Live Poetry Performance 

National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park

Free live Poetry Performance

Booking required

BOOK NOW 

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Event Summary

Join members of the Turlough Poetry Collective for a special afternoon of poetry reading accompanied with music by piper Diarmaid Moynihan.

A group of poets from across the West of Ireland will join together to perform a selection of their poems in the National Museum of Ireland -Turlough Park.

It promises to be a special afternoon of poetry and live music which celebrates creativity and brings the written word to life. There will be readings from seven remarkable poets whose voices capture a wide variety of different topic

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Find out more about our poets:

Edel Burke 
Edel Burke is a recipient of a National Mentorship award, is an award winning poet and is published in a number of publications. She hosts a monthly poetry Open Mic in Castlebar.  
 
Winner of Dromineer Poetry Competition 2017, highly commended Cuirt Poetry Prize 2023; Westival 2023; Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award 2022; iYeats Poetry Competition 2017.Published in New England Review; Crannóg; Banshee; The Stony Thursday Book; The Cormorant Broadsheet and Book; The Carbon Project; Poetry as Commemoration, UCD.



Peggie Gallagher 

Peggie Gallagher is a prize-winning poet. Her work has been widely published  
in North America, the UK and Ireland. Her collection 'Tilth' is published by Arlen House. 
 
Peggie Gallagher’s poems have been published in Poetry Ireland, Cyphers, Southword, Atlanta review and Envoi amongst others. She won the Listowel Writer’s Week Poetry Collection Prize and has been shortlisted for the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry competition and the Strokestown International Poetry Competition. Her poetry collection Tilth was published by Arlen House. 



Jean Tuomey is a Mayo based poet whose work appears widely in journals. Her debut collection, Swept Back (Lapwing Publications) launched in 2022 and her second collection, Vanishing, is forthcoming in 2026. She facilitates creative writing groups.  
 
 
Jean Tuomey’s debut collection is Swept Back (Lapwing, 2022). Her second collection, 
Vanishing, is due in 2026, also from Lapwing Publications. In 2021, her chapbook, Magical 
Thinking, was highly commended in the Fools for Poetry competition. She won the 2021 
Jonathan Swift Creative Writing Award and, in 2022, the St Francis Hospice poetry prize. 
She received the 2023 Cathaoirleach Award for Contribution to the Arts in Mayo. Jean 
trained with the National Association of Poetry Therapy in the US and facilitates writing 
groups in Ireland and in London. 
 


Geraldine Mitchell 

Dublin-born poet and writer Geraldine Mitchell has been living outside Louisburgh for the past twenty-five years. Her fifth collection of poems, Naming Love, was published by Arlen House in 2024. She won the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 2008. 
www.geraldinemitchell.net 
 
Geraldine Mitchell was one of three poets chosen for the Museum of Country Life’s ‘OnSight2024/25: Silent Objects/Stolen Lives’ project. Along with Martina Evans and Sean Borodale she responded to chosen objects with poems which can be viewed ‘on site’ in the museum or listened to through the museum website. As well as five collections of poetry, Geraldine is the author of Deeds Not Words (Town House, 1997), the biography of Muriel Gahan who was a champion of country women and of the traditional crafts. 



Ger Reidy 

Ger Reidy has published four collections of poetry and a collection of short stories. He has won national poetry prizes, was shortlisted for the Piggott prize and is featured on the podcast Books for Breakfast. 
 
Ger Reidy has published four collections of poetry, his most recent Clay and a collection of short stories, Jobs for a Wet Day. His collection Before Rain was shortlisted for the Piggott prize. He has won several national poetry prizes. He has been recently featured on the podcast Books for Breakfast. 



Winifred Mc Nulty 

Winifred is an award winning poet. Her pamphlet Weather on the Peninsula (2025 Wild Lane Press). Her poetry film The Last Bus (2025) is collaboration with Emer O’Shea.  
 
Winifred’s poetry film The Last Bus (2025) received a Donegal Artist bursary. Her pamphlet Weather on the Peninsula, funded by the Arts Council, launched at Allingham 2025. Shortlisted for last year’s Strokestown Poetry prize she has won the iYeats and Westport Poetry prize. Her poems are in Poetry Ireland, Cyphers, Banshee, The North, Under the Radar, Mslexia. She lives in Donegal. 
 


Susie Fry 
Susie Fry has lived in Mayo since 1984. She is a longtime member of Jean Tuomey’s “Writing on Tuesdays” group and has poems published in national poetry magazines. 
 
Susie Fry has been published in The Stony Thursday Book, 2020, The Cormorant, 2021 and Washing Windows? Irish Women Write Poetry, Arlen House, 2017. Her poem ‘Prints’ was highly commended, Boyle Arts Festival Competition, 2013. ‘Notice’ was chosen for display as part of Poets Around Town Strokestown Poetry Festival 2018. 



 

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Diarmaid Moynihan  
Diarmaid Moynihan is one of Ireland's finest pipers with a long list of album and tv credits to his name. He recently performed in the NCH and at the State Reception for President Catherine Connolly in Dublin Castle.  
 
Diarmaid Moynihan has long been admired as one of the most lyrical composers in Irish Traditional Music. His pieces have been recorded by some of traditional music’s greatest musicians including Lunasa, Michael McGoldrick 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. 


 

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What You’ll Experience

• Poetry Reading, covering a range of varied topics
• Music from traditional musician 
• Poetry related to the NMI-Turlough Park collections 

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Who Is This Event For?

• Adults and general visitors
• History, poetry, music, language

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Dates & Times

• Saturday, 4 July 2026, 2pm-3pm

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Location

Museum Galleries 
National Museum of Ireland – Turlough Park 
Turlough, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
F23 HY31

Meeting Point: Reception Desk Museum Galleries

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Accessibility Information

• Wheelchair accessible

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Booking Information

• Free
• Booking required 

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Related Experiences

• Museum Folklife Collections 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to book in advance?
Yes

How long does the event last?
1Hr

Is the event suitable for children?
Older children

Where do I go when I arrive?
Reception desk Museum galleries