The Kilkenny County Council Arts Office officially launched the 26th edition of the Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet during the Kilkenny Arts Festival on the 13th August 2026 in the Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle. It was successfully launched by Kilkenny Arts Festival Poet in Residence, Annemarie Ní Churreáin and Broadsheet editor Jane Robinson.
The aim of the publication is to give local writers a platform for their work. Being published since 2000, it continues to be a much sought after and treasured platform for writers to expose their work to the public. This year fifteen poems were selected for publication by Irish poet Jane Robinson. The Broadsheet was beautifully illustrated by local designer and illustrator Tim Harper of Wax Botanical. The Poetry Broadsheet will be available in all Kilkenny Libraries and Butler Gallery from August 19th.
Poets selected for publication include: Orla Hennessy, Willie-Joe Meally, Gemma Aloisi, John Anderson, Noel Howley, Nora Brennan, Carmel Hogan, Breda Barrett, Janis Woodgate, Frances Moore, Carmel McCluskey, Róisin Power Hackett, Anne Mc Darby Beck, Cormac Leahy, Catherine Cronin.
Jane Robinson’s collections, Journey to the Sleeping Whale (Salmon, 2018) and Island and Atoll (Salmon, 2023), as well as other poems and essays, reflect her deep ecological awareness. With a doctorate in Biology from Caltech, Jane is also a recipient of the Shine-Strong and Red Line Book Festival Poetry Awards, as well as the Strokestown International Poetry Prize. Several of her poems have been set to music. Some recent work is published in Archipelago, Howl, Cold Mountain Review, Poetry Ireland Review and The Stinging Fly. Jane lives in Dublin and enjoys leading poetry workshops outdoors where writers might feel the weather on their skin and encounter native wild plants and animals.
