This intimate evening with esteemed Mayo poet Martin Dyar will feature readings and reflections on the recent publication, Vital Signs: Poems of Illness and Healing. 

‘Vital Signs’ is a wide-ranging new anthology edited by Martin, with a foreword by President Michael D. Higgins.

Published by Poetry Ireland, it contains one hundred and twenty powerful and beautiful poems, profound reflections on illness and recovery.

Dyar has recently been appointed the Decade of Centenaries Writer in Residence by Mayo Arts Service and is working closely with the Jackie Clarke Collection in Ballina.

His first book of poems, Maiden Names (Arlen House), was shortlisted for the Pigott Poetry Prize and was a book of the year selection in both the Guardian and the Irish Times.

He won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 2009 and his next book of poems, The Meek, will be published by Wake Forest University Press in Autumn.

For this event, Martin will be accompanied by Mayo harpist Alannah Thornburgh, an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer with a focus on traditional Irish harp, for what promises to be a wonderful evening.

This event is presented by Ballina 2023 for the Ballina Fringe Festival and is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.