDE POEM FEATURE WITH JANE CLARKE
CountryWide, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 27 May 2023, 8.10-9am
Jane Clarke recorded her poem ‘Butter for Queens’ from A Change in the Air especially for RTÉ Radio 1's CountryWide. It aired on 27 May and is now available as a separate podcast. Introduced by presenter Philip Boucher-Hayes.
Listen via the CountryWide webpages here.
Jane Clarke’s poem 'Pit Ponies of Glendasan' - from which the title of her third collection A Change in the Air is taken - was featured in The Scotsman Magazine on 3 June. This is one of a sequence of poems Jane Clarke wrote especially for the BBC Radio 4 feature she presented in 2020 about The Miners’ Way in Co Wicklow.
Jane Clarke’s tender poems ‘Her first’ and ‘Wife’ from A Change in the Air were featured online at Bookanista to mark publication day on 25 May.
https://bookanista.com/from-a-change-in-the-air/
A lovely film of Jane Clarke reading her poem ‘Dressing My Mother for Her Grandson’s Wedding’ from A Change in the Air was featured on Books Ireland to mark publication here (and below). The collection was later reviewed by Eleanor Hooker in Books Ireland here.
The Irish Times, Poem of the Week, Saturday 20 May 2023
Jane Clarke’s poem ‘All the horses she’s ever loved’ from her third collection A Change in the Air was featured as Poem of the Week in The Irish Times of 20 May ahead of publication on 25 May.
In print and online (view 3 articles for free). Read the poem online in The Irish Times here.
CountryWide, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 29 April 2023, 8.10-9am
For this edition of CountryWide, reporter Della Kilroy visited Jane at her home near Glenmalure, where Jane read her poem ‘The Key’ about moving into that house nearly thirty years ago. They then took a walk into nearby woods, and Jane spoke about the flora and fauna of the area, as well as the changes in biodiversity that have taken place since since she moved to Co Wicklow. Jane read her poem ‘Stepping in’ beside the pool in the River Avonmore where she swims, as described in the poem.
Jane speaks about the mining heritage of Co Wicklow and reads her poem 'Christmas Morning' from A Change in the Air. Listen here (from 14:10).
Rattle, Poem feature, #29, Spring 2023
Jane Clarke’s ‘After’, the first poem in her third collection A Change in the Air, was featured in the spring issue of Rattle, as part of their Irish tribute issue. Audio of Jane reading the poem is included with the online edition. Jane will also be recording an interview for Rattlecast ahead of US distribution of A Change in the Air in August 2023.
Culture File Weekly, RTÉ Lyric FM, Saturday 3 December 2022, 6.30pm
This lovely event was recorded live at the Dublin Book Festival in the National Botanic Gardens, and was broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM on 3 December 2022.
Nature Nights: Brother Sun, Sister Moon, RTÉ Radio 1, Wednesday 2 November 2022, 10.50-11pm
Jane Clarke read three poems on Brother Sun, Sister Moon, part of RTE Radio 1’s week-long series of late-night programmes on nature and biodiversity, Nature Nights.
Jane read her poems 'The Dipper' and ‘Shepherd’ from her third collection A Change in the Air, and ‘Cypress’ from When the Tree Falls.
‘John Connell, poet Jane Clarke and environmental campaigner Lorna Gold read from their own work and classical writings on themes of nature and reflect on how the natural world has inspired artists since ancient times.’
Jane read ‘The Dipper’ at 00:54, ‘Shepherd’ at 02:07 and ‘Cypress’ at 05:13. Listen here.
Jane Clarke was Resident Poet for the Nature Nights series. Her poems were threaded into other programmes during the week.
JANE CLARKE INTERVIEW ON RTE RADIO 1’s COUNTRYWIDE
POEMS FEATURED ON RTE RADIO 1’s COUNTRYWIDE
CountryWide, RTE Radio 1, Saturday 12 June 2021 & Saturday 6 November 2021, Saturday 8 January 2022, Saturday 16 April 2022, 8.10-9am
Jane Clarke has recorded a number of poems for RTE Radio 1’s farming and rural life programme CountryWide. The first of these, ‘Camping at Bearna’ from When the Tree Falls, was broadcast on 12 June 2021. The poem was introduced by presenter Damien O’Reilly and ran as the final item in the programme.
The second poem, ‘That I could’ from When the Tree Falls, aired on 6 November. Jane gave a very moving reading of her poem, which presenter Damien O'Reilly linked to the suffering of so many people during the pandemic. ‘That I could’ was also featured as Poem of the Week in The Yorkshire Times of 12 October 2021. Read in full here.
Jane Clarke recorded her new poem ‘Fences’ especially for CountryWide. It was broadcast near the end of the programme on 8 January 2022. It is now included in her third collection A Change in the Air.
'Fences', 8 January 2022. Listen here.
‘That I could’, 6 November 2021. Listen here.
'Camping at Bearna', 12 June 2021. Listen here.
Jane has recorded her new poem ‘Eggs’ for CountryWide. It was broadcast near the end of the programme on 16 April 2022 – Easter Saturday. The poem is published in Jane’s third collection A Change in the Air.
'Eggs', 16 April 2022. Listen here.
Jane Clarke’s interview on CountryWide from 6 June 2020 is still available as a podcast. She took a walk with Ella McSweeney in the hills near her home in Glenmalure and spoke about what inspires her poetry. Listen here.
Jane Clarke was the guest on the Royal Irish Academy’s podcast Shelfmarks of 24 October. Zoë Comyns went to meet Jane at home in Co Wicklow in August 2021, and they spent the morning making this recording, and taking a walk.
Jane spoke about finding inspiration from the landscapes of Roscommon, Wicklow and the Mourne Mountains, and from the people who inhabit those landscapes both now and in the past. She talked about how to Co Wicklow 25 years ago prompted her to start writing, and how ‘emotion, memory and imagination’ work together in her work. Jane read her new poem ‘Flowers from the Hills’, written for her sick mother during the first lockdown when she was unable to visit her. The newly-commissioned poems she read were ‘When he was a boy’, about her shepherd neighbor, and another inspired by the stone masons who used to work in the Mourne Mountains. Her grandmother was from County Down. ‘When he was a boy’ is now called ‘Shepherd’ and is published in Jane's third collection A Change in the Air.
‘Zoë’s guest this week on Shelfmarks is poet Jane Clarke. Jane grew up in Co Roscommon and came to writing after a career in psychotherapy. She moved to Wicklow almost 25 years ago and Zoë visited her there in her home and took a walk up a lane known as Fairy Lane or Lousy Land and listeners will hear two specially commissioned poems about her neighbour and quarrymen.’
Jane features from 7:50. Listen here.
JANE CLARKE READS NEW POEMS ON SUNDAY MISCELLANY
Sunday Miscellany, RTE Radio 1, Sunday 12 September 2021, 9.10-10am
Jane Clarke read her new poem ‘The Lookout’ on Sunday Miscellany on 12 September. This is the third of three new poems by Jane Clarke featured on the programme. 'The Lookout' is included in Jane's third collection A Change in the Air.
Available as a podcast, illustrated with a portrait of Jane Clarke. Listen here.
Still available:
Jane read her new love poem ‘22nd of June’ on Sunday Miscellany on 27 June 2021. Listen here. This poem is now called 'June' and is the final poem in her third collection A Change in the Air,
Jane Clarke read her poem about Nora Barnacle on Sunday Miscellany’s Bloomsday special on 13 June 2021.‘Night Boat, North Wall Quay’ was a commission for the Bloomsday Festival in 2020. Listen here.
RTE ONE TV INTERVIEW WITH JANE CLARKE ON NATIONWIDE
Nationwide: Wicklow Mountains, RTE One TV, Friday 23 October 2020, 7pm
An interview with poet Jane Clarke opened RTE One’s Nationwide on 23 October 2020. This edition of the programme is devoted to things to see and do around the Wicklow Mountains, including the Miners’ Way long distance path. Former miner Robbie Carter told his story of the explosion in the last working mine at Glendasan, and Jane Clarke read her poem that he inspired – ‘Foxrock Mine’. They were both filmed on location at the disused mine.
'Foxrock Mine' was one of a sequence of new poems the Jane Clarke wrote especially for the BBC Radio 4 programme she presented in May 2020, The Miners’ Way, in which she walked the 19km path and interviewed people connected with the mine along the way: former miner Robbie Carter, as well as local historian Carmel O'Toole and sheep farmer Pat Dunne - also interviewed on Nationwide. The 'Pit Ponies of Glendasan' sequence is published in Jane's third collection A Change in the Air,
Watch here. First item.
For more on Jane's sequence of poems about the disused mines of Co Wicklow, and the Radio 4 programme she presented, see: https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?articleid=1025
RTE commissioned Jane Clarke to write a new poem for a special concert to support artists during this time of Covid-19. It was broadcast on RTE television on 29 August 2020. Irish/Sierra Leonean ArtSoul musician & actress Loah read Jane’s poem ‘Little Tern Colony, Kilcoole’ (now published in A Change in the Air, 2023). The concert was broadcast on RTE Radio the following day. It was RTE's pick of the day on 29 August. This hour of music and words filmed at the Iveagh Gardens, the National Concert Hall and at RTÉ over the summer. Threaded throughout, there is powerful commissioned spoken word and poetry from John Boyne, Jane Clarke and others.
A video of Loah reading the poem can be seen via RTE One’s facebook page here.
RTE have photographed the artists taking part in the shine concert for a digital gallery. Jane was invited to go to Dublin at the end of August 2020 to be filmed reading her new poem ‘Little Tern Colony, Kilcoole’. The digital gallery accompanying Jane's poem features a stunning photographic portrait of Jane, the text of the poem, her introduction to it, and a film of her reading it.
NEW POEM ON RTE RADIO 1'S THE POETRY PROGRAMME
The Poetry Programme: Poems in a Pandemic, RTE Radio 1, Monday 1 June 2020, 1.30pm
Jane Clarke and Kerry Hardie both read new poems on this very moving special edition of The Poetry Programme broadcast on Ireland’s Bank Holiday, 1 June.
Both poems were written in April, and are included on Manchester Writing School’s WRITE where we are NOW website, which gathers together poems written in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jane Clarke’s poem ‘First Earlies’ was written in Glenmalure on 21 April 2020. It is now published in her third collection A Change in the Air.
https://www.mmu.ac.uk/write/first-earlies.php
‘On Bank Holiday Monday, at 1:30 pm on 1st June, Olivia O'Leary presents a selection of poems from poets responding to the Covid 19 crisis in Poems in a Pandemic: a Poetry Programme Special.’
Kerry features at 15:09 and Jane at 22:58. Listen via The Poetry Programme's webpages here.
Beautiful half-hour BBC Radio 4 feature presented by Irish poet Jane Clarke. She reads 'Birthing the Lamb' from When the Tree Falls, along with a new sequence of poems. The Miners' Way was chosen by Antonia Quirke for her Pick of the Week of 3 May on BBC Radio 4, beginning with Jane reading her poem 'Birthing the Lamb', followed by a clip from the end of the programme.
The Miners' Way is no longer available to listen to, but details are here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000htr0
ARTICLE BY JANE CLARKE IN THE IRISH TIMES
Jane Clarke wrote about the Miners' Way of Glenmalure, Glendalough and Glendasan in The Irish Times of 1 May ahead of her BBC Radio 4 feature The Miners' Way. Her article is here. It includes one of the new poems she has written especially for the programme. You can hear Jane read this poem on the Words Lightly Spoken podcast. Click here to listen.
[26 April 2023]
