Local poet seeks memories and folklore of Shannon Callows area

Athlone writer Jackie Gorman has recently received an Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award to produce a poetic response to the River Shannon and the Callows in Westmeath.

This response will include poetry, soundscapes and a limited edition letterpress pamphlet. If anyone has any memories of folklore, traditions, memories of farming in this area in the past or anything else associated with the river and meadows, she would be really interested in hearing from them as part of her research for this project. Her email address is jackie.gorman9@mail.dcu.ie. A copy of the letterpress pamphlet, research materials and notebooks will be given to the National Poetry Reading Archive at UCD, who archive such materials for use by future researchers of Irish poetry.

Jackie Gorman is a native of Coosan who now lives on the west side of Athlone. Her debut collection “The Wounded Stork” was published in 2019 by The Onslaught Press, UK. She has published widely in a range of journals and has received awards for her work including the Single Poem Award in 2017 from Listowel Writers’ Week. Poet Noel Monahan has said of her work: “Jackie Gorman has perfected that rare technique of creating poems, that insist you read and reread them.”