The Burren College of Art has confirmed that the recipient of the third annual David Whyte Poet-in-Residence Award is North Clare poet, Grace Wells.
David Whyte presented the award at his annual reading at BCA on Saturday, July 6th. The event was one in a series celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of the College.
Grace Wells is an award-winning eco-poet and environmental writer living in Ennistymon, County Clare. Her three poetry collections have all been published by Dedalus Press, most recently in 2022, ‘The Church of the Love of the World’ which was shortlisted for the Laurel Prize and the National Farmgate Poetry Award. She is currently Writer-in-Residence for the landscape restoration charity Hometree’s, eco-arts project ‘Dinnseanchas, Envisioning the Uplands’.
The David Whyte award offers a four-week residency for a poet of official residency in Ireland, for the dates of September 2-27, 2024. The residency provides a studio space and campus accommodation for the awardee, along with a €5000 bursary and two individual tutorials with Whyte.
The aim of this award is to support a poet at any stage of their careers by giving them the time, space, and inspiration to develop their work in the unique environment of the Burren, and the creative community of the College. The recipient will have the opportunity to work alongside students and artists-in-residence and will put on a reading to which the local community will be invited.
Because of her rich and vibrant poems related to the human experience within the natural world, Wells’ work will resonate well with our Art & Ecology program. Our students similarly explore the unique environment of the Burren through place-based learning in their art practices and research, as well as intersecting ecologies of socio-cultural concerns, global politics, and identity in relation to nature and climate change. We believe this residency will lead to exciting new ideas and collaborations related to art and ecology as Wells develops her craft alongside our students and other resident artists.
