Annemarie Ní Churreáin – Artist of the Month

BY: PHILOMENA BARRY

Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a poet and writer from North West Donegal. She was educated at DCU and the Oscar Wilde Centre at Trinity College, Dublin, and is fluent in Irish.

She has been published in Poetry Ireland Review, The Stinging Fly, The SHOp, and The London Magazine.

Her debut collection of poetry, Bloodroot, was published by Doire Press in October 2017. She says her poems are explorations of emotions and how they connect to physical spaces. She also focuses on the complexity and fragility of human relationships.

Bloodroot was shortlisted for the Shine Strong Award for best first collection in Ireland and the 2018 Julie Suk Award in the United States.

Annemarie is a panelist on the Writers in Irish Prisons Scheme and co-founder of the arts collective, “Upstart.” In 2007, she was part of a program using art therapy for people with disabilities in Mountmellick called Áthas. In 2016 she was honoured with the Next Generation Artists Award from President Michael D Higgins on behalf of the Arts Council of Ireland.

Annemarie is the recipient of literary fellowships from Akademie Schloss Solitude in Germany, the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida, and Hawthorndon Castle in Scotland. In 2017, she became a Writer in Residence for Kerry County. In 2018, she was named as John Broderick Writer in Residence by Westmeath County Council, and she is based in the Aidan Heavey Library here in Athlone.

In August, local writers were invited to apply for the John Broderick Writer in Residence Mentorship Scheme. The winner has since been announced, and he is now enjoying one-on-one mentoring sessions with Annemarie.

For the past month or so, Annemarie has been running poetry and creative writing workshops in the library. The workshops are free and are open to everyone. I myself have attended two of the three workshops that have so far taken place. I have really enjoyed them and found that they are greatly benefiting my own writing.

Last month, Annemarie graciously accepted an invitation to be my guest on For Arts Sake. If you’d like to have a listen to that interview, click here