Irish Examiner view: Poetry in motion

Artistic achievements

Poet Deirdre Brennan is the winner of the Farmgate Café National Poetry Award, part of the International Poetry Festival in Cork. Picture: David Creedon

Congratulations to Deirdre Brennan, who has won this year’s Farmgate Café National Poetry Award for her collection Medea’s Cauldron, published by Arlen House.

Her win is all the more notable because she started writing in her 50s, writes in both English and Irish, and won the award this week at the age of 89.

By taking up a challenging art form in her sixth decade, she offers an encouraging example to many others. Across all the arts there can be an ageism which is often far from subtle —witness the sheer number of prizes, awards, and bursaries aimed specifically at younger artists — and which can privilege the dazzling debutant rather than the experienced veteran. 

That hard-earned experience, however, can often add depth and perspective to art as it is unavailable, by definition, to those beginning their creative journeys.

Winning this prize is a terrific achievement in its own right for Ms Brennan, obviously, but it is also a notable encouragement for others who may be nervous about embarking on artistic endeavour at a later stage in life. It should serve as a spur to those who are reticent about their own self-expression, or conscious about the value of what they have to share.

If readers have ambitions in this particular field it’s not too late to avail of the services of the Cork International Poetry Festival, brought by the Munster Literature Centre and partnered by the Irish Examiner. It runs until this Saturday and features readings, talks, and workshops by more than 40 poets from Ireland and abroad.