A Politicised Evening of Poetry at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop with Mike Jenkins & Kevin Higgins

Welsh poet Mike Jenkins

Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop presents ‘A Politicised Evening of Poetry’ with prominent Welsh poet Mike Jenkins, and Kevin Higgins. Both poets write poems which comment, often acerbically, on the world as it is. All are welcome to attend, even members of Fine Gael or visiting British tourists who voted for David Cameron. There is no cover charge.

The event will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway on Thursday, August 20th, 6.30pm. 

Mike Jenkins is a retired secondary school teacher who lives in Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. His first poems were published in the Irish Press newspaper in the 1970s. He is a winner of the Eric Gregory Award, Wales Book of the Year and John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry. Mike is a former editor of Poetry Wales and co-editor and founder of RED POETS magazine, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. He has published novels, short stories and children's books. His latest book is called Shedding Paper Skin, a collection of poetry, is published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. One critic said: “Mike Jenkins writes in a unique style that is sometimes raucous and often sardonic, but it can also be tender and plaintive."

Kevin Higgins most recent collection of poems, The Ghost In The Lobby, was launched at the 2014 Cúirt Festival by Mick Wallace TD. His poems also feature in Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Bloodaxe, 2010) and in The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe May 2014).  Last year his work was the subject of a paper titled ‘The Case of Kevin Higgins: Or The Present State of Irish Poetic Satire’ given by David Wheatley at a symposium at the University of Aberdeen. Mentioning The War, a collection of his essays and reviews, was published by Salmon in April, 2012.  Kevin recently re-joined the British Labour Party, as an overseas member, almost twenty four years after he was shown the door for being a tad too Militant in his socialism. He is currently curating an online project ’21 Poems: 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn’. 

Kevin Higgins attending launch of the 21s issue of ROPES magazine

All are most welcome to attend. There is no cover charge.

The event will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway on Thursday, August 20th, 6.30pm.