Belfast Here We Come!

I'm typing this on the Enterprise train bound for Belfast where I'm especially looking forward to reading tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm in Belfast Central Library. Why am I so excited about reading in Belfast, in particular? Because a number of the poems in my new collection, Conditional Perfect, are set in that city in 1792 where ten harpers - six of them blind, including one female - gathered in the Exchange Rooms to perform their music at the Belfast Harpers Assembly. A watershed moment in the preservation of our native Irish music, thanks to Edward Bunting who transcribed and notated the tunes each of the harpers performed, tomorrow's reading will hold special significance for me and I'm looking forward to reading my monologues in the voices of some of the harpers, such as Denis Hempson and Rose Mooney. I'm also looking forward to reading alongside Michael Whelan and Simon Lewis for the first time - our reading in Galway was postponed until November due to Storm Lorenzo! The reading tomorrow is free admission and all are welcome. Tell your Belfast friends to come along!