Graham confirmed for éigse

PULITZER prize-winning US poet Jorie Graham has been confirmed among the line-up of participants for Éigse Michael Hartnett, which is organised by the Limerick County Arts Office and takes place from April 22 to 24.
Michael Hartnett, who wrote both English and Irish poems, was born in Croom, County Limerick, in 1941 and died in Dublin in 1999. He is regarded as one of the most significant voices in late 20th century Irish writing. 
Other confirmed participants of the 2010 literary and arts festival include Fintan O’Toole, author, cultural and political commentator and Irish Times deputy editor; Mark Pollock, professional speaker, adventure athlete, author, broadcaster, and the first blind man to reach the South Pole; Patrick Hederman, author and abbot of Glenstal Abbey; Eileen Sheehan, award-winning Kerry poet; Gearóid Mac Lochlainn, ground-breaking performance poet and Rita Ann Higgins, poet and dramatist.
The festival will be officially launched at Newcastle West Library on April 22 when keynote speaker, Abbot Mark Patrick Hederman OSB presents Irish Poets, learn your trade: Poetry as speaking Truth. 
Elsewhere, Fintan O’Toole will deliver this year’s Michael Hartnett Memorial Lecture, which is entitled Secular Prayers: Michael Hartnett, Enchantment and Disenchantment; author Michael Smith will provide a lunch time presentation on the  endeavours of Antarctic explorer Tom Crean based on his book An Unsung Hero – Tom Crean; storyteller Batt Burns will perform a session at St Ita’s Community Hospital, Newcastle West and Tegolin Knowland and Seán Coyne will perform The Aran Islands – A Dramatic Recital of JM Synge’s work.