Paul Durcan Poetry - Going Home to Mayo
Grove House | Saturday 25 October 2025 | 4:00pm
Poetry: Celebrating the Life and Works of Paul Durcan – An Afternoon of Music and Poems
Enjoy an afternoon of poetry and music hosted by Westport poet Ger Reidy, with guest appearances by Michael O’Loughlin, Seán Lysaght and Mary Madec. Accompanied by music from multi-talented piper and flautist Diarmaid Moynihan.
To celebrate Paul’s huge affection for and family connection to Westport, a selection of poets will read his poems which are connected to a place he felt was his spiritual home, and they will share some anecdotes from time spent with him.
His first solo collection published in 1975 was titled O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor. It has been described as displaying “an astonishingly mature and visionary power shot through with the surrealism and heart breaking comedy that became his hallmark.” It won him The Patrick Kavanagh Award.
Paul was the first poet to shine a light on the absurdities and contradictions that were inherent in Irish society throughout his writing career. His poetry was always courageously personal. He delighted, enriched, and unsettled his readers.
He was one of the most beloved Irish poets of the last century and we hope that this will be the first of many occasions when Paul is remembered and honoured by the community he felt very much a part of, and among whom he chose to be buried.
Biographies
Ger Reidy
Ger Reidy has published four collections of poetry. He has won several national poetry prizes, his collection Before Rain was shortlisted for the Piggott Prize and his short story collection Jobs for a Wet Day was nominated for the Edge Hill Prize. His most recent collection Clay was published in 2024.
Seán Lysaght
Seán Lysaght is the author of several volumes of poems, including Scarecrow (1998), The Mouth of a River (2007) and Carnival Masks (2014) from Gallery Press, and a biography of the naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger (Four Courts Press, 1998). He has also written prose about wildlife and landscape: Eagle Country (2018), Wild Nephin (2020) and Unveiling the Sun (2025). His latest collection, New Leaf, was published by Gallery in 2022. He lives in Westport, County Mayo.
Mary Madec
Mary Madec has published three poetry collections with Salmon Poetry since winning the Hennessy XO Prize for emerging poetry in 2008, and her fourth The Ghost in the Bole will appear early 2026. Using the myth of Eurydice, it explores personal and environmental grief. She was commissioned to write a poem for SALT (Creative Ireland), a project on the sea working with winter swimmers in Kinvara in 2023, and has led award-winning projects with That’s Life, Brothers of Charity Galway, most recently Among the Trees, showcased by Cúirt in 2022.
Diarmaid Moynihan
Diarmaid Moynihan is regarded as one of Ireland’s most creative uilleann pipers and composers. He was tutored initially by the late Tomás O’Canainn at the Cork School of Music before developing his own very distinctive style. After founding the groundbreaking band Calico, who released two award-winning albums, Diarmaid has gone on to work with many cutting-edge folk musicians including Donal Lunny, Alain Stivell, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Guidewires, John Spillane, British jazz pioneers Carmina and many others.
He has long been admired as one of the most lyrical composers working today in Irish Traditional Music and his pieces have been recorded by some of traditional music’s greatest musicians including Lúnasa, Flook, Michael McGoldrick, Talisk and Cherish the Ladies. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows and has written the theme music for a number of documentaries on TG4.