About The Curation

This 11th edition of Poetry Jukebox, curated by poets Moyra Donaldson and Maria Mc Manus, is a selection of poems by poets from Northern Ireland who have lived-experience of The Troubles. The poems respond with language of loss, grief, remembrance and daily life.

Twenty of Northern Ireland’s myriad wonderful poets are included in this curation.

They are: Jean Bleakney, Colette Bryce, Ciarán Carson, Gerald Dawe, Celia de Fréine, Damian Smyth, Moyra Donaldson, Padraig Fiacc, Leontia Flynn, Alan Gillis, Dennis Grieg, Michael Longley, Derek Mahon, Gearóid Mac Lochlainn, Gail McConnell, Paul Muldoon, Joan Newmann, Kate Newmann, Frank Ormsby and Lorna Shaughnessy.

In line with Public Health Guidance and the recent restrictions put in place by the Northern Ireland Executive, The Crescent, including the Garden, is not open to the public and therefore the Poetry Jukebox is currently not accessible to the public. We will keep you updated as and when plans change. The Crescent looks forward to welcoming you to visit the Poetry Jukebox again soon.

In the meantime, click here to listen to all the poems online and to learn more about each of the poets.

This curation of Poetry Jukebox was launched at a special panel event at the Belfast International Arts Festival 2020. 

The panel discussion was chaired by Professor of Irish Poetry at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, Clíona Ní Ríordáin.

She was joined by poets Moyra Donaldson, Gail McConnell and Paul Muldoon as they discussed the contribution of Northern Irish poetry and poets in articulating our painful, complex, and compelling history, its resonance in the present and its implications for our future.

Click here to watch the event.