Well-known Irish writer to host mindfulness and nature-based poetry workshop in Tipperary

Well-known Irish poet and writer of memoir David McLoghlin will host a mindfulness and nature-based poetry workshop at the Cabragh Wetlands Trust Visitor and Interpretive Centre, Cabragh, Holycross, on Saturday afternoon, November 18, from 2pm to 4pm.

This is a unique opportunity for writers of all levels to learn from a master poet, generate new work in a beautiful natural setting, make contact with other writers, strengthen their literary community, deepen their commitment to writing and read writers from a variety of literary traditions.

David has over a decade’s experience teaching and mentoring in creative writing.

He has taught at University College, Dublin and New York University, where he was a Writing Fellow at Coler-Specialty Hospital.

David also works with Poetry Ireland’s Writers in Schools programme and with the National Mentoring Scheme.

David is no stranger to Tipperary, having worked extensively with Poetry as Commemoration during 2023, leading adults and secondary school students in responding to primary source materials from the War of Independence and the Civil War.

In partnership with Mary Guinan of Tipperary Studies, David led a number of highly successful workshops in Thurles Library last March with poems from participants published by UCD as part of the Irish Poetry Reading Archive.

Speaking about the upcoming workshop, David said:

Cabragh Wetlands

“A key component of creative writing in general, and of poetry in particular, is paying attention to both our surroundings and our inner lives. Both can involve a kind of mindfulness that can benefit us.

“In this one-off poetry workshop, we will walk in the Wetlands (weather permitting), read poems that merge the poets’ outer and inner lives via their responses to nature, as well as urban contexts. We will then use these readings as examples to inspire our own in-class writing.

“What this kind of pairing can do is to give us a better sense of the worlds to which we belong, increase our gratitude, and give us tools for future connection with ourselves and others as well as with our built and natural environments.”

Tickets cost €50 and can be booked online at Creative Writing Class in Generative Writing at the Cabragh Wetlands Trust. Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 2pm on Eventbrite.

Spaces are limited so reserve your place at this unique event now.

Participants are advised to bring a notebook, pens/pencils, rain gear and sturdy shoes. Tea, coffee and refreshments will be served.

About David McLoghlin

David is a poet and writer of memoir with over a decade's experience teaching and mentoring in creative writing.

His teaching style is open and friendly, and he is very familiar with the workshop model of supportive critique used at university-level MA and MFA writing programmes.

David McLoghlin, well-known Irish poet and writer of memoir

He was also Resident Writer at Hunts Point Alliance for Children in the South Bronx, where he taught dynamic bilingual poetry workshops to teenagers.

David worked extensively with Poetry as Commemoration during 2023, leading adults and secondary school students in responding to primary source materials from the War of Independence and the Civil War.

He also works with Poetry Ireland’s Writers in Schools programme, and with the National Mentoring Scheme.

He teaches individual writers and poets and facilitates group classes, guiding students in moving their work towards completion and in shaping the arc of poetry collections.

Previous students include a National Poetry Series winner (USA) and writers who have gone on to publish their first and second books.

David’s books are Waiting for Saint Brendan and Other Poems and Santiago Sketches (Salmon Poetry, 2012 and 2017).

His third collection, Crash Centre, will be published in May 2024, and launched at Cork International Poetry Festival.

He was a finalist in the Patrick Kavanagh Awards and The Moth Poetry Prize, the winner of the open category of the Voices of War International Poetry Competition, and has received fellowships, bursaries and grants from The Arts Council, The Sewanee Writers' Conference and Kerry County Council.

For further information, visit www.davidmcloghlin.com.

About Cabragh Wetlands

Cabragh Wetlands is the biggest single area of freshwater semi-natural floodplain habitats on the River Suir.

The wetlands comprise a mosaic of habitats, including reedbed, tall herb swamp, wet grassland, calcareous fen, transition mire, alluvial woodland, watercourse, lake, ponds and spring.

For further information, visit: https://cabraghwetlands.ie/