We are delighted to present an outdoor poetry workshop with poet Nell Regan, in the beautiful surroundings of the Japanese Gardens.

Starting with a tour of the famous gardens at the Irish National Stud, participants will be encouraged to capture their surroundings through writing exercises and to write their own short nature poems. No experience of writing poetry is necessary to take part.  As this is a partnership with Irish National Stud, the entrance fee   to the Japanese Gardens (usually €14) will be waived for workshop participants. 

Workshop duration 90 minutes, fo

llowing by a reading by Nell Regan from A Gap in the Clouds.

A Gap in the Clouds is a new translation by James Hadley and Nell Regan of Ogura’s 100 Poems by 100 Poets, one of the most important collections of poetry in Japan. Though the poets include emperors and empresses, courtiers and high priests, ladies-in-waiting and soldier-calligraphers, the collection is far more than an historical document. Originally compiled in the 12th Century, as the translators note, “these beautiful poems have endured because their themes are universal and readily understood by contemporary readers”. A Gap in the Clouds is published by Dedalus Press. 

Nell Regan is an award winning poet and non-fiction writer with three collections of poetry and a biography which was Irish Independent Book of the Year 2017. A former Patrick & Katherine Kavanagh Fellow, she was recently awarded an Arts Council Award to collaborate with composer Mary Barnecutt on www.eavesdrop.ie  and also an Arts Council Literature Bursary to work on her new book.  For more information, see  www.nellregan.com.

THE JAPANESE GARDENS
The Irish National Stud’s Japanese Gardens, renowned throughout the world and the finest of their kind in Europe, are far more than simply a treat for the eye. They also provide comfort to the soul, achieving exactly the objective that was set out when the gardens were created between 1906 and 1910.  Devised by Colonel William Hall Walker, a wealthy Scotsman from a famous brewing family, the gardens were laid out by Japanese master horticulturist Tassa Eida and his son Minoru.  Their aim was, through trees, plants, flowers, lawns, rocks and water, to symbolise the ‘Life of Man’.   https://irishnationalstud.ie/attraction/japanese-gardens/