A Change in the Air follows Jane Clarke's 2019 second collection When the Tree Falls, which was shortlisted for the Pigott Poetry Prize 2020, the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and the Farmgate Cafe National Poetry Award 2020, as well as being longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2020. Her debut collection The River (2015) was the first poetry book to be shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize. Jane Clarke grew up on a farm in Co. Roscommon, and now lives near Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow.  Her anthology of nature poetry, Windfall: Irish Nature Poems to Inspire and Connect (Hachette Books Ireland), illustrated by Jane Carkill, was published in hardback on 1 November 2023. 

 

Jane Clarke's poem 'Sing' from her debut The River was featured on the front page of the Christmas Eve edition of The Irish Times on 23 December 2023.  Read online by subscription here.

 

For details of Jane's forthcoming readings, see her events page on the Bloodaxe website here.

 

'A Change in the Air by Jane Clarke is a collection that deals with contemporary and historic rural life in Ireland, in particular its crafts and traditions. Set against accounts of queer love in a changing Ireland, these poems are musical, moving and true; each word chosen with deep care, each phrase made with a craftswoman’s precision.' – Jessica Traynor, on behalf of the Forward Prize Judges

 

'The title of Jane Clarke’s A Change in the Air rather neatly conjures the country dweller’s sensitivity to the slightest shift in the weather, literal or figurative, meteorological or emotional. Though she may be influenced by Patrick Kavanagh, by Ted Hughes, and by Alice Oswald, Jane Clarke manages to plow her own furrow in poems of farm and family life that are notable for their attentiveness to, and delight in, the telling detail.' – Paul Muldoon (with Sasha Dugdale and Denise Saul), T S Eliot Prize 2023 judges' comment

 

~~~~~

REGIONAL PRESS INTERVIEW WITH JANE CLARKE

Roscommon People, Interview with Jane Clarke, Thursday 12 December 2024

An in-depth interview with Jane Clarke is featured in the Roscommon People of 12 December. Jane was speaking to reporter Alannah Ita Healy, and discussed her poetry, her career, and her time living in Roscommon – as well as how these memories has stayed with her over the years. Jane Clarke grew up on a farm in Co Roscommon, and has lived in Co Wicklow for the past thirty years.

‘In conversation with award-winning Roscommon-born poet Jane Clarke’
https://roscommonpeople.ie/a-poem-is-a-small-thing-but-it-can-reach-far-and-wide/

 

ROOTS EXHIBITION AT DUBLIN CASTLE

 

The Irish Times, article by Jane Clarke, online 10 December 2024

An article by Jane Clarke about the ROOTS exhibition which is currently on display at the Coach House at Dublin Castle went online in The Irish Times on 10 December, accompanied by photos of several of the artworks featured in the exhibition. The main photo at the top of the piece is Elaine Peden’s ‘Stepping In’ which responds to Jane’s poem of that name from her third collection A Change in the Air.  Jane writes that the exhibition has already been visited by 15,000 people. ROOTS consists of 50 textile and multimedia artworks in response to 30 poems from her three collections, plus her new poem ‘Roots’ which gave the exhibition its name.

 

ROOTS: A Dialogue in Textile and Poetry runs at The Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle until January 19th, 2025. Open Monday to Sunday, 10am-5pm (closed for lunch 1.15-1.45pm).

‘The distinctive dialogue between poetry and visual art turns observers into participants and prompts them to respond profoundly to both the visual and sonic stimulation of the exhibition.’
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/12/10/roots-where-textile-art-meets-poetry/


Element15, Artist Focus: blog reviews, online December 2024

 

Features about some of the artists whose work appears in the ROOTS exhibition have gone online on the website of element15, the Kildare-based arts collective whose idea it was to create this exhibition celebrating works responding to Jane Clarke’s poetry. 

 

‘Jane Clarke’s poems have the ability to reach into our hearts, to jolt the connections and memories back to life as they reference the everyday tasks of living, loving and dying.’ – Barbara, element15

 

Artist Caroline Fitzgerald has responded to Jane Clarke’s poem ‘Spalls’ from A Change in the Air, in which Jane describes her father makes a dry-stone wall.  Caroline’s art works from the exhibition are pictured in the blog.

Rina Whyte responded to ‘Eggs’ from A Change in the Air. Her artworks were illustrated, along with pages from her notebook.

 

Sally Hewetson has created an assemblage of three artist books as her contribution to ROOTS. Her work responds to the poems 'Family Bible' and 'Flight' which deal with sectarianism and displacement in Ireland. Both poems are from A Change in the Air.

https://element15.ie/artist-focus-caroline-fitzgerald/
https://element15.ie/artist-focus-rina-whyte/

https://element15.ie/artist-focus-sally-hewetson/

 

IRISH RADIO INTERVIEWS WITH JANE CLARKE

 

Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, Wednesday 4 December 2024, 7pm

 

Jane Clarke was interviewed down the line on RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena on 4 December. She was discussing the ROOTS exhibition which is currently on display at the Coach House at Dublin Castle, and which features textile artworks inspired by poems from across her three collections. Art historian and critic Jessica Fahy joined host Seán Rocks in the studio to talk more about the artworks.

Jane read her new poem ‘Roots’, which gave the title to the exhibition, as well as ‘Against the Flow’ from her debut collection The River. She talked to Seán about how moving it was to see her poems displayed next to the artworks.  A sound installation of Jane Clarke reading the featured poems is part of the exhibition.

A separate clip for this item has been made available.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22469791/

Two of the artworks were posted on RTE Arena’s page on X to illustrate the discussion, including ‘Against the Flow’ by Elaine Peden.
https://x.com/RTEArena/status/1864387465106100722

 

Drivetime, RTÉ Radio 1, Monday 18 November 2024, 4.30-7pm

Jane Clarke was interviewed by Cormac Ó hEadhra on RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime on 18 November about Menu of Poems for hospitals. Launched in 2008, the Menu of Poems project provides poems cards to hospitals and other healthcare settings across Ireland. Poem cards will be placed on trays at mealtimes in hospitals throughout November 2024. 

 

Jane Clarke is this year’s editor, and has chosen poems by Galway poet Eva Bourke, American poet Joy Harjo, and was asked to include one of her own – she chose ‘The Yellow Jumper’ from her second collection When the Tree Falls.  

Jane Clarke feature from 2:19:29.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/drivetime/2024/1118/1481668-drivetime-monday-18-november-2024/

 

For more on Menu of Poems, see Saolta Arts's website here.

 

NEW JANE CLARKE POEM ON RTÉ COUNTRYWIDE

CountryWide, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 16 November 2024, 8.10am-9am

A new poem by Jane Clarke was featured on RTE Radio 1’s CountryWide on 16 November as part of an item on the forthcoming book The Farming for Nature Handbook. Her poem ‘The Caddisfly’ is included in that book, which will be published on 28 November 2024.  Jane was introduced by presenter Philip Boucher-Hayes.

‘Poet Jane Clarke grew up on a farm in County Roscommon, and farming and nature are woven through her work.’

Jane Clarke's poem and the introduction are available as a separate clip:
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22461253/

 

 

TEXTILE EXHIBITION FEATURING JANE CLARKE's POETRY ON DISPLAY IN DUBLIN CASTLE

Wicklow People, Friday 1 November 2024

An exhibition of textile and multimedia work in response to poems by poet Jane Clarke by artist collective element15 is currently on display at the Coach House Gallery at Dublin Castle.
Fifteen artists have responded to thirty-nine poems from across all three of Jane’s Bloodaxe collections, and recordings of Jane reading the poems echo through the exhibition as a sound installation. Entrance to Roots: A Dialogue in Textile and Poetry is free, and it runs until 19 January 2025. Over 7,000 people have already visted the exhibition.

This news piece in the Wicklow People features images of some of the artworks from the exhibition, along with a photo of Jane Clarke pictured on the opening night on 3 October 2024.
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/wicklow-district/exhibition-in-dublin-castle-inspired-by-works-of-wicklow-poet/a1771501952.html

The Friday Poem: Alert, electric, alive, online 24 May 2024

A wonderful review of Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air went online in The Friday Poem on 24 May 2024, coinciding with the first anniversary of the book's publication on 25 May 2023. The review takes its title from Jane's poem 'Stepping in' about swimming in her local river in Co Wicklow. See link below to hear Jane read the poem on RTE Radio 1's CountryWide.

'Jane Clarke is a revelation. Her poems are concise, often in elegant honed couplets and triolets – perfectly shaped, deftly crafted, well controlled and tempered – and her line endings are masterful, holding the moment in a breath before releasing the connecting thought.' - Maggie Mackay, The Friday Poem, introducing her in-depth review of A Change in the Air

https://thefridaypoem.com/a-change-in-the-air-jane-clarke/

 

 

IRISH RADIO INTERVIEW WITH JANE CLARKE

 

Poetry People, RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday 21 April 2024, 7-8pm

The third episode of RTÉ Radio 1’s new weekly poetry series Poetry People featured an interview with Jane Clarke. On the eve of Earth Day, she was speaking to host Rachael Hegarty about poetry and the natural world, and was introduced as ‘one of Ireland’s great ecopoets’. Jane read her poems 'Camping at Bearna' from her second collection When the Tree Falls, and ‘Becoming’ from A Change in the Air.

Jane is introduced at 16:56. She reads her moving poem ‘Becoming’ at 22:25.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/poetry-people/2024/0421/1444860-copied-property-last-one-on-the-train-sunday-21-april-2024/

 

POEM FEATURE IN THE SIMPLE THINGS

The Simple Things, Pause poem feature, April 2024 issue

 

Jane Clarke’s poem ‘Butter for Queens’ from A Change in the Air was featured in the April 2024 edition of The Simple Things magazine.  The poem is accompanied by a brief comment.

 

'Grainy salt, the yellow of newly dug Queen potatoes and feshly made butter, the fields loud with birdsong and a relish for the simples pleasures of an older woman are beautifully captured in this finely honed poem.' – The Simple Things, on 'Butter for Queens' from A Change in the Air

 

In print only.

Jane Clarke recorded her poem ‘Butter for Queens’ especially for RTÉ Radio 1's CountryWide.  It aired on 27 May 2023 to mark publication of A Change in the Air and is still available as a separate clip.  Introduced by Philip Boucher-Hayes.

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22256325/

REVIEW COVERAGE

 

Magma, Issue 88, Spring 2024

An excellent review of Jane Clarke’s A Change in the Air is featured in the Spring 2024 edition of Magma magazine.

'Critical to Clarke’s celebrated third collection, A Change in the Air, is how land bears witness to history. Shortlisted, at the time of writing, for this year’s T.S. Eliot Prize, Forward Prize for Best Collection and longlisted for the Laurel Prize, the politics seep through like water in a bog. The voice avoids the rant and is more seductive and convincing for it.' – Lisa Kelly, Magma

 

In print.  Posted online 8 July 2024.
https://magmapoetry.com/lisa-kelly-reviews-jane-clarke-jacqueline-saphra-and-william-letford/

 

 

PODCAST FEATURING POEMS BY JANE CLARKE

BOOKS FOR BREAKFAST PODCAST

 

Books for Breakfast, Episode 57, online Wednesday 14 February 2024

Jane Clarke read a poem on the Irish podcast Books for Breakfast on 14 February.  She read and introduced ‘Passage’ from A Change in the Air.

The podcast also included an interview with Katie Donovan, editor of Distant Summers: Remembering Philip Casey, which was also discussed.  Katie’s sixth collection May Swim will be published by Bloodaxe in May 2024.

‘Irish poets featured so strongly on the T S Eliot Prize [2023] shortlist. Jane Clarke’s A Change in the Air was published by Bloodaxe in 2023, that made the list; a collection which displays an impressive, pared back emotional restraint, precise observations of the natural world, and an exploration of how people and landscapes, the voices of the past and the present, can affect our lives – all traits evident in her two previous collections The River and When the Tree Falls, both Bloodaxe Books as well.’ – Enda Wylie, speaking on Books for Breakfast

‘We're back with a show dedicated to a book commemorating the life and achievement of a fondly remembered writer: Distant Summers: Remembering Philip Casey, Writer, Fabulist, Friend, edited by Eamonn Wall, Katie Donovan and Michael Considine, Arlen House, 2024. We feature contributions by Katie Donovan, Dermot Bolger and Michael O'Loughlin, and Michael Agustin reading his poem from the book.  We also cover the recently announced winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize and readings of poems by the two Irish shortlisted poets, Jane Clarke and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.’

Katie Donovan features from 7:34. Jane Clarke is introduced at 21:09.
https://booksforbreakfast.buzzsprout.com/1162427/14501327-57-remembering-philip-caseydedicated

Audio extracts from the T S Eliot Prize Readings at London's Southbank Centre were broadcast on BBC Radio 3's The Verb on Friday 19 January 2024, introduced by Ian McMillan, who also hosted the event at the Royal Festival Hall on 14 January.  Listen via BBC Sounds here. 

 

Jane Clarke was introduced by Ian McMillan at 21:00 and read her poems 'Dressing My Mother for Her Grandson's Wedding', 'Spalls' and 'June'. Fellow Bloodaxe poet Abigail Parry was introduced at 30:22 and read her poem 'In the dream of the cold restaurant'.

 

 

All ten poets shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2023 read from their shortlisted collections.  Abigail Parry is introduced by Ian McMillan at 1:22:45. Jane Clarke's reading followed immediately after Abigail's and is introduced at 1:35:19.

 

 

BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023

 

The Yorkshire Times, Books of the Year, online 30 December 2023

Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air was one of ten books chosen by Steve Whitaker for his Book Review Round-up for 2023 in the online regional newspaper The Yorkshire Times.  He had reviewed the collection in depth back in July.

‘The still calm at the heart of Jane Clarke’s poems is the key to their extraordinary emotive power. Sufficiently detached to enable reflection, yet infused with the light of a daughter’s love, Clarke’s poems navigate a passage through a rural Irish landscape whose beauty is bound up indivisibly with the easy intuition of those who inhabit it and whose seasonally changeful, and comfortingly changeless, appearance is a conduit to meditation.’ – Steve Whitaker, The Yorkshire Times (Book Review Round-Up: 2023)

 

https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Book-Review-Round-Up---2023

 

Read the full review here: https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Butter-For-Queens--A-Change-In-The-Air-By-Jane-Clarke

 

 

The Lonely Crowd, Books of the Year/Part Two, online 16 December 2023

Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air was chosen by poet Tony Curtis as one of his books of the year for Part Two of The Lonely Crowd’s Books of the Year 2023 feature.

‘And in Irish poetry I am so pleased to see the success and acclaim for a former University of Glamorgan Masters alumna, Jane Clarke, whose new collection, A Change in the Air, is as good as anything from the UK this year...’ – Tony Curtis, The Lonely Crowd (Books of the Year 2023)

https://thelonelycrowd.org/2023/12/16/books-of-the-year-2023-part-two/
 

 

IRISH TIMES CHRISTMAS EVE FRONT PAGE POEM FOR JANE CLARKE

The Irish Times, Front page poem, Saturday 23 December 2023

Jane Clarke’s poem ‘Sing’ from her debut collection The River was featured on the front page of The Irish Times Christmas edition on 23 December 2023.

In print. Available online by subscription.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/01/05/sing-by-jane-clarke/

 

PLANET POETRY PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH JANE CLARKE

Planet Poetry: Jane Clarke, online 13 December 2023

An in-depth interview with Jane Clarke was featured on the Christmas edition of the Planet Poetry podcast. She was reading poems from her third collection A Change in the Air and talking about them in great detail with co-host Robin Houghton. The poems read were: ‘Christmas Morning’, ‘Crossings’, ‘You could say it begins’, ‘Raspberries’, ‘Becoming’, ‘First Earlies’, ‘Her first’ and ‘After we’re gone’.  The interview was recorded down the line from Jane’s home in Co Wicklow.

 

After the interview was played, A Change in the Air was then discussed by hosts Robin Houghton and Peter Kenny. They spoke about the pared back, understated nature of Jane’s poetry.

‘I love Jane’s work – she’s a beautiful writer.’ – Peter Kenny, Planet Poetry

 

Scroll down to the episode for 13 December 2023.  1st item. https://planetpoetrypodcast.com/

 

 

T S ELIOT PRIZE 2023: REVIEWS, FEATURES & VIDEOS

 

T S Eliot Prize Newsletter, online 2 November 2023

Jane Clarke’s T S Eliot Prize-shortlisted third collection A Change in the Air was the focus of the T S Eliot Prize e-newsletter of 2 November 2023.  It featured Readers’ Notes, an excellent review by John Field, and videos of Jane Clarke reading from and talking about her book.  Her poem ‘Spalls’ was featured in the newsletter.

‘A Change in the Air, Jane Clarke’s third collection, is a quiet, stoical meditation on fragility and mortality. Humanity takes its place within the rhythms of a natural world built on acceptance, community, and renewal. The title promises the best kind of revolution: freshness and wholesomeness – and the poems which follow deliver on this … In Jane Clarke’s hands, clarity, purity and strength speak for themselves. Her words are weighed and used sparingly.  They take your breath away.’ – John Field, T S Eliot Prize Reviewer

John Field’s brilliant review is available in full on the T S Eliot Prize website:
https://tseliot.com/prize/the-t-s-eliot-prize-2023/reviews/#jane-clarke

Readers’ Notes for A Change in the Air
https://tseliot.com/prize/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Clarke-Readers-Notes-2023.pdf

 

The Newsletter for Jane Clarke can be read here:

The videos feature Jane reading her poems ‘Pit Ponies of Glendasan’, ‘Recipe for a Bog’ and ‘Spalls’ from A Change in the Air.  In the fourth film, she talks about her work and her shortlisted collection.  All four videos have been posted on the T S Eliot Prize YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TSEliotprizeYT

 

 

Jane Clarke talks about her work and her T S Eliot Prize-shortlisted collection A Change in the Air.

 

 

Evelyn Byrne reviews Jane Clarke's A Change in the Air for the T S Eliot Prize

 

 

Evelyn Byrne reviews Jane Clarke's A Change in the Air.  Evelyn is one of the ten Young Critics recruited to review the books shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2023. A partnership programme between the T S Eliot Prize and The Poetry Society's Young Poets Network.

'Held together / by gravity and friction, hearted by handfuls of spalls,' A Change in the Air is tightly packed, taking shards of pain and piecing them together to form a cohesive collection which is rooted in tenderness. Exploring what it means to connect with each other and our surroundings against a shifting cultural background, Clarke's poems are filled with quiet moments of humanity and a constant respect for her subject matter ... Since Clarke describes her work as 'word music,' it is fitting the way this describes the collection itself. A Change in the Air is made up of six sequences and darts like the cormorant between ideas. Closing with powerful images that encapsulate the content, these poems linger like the disruption of water in the reader's mind ... Considering the scope of this collection, it could easily become disconnected, but instead the reader is continuously grounded by that which surrounds us: neighbours, rivers, and the resilient heather. Across both time and place, Clarke shows us that taking care of the land is taking care of each other, is taking care of ourselves. With its ambiguous title, A Change in the Air is asking us to engage with what that means as our environmental situation changes.' – Evelyn Byrne, reviewing A Change in the Air for the T S Eliot Prize Young Critics Scheme

 

JANE CLARKE T S ELIOT PRIZE WRITERS' NOTES

Poetry School, T S Eliot Writers’ Notes, online 15 December 2023

This year, alongside the usual Readers’ Notes, the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Poetry School are collaborating on a set of Writers’ Notes for the shortlisted collections. These are educational resources for poets looking to develop their practice and learn from some of contemporary poetry’s most exciting and accomplished voices.  Jane Clarke’s excellent piece about her creative process went online on 15 December 2023.
‘Writing a poem is all about intimacy and distance; we need to be able to bear the intimacy that good writing requires but we also need to be able to see the poem from the distance that editing requires. I want my poems to resonate with strangers; it is in the rewriting that the poem moves beyond me, finds its own identity and takes flight.’ – Jane Clarke

https://poetryschool.com/theblog/jane-clarke-t-s-eliot-writers-notes-a-change-in-the-air/

 

 

IRISH FEATURE PUBLICITY FOR JANE CLARKE

The Irish Times, Q&A interview, Saturday 28 October 2023

Jane Clarke was interviewed for a Q&A with Martin Doyle for The Irish Times.  A 600-word piece appeared as a full-page spread in the print edition on 28 October. She spoke about the Windfall anthology which she has edited, her own poetry collections, her background in psychotherapy, her upbringing on a farm in Co Roscommon, and what drew her to nature poetry.

A longer version of the interview is available online by subscription.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2023/10/28/jane-clarke-for-months-i-was-steeped-in-nature-poetry-from-yeats-to-the-present-day/


Sunday Independent, ‘My Life in Books’, Sunday 29 October 2023

Jane Clarke was interviewed for the Sunday Independent’s ‘My Life in Books’ feature.  It appeared in print on 29 October as an almost full-page feature.  All her books, including the Windfall anthology, were mentioned in the introductory bio.  The feature also ran in her regional newspaper Bray People on 8 November.

Under ‘The book you give as a present’, Jane recommended Neil Astley’s 2002 Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times anthology.

‘I often give people Staying Alive or any other anthology in that Bloodaxe series, so brilliantly edited by Neil Astley.  There’s a poem for everyone there.’ – Jane Clarke.

In the section about books on her bedside table, Jane included ‘I Think We’re Alone Now by UK poet Abigail Parry’ – which is on the shortlist for the TS Eliot Prize 2023 along with Jane’s third collection A Change in the Air.

Available online in full by subscription via the Irish Independent's website.  Read here.
 

 

 

Jane Clarke was on tour in the USA in late September 2023. Her books are distributed in the USA via Consortium Book Sales. 

 

US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH JANE CLARKE

The Poet and the Poem: Jane Clarke, US Library of Congress podcast, online 2 October 2023

Jane Clarke was interviewed by Grace Cavalieri for her half-hour Library of Congress podcast The Poet and the Poem. Jane read and discussed poems from her third collection A Change in the Air. She spoke about the different sections of the book, and about her upbringing on a farm in Co Roscommon. Jane was in the US to give readings from her new collection in Washington DC and in Princeton.

For the podcast, Jane read her poems ‘After’, ‘Dressing My Mother for her Grandson’s Wedding’, ‘All the horses she’s ever loved’ from the first section of A Change in the Air, followed by two poems from her sequence about the lead mining heritage of Co Wicklow: ‘Christmas Morning’ and ‘Pit Ponies of Glendasan’. She read a long extract from her poem about the creation of the Irish border, ‘You could say it begins’, which is based on interviews with women who live along the border.  She ended by reading three poems from the final section: ‘At Purteen Harbour’, ‘Spalls’ and ‘June’.

‘This is my favourite book of yours.  I think that this is just your crown jewel.  This book is absolutely your voice without effort – it’s pure silk.’ – Grace Cavalieri, speaking on The Poet and the Poem podcast, on A Change in the Air

https://www.gracecavalieri.com/poetLaureates/featuredpoet_janeclarke2023.html

Jane was interviewed by Grace Cavalieri in 2019 about her second collection When the Tree Falls. 

 

 

US ONLINE POEM FEATURE IN THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK CLUB

The Washington Post, Book Club Newsletter, Friday 29 September 2023

Ron Charles, Book Critic of The Washington Post, featured Jane Clarke’s poem ‘Shepherd’ from A Change in the Air in his Washington Post Book Club newsletter of 29 September.  He hosted a public interview with Jane Clarke later that day in Washington DC at NYU's John Brademas Center.

‘Her verse attends so closely to the land and the people of her rural homeland that it makes us attend more closely to our own. This summer she published A Change in the Air, a collection that glides gently from caring for her mother to remembering the Troubles to moving into a new house in the countryside.’ – Ron Charles, The Washington Post Book Club newsletter

 

Read the poem and Ron Charles' full introduction via The Washington Post newsletter here.

 

~~~~~

US ONLINE BOOKS FEATURE

Shepherd.com, The best books to make you fall in love with nature poetry (chosen by Jane Clarke), online September 2023

Jane Clarke was invited to choose five books about nature and the environment for the US book site Shepherd.com.  She began by introducing herself and her new collection A Change in the Air.

‘Ever since my childhood on a farm poetry has helped me pay attention to the world around me. Like a naturalist’s field guide, nature poems name, depict, and explore what might otherwise pass unnoticed. Now in the midst of environmental crisis I believe poets have a role alongside ecologists, farmers, and foresters to protect and restore our threatened habitats and species. Writing nature poetry helps me face and express loss while celebrating what still survives. I value poetry that connects us to what we love and gives us courage to imagine different ways of living.’ – Jane Clarke

One of the five books she recommended was Neil Astley’s 2007 Bloodaxe anthology Earth Shattering: Ecopoems.

https://shepherd.com/best-books/to-make-you-fall-in-love-with-nature-poetry

 

US INTERVIEW WITH RATTLE MAGAZINE

 

 

Ahead of her US tour in September 2023, Jane Clarke was interviewed at length by Timothy Green, editor of the US poetry magazine Rattle. Jane joined Tim from her home in Co Wicklow. Their conversation was livestreamed on 21 August 2023, and is now available on YouTube. Among many other things, they discussed her background in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and how that relates to her writing, the importance of finding music in language, and how commissions have led her poetry in many new and interesting directions. Jane read and introduced her poems 'After' (previously featured in Rattle's Irish issue in Spring 2023), 'All the horses she ever loved', 'Pit Ponies of Glendasan', 'Crossings', 'Lazy Beds', 'Recipe for a bog', 'Spalls' and 'Stepping in', all from her new collection A Change in the Air.

 

'Beautiful, lush language, really condensed - a trademark of your work - rural, pastoral themes which are beautiful. It's wonderful poetry to read. It twists and hits hard in a tight little space. I just loved it.' - Timothy Green, introducing Jane Clarke and her poetry

 

Jane features from 09:35.  Available as a separate chapter on the YouTube page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqdpm8Ro89M

 

The poem feature in the Spring 2023 edition of Rattle, along with audio of Jane reading 'After' from A Change in the Air, is on Rattle's website here.

 

Read the full feature on The Irish Times website here.

 

 

FORWARD PRIZE FEATURES

 

 

 

REVIEW COVERAGE IN THE IRISH TIMES & POETRY IRELAND REVIEW

 

Poetry Ireland Review, Issue 140, Sumer 2023

 

A superb in-depth review of A Change in the Air was included in Issue 140 of Poetry Ireland Review.  A new poem by Jane Clarke featured in the same issue.

 

‘The delight and haunting memorability of the elegies that open her excellent third book of poems, A Change in the Air, can partly be explained by an ability to turn moments of steady objectivity into disclosures of emotion and insight … Clarke finds an archetypal purpose for her timely preoccupations, and local points of crossover between ordinary and extraordinary experience.  In this clear-flowing book, she seeks to get whole valleys onto the page, and to dwell in elemental magic, and she deserves to be celebrated for it.’ - Martin Dyar, Poetry Ireland Review
 

In print only.

 

 

The Irish Times, Saturday 19 August 2023

 

A Change in the Air was well reviewed by Martina Evans in The Irish Times's new poetry feature of 19 August 2023, alongside Maura Dooley's new collection Five Fifty-Five and two other books. Jane and Maura launched their collections together in London in June 2023.

 

'In Jane Clarke's A Change in the Air her characteristic understated style is more pared back than ever ... a subtle collection' - Martina Evans, The Irish Times

 

In print.  Available online by subscription here.

 

 

 

 

ONLINE REVIEW COVERAGE

 

 

 

Yorkshire Times, online 28 July 2023

Jane Clarke's ‘inimitable and beautiful new collection’ A Change in the Air was given a brilliant in-depth review in the online regional newspaper the Yorkshire Times on 28 July 2023.

‘What animates Jane Clarke are love and endurance: artfully calibrated, each section of A Change in the Air is an emotional complement to the next, for each poem hangs on one, or sometimes several, exquisitely clarified observations of landscape and of the figures in it, magnified as if through water. The two are in any case indivisible – the agricultural terrain is presented as a series of potent images whose significance is a measure of the unseen connection anchoring people to the world that made them.’ – Steve Whitaker, Yorkshire Times

 

https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Butter-For-Queens--A-Change-In-The-Air-By-Jane-Clarke

 

Books Ireland, Poet on Poet, online 21 June 2023

A wonderful in-depth review of Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air has gone online at Books Ireland in their poet on poet review series.  Irish poet Eleanor Hooker was the reviewer. The feature linked to the video which Jane had made especially for Books Ireland of her reading her poem ‘Dressing My Mother for Her Grandson’s Wedding’ - also see below.

‘… outstanding lyrical poems of place and heart … Clarke’s poems are above all else accessible, and in being so, the poet honours her reader. She removes a language blind, bringing us to the beating heart of her work. A Change in the Air is a generous collection by a poet resolute but gentle in the matter of emotional truth.’ - Eleanor Hooker, Books Ireland

https://booksirelandmagazine.com/outstanding-poems-of-place-and-heart-eleanor-hooker-on-a-change-in-the-air-by-jane-clarke/

 POEM FEATURE ON RTÉ RADIO 1'S  COUNTRYWIDE

 

CountryWide, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 15 July 2023, 8.10-9am

 

RTE Radio 1’s CountryWide featured their recording of Jane reading her poem ‘The Key’ from A Change in the Air on Saturday 15 July in response to the book having been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. Introduced by presenter Ella McSweeney.

 

Jane gave a pre-publication interview to CountryWide at the end of April, and that is still available to listen to.  Scroll down for details and the links.

 

Listen to the poem feature here.

 

IRISH RADIO INTERVIEW WITH JANE CLARKE

Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday 11 July 2023, 7-8pm

Jane Clarke was interviewed live down the line on RTÉ Radio 1’s arts programme Arena on 11 July.  She was speaking to presenter Seán Rocks about her third collection A Change in the Air, and about her response to the book having been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. She read her poems ‘Crossings’ and ‘Lazy Beds’ from the book.

The interview is available as a 14-minute clip, illustrated with a photographic portrait of Jane Clarke taken for the RTÉ arts project Illuminations in 2020. 

 

Listen here.
 

 

REGIONAL PRESS FEATURES FOR JANE CLARKE

Wicklow People, online 7 July 2023

A feature on Jane Clarke’s third collection A Change in the Air having been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection ran in the Wicklow People of 7 July. The Wicklow Times also covered the story.  Jane grew up on a farm in Co Roscommon, but has lived in Co Wicklow for nearly thirty years now.

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/wicklow-district/wicklow-poet-jane-clarke-shortlisted-for-prestigious-international-award/a843995742.html

 

 
COUNTRYWIDE POEM FEATURE WITH JANE CLARKE

CountryWide, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 27 May 2023, 8.10-9am

Jane Clarke recorded her poem ‘Butter for Queens’ from A Change in the Air especially for RTÉ Radio 1's CountryWide.  It aired on 27 May and is now available as a separate podcast.  Introduced by presenter Philip Boucher-Hayes.

Listen via the CountryWide webpages here.
 

 

Jane Clarke's interview on CountryWide on 29 April 2023 is still available (scroll down for more details). Her interview was divided between the two halves of the programme. Recorded at her home near Glenmalure and in the surrounding countryside.

 

Jane spoke about the mining heritage of Co Wicklow and read her poem 'Christmas Morning' from A Change in the Air. Listen here (from 14:10).

POEM FEATURES

 

The Scotsman, Poem of the Week, Saturday 3 June 2023

Jane Clarke’s poem 'Pit Ponies of Glendasan' - from which the title of her third collection A Change in the Air is taken - was featured in The Scotsman Magazine on 3 June. This is one of a sequence of poems Jane Clarke wrote especially for the BBC Radio 4 feature she presented in 2020 about The Miners’ Way in Co Wicklow.

 

'This week's poem is by the Irish poet Jane Clarke.  Her work has a clarity and precision to it, a matter-of-factness that helps give form to the depth and weight of the words, which explore everyday living, past and present, and what shapes us as humans.' - The Scotsman, Poem of the Week

 

In print only.

 

 

Bookanista, online Thursday 25 May 2023

Jane Clarke’s tender poems ‘Her first’ and ‘Wife’ from A Change in the Air were featured online at Bookanista to mark publication day on 25 May. 

https://bookanista.com/from-a-change-in-the-air/

 

 

VIDEO POEM FEATURE ON BOOKS IRELAND

 

Books Ireland, Poetry Happening, Wednesday 24 May 2023

A lovely film of Jane Clarke reading her poem ‘Dressing My Mother for Her Grandson’s Wedding’ from A Change in the Air was featured on Books Ireland to mark publication here (and below). The collection was later reviewed by Eleanor Hooker in Books Ireland here.


 

 

POEM OF THE WEEK FEATURE IN THE IRISH TIMES

The Irish Times, Poem of the Week, Saturday 20 May 2023

Jane Clarke’s poem ‘All the horses she’s ever loved’ from her third collection A Change in the Air was featured as Poem of the Week in The Irish Times of 20 May ahead of publication on 25 May.

In print and online (view 3 articles for free).  Read the poem online in The Irish Times here.
 

 

IRISH RADIO INTERVIEW WITH JANE CLARKE

CountryWide, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 29 April 2023, 8.10-9am

 

Jane Clarke was interviewed for a special edition of RTE Radio 1's CountryWide on the rivers of Co Wicklow.  This was her first radio interview for her third collection A Change in the Air, which is out from Bloodaxe in the UK and Ireland on 25 May.

 

Jane’s interview sits in the middle of a programme about the Rivers of Wicklow - the Avoca, Aughrim, Avonmore (the location for her poem ‘Stepping in’) and the Avonbeg (where she lives).  Jane read three poems from A Change in the Air. She started by reading ‘Christmas Morning’ as part of a piece on mining in the Wicklow valleys. The previous interviewee, former miner Robbie Carter, was one of the people Jane interviewed for her BBC Radio 4 feature on The Miners’ Way of Co Wicklow (scroll down for more details on this). Some of the poems she wrote especially for that BBC Radio 4 feature are included in A Change in the Air in her sequence ‘Pit Ponies of Glendasan’.

For this edition of CountryWide, reporter Della Kilroy visited Jane at her home near Glenmalure, where Jane read her poem ‘The Key’ about moving into that house nearly thirty years ago.  They then took a walk into nearby woods, and Jane spoke about the flora and fauna of the area, as well as the changes in biodiversity that have taken place since since she moved to Co Wicklow. Jane read her poem ‘Stepping in’ beside the pool in the River Avonmore where she swims, as described in the poem.

 

Listen back via RTE Player.  The programme has been divided into two parts, and Jane Clarke featured at the end of the first part and beginning of the second.

Jane speaks about the mining heritage of Co Wicklow and reads her poem 'Christmas Morning' from A Change in the Air. Listen here (from 14:10).

 

Jane Clarke in conversation with Della Kilroy and reads her poems 'The Key' and 'Stepping in'. Listen here (first item).

 

Watch a video of Jane Clarke reading her poem 'Stepping in' beside the river Avonmore - filmed by RTE Radio 1's CountryWide and shared on RTE Radio 1's Twitter page here.

 

Jane read her poem 'Butter for Queens' from her new collection on CountryWide on 27 May 2023.  Listen here: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22256325/

 

 

~~~~~

 

US POEM FEATURE FOR JANE CLARKE

Rattle, Poem feature, #29, Spring 2023

Jane Clarke’s ‘After’, the first poem in her third collection A Change in the Air, was featured in the spring issue of Rattle, as part of their Irish tribute issue. Audio of Jane reading the poem is included with the online edition.  Jane will also be recording an interview for Rattlecast ahead of US distribution of A Change in the Air in August 2023.

 

Read and listen to the poem on the Rattle website here.

 

~~~~~~

 

TV, RADIO & PODCASTS FEATURING POEMS FROM A CHANGE IN THE AIR (PRE-PUBLICATION)

 

DISCUSSION WITH JANE CLARKE ON RTE LYRIC FM

Culture File Weekly, RTÉ Lyric FM, Saturday 3 December 2022, 6.30pm

 

Poet Jane Clarke joined photographer Tina Claffey, naturalist & writer Richard Nairn, and naturalist & writer Paddy Woodworth for a discussion about their favourite nature books as part of the Naturalist's Bookshelf series. Jane recommended Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain and Michael Longley’s new collection The Slain Birds.

 

A photograph of a marsh marigold by Tina Claffey features on the front cover of Jane’sthird collection A Change in the Air.  This happy coincidence was mentioned by the host in his introduction.

This lovely event was recorded live at the Dublin Book Festival in the National Botanic Gardens, and was broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM on 3 December 2022.  

 

Listen to the discussion via the RTE website here.
 

 

 

POEMS ON RTE RADIO 1's NATURE NIGHTS

 

Nature Nights: Brother Sun, Sister Moon, RTÉ Radio 1, Wednesday 2 November 2022, 10.50-11pm

Jane Clarke read three poems on Brother Sun, Sister Moon, part of RTE Radio 1’s week-long series of late-night programmes on nature and biodiversity, Nature Nights.

Jane read her poems 'The Dipper' and ‘Shepherd’ from her third collection A Change in the Air, and ‘Cypress’ from When the Tree Falls.

‘John Connell, poet Jane Clarke and environmental campaigner Lorna Gold read from their own work and classical writings on themes of nature and reflect on how the natural world has inspired artists since ancient times.’

Jane read ‘The Dipper’ at 00:54, ‘Shepherd’ at 02:07 and ‘Cypress’ at 05:13. Listen here.

Jane Clarke was Resident Poet for the Nature Nights series. Her poems were threaded into other programmes during the week.

 

JANE CLARKE INTERVIEW ON RTE RADIO 1’s COUNTRYWIDE

Shelfmarks podcast, episode 3, online 24 October 2021

 

NEW JANE CLARKE POEM ON RTE ONE TV & RTE RADIO 1

 

Shine: A Summer Concert, RTE One TV, 8.15pm, Saturday 29 August 2020, RTE Radio 1, Sunday 30 August, 6pm

RTE commissioned Jane Clarke to write a new poem for a special concert to support artists during this time of Covid-19. It was broadcast on RTE television on 29 August 2020. Irish/Sierra Leonean ArtSoul musician & actress Loah read Jane’s poem ‘Little Tern Colony, Kilcoole’ (now published in A Change in the Air, 2023).  The concert was broadcast on RTE Radio the following day.  It was RTE's pick of the day on 29 August. This hour of music and words filmed at the Iveagh Gardens, the National Concert Hall and at RTÉ over the summer.  Threaded throughout, there is powerful commissioned spoken word and poetry from John Boyne, Jane Clarke and others.

A video of Loah reading the poem can be seen via RTE One’s facebook page here.

 

A film of Jane Clarke herself reading the poem was made by RTE for Illuminations.  View here. You can also read the poem and Jane's introduction to it.

 

Jane reads her poem 'Little Tern Colony, Kilcoole' as part of RTE's major online exhibition exploring the impact of Covid-19. Illuminations, an online gallery of 30 works, features visual art, photography, film, music, poetry, essays and spoken word.  The poem is published in her third collection A Change in the Air.

 

'Illuminations' - an RTE project.

RTE have photographed the artists taking part in the shine concert for a digital gallery. Jane was invited to go to Dublin at the end of August 2020 to be filmed reading her new poem ‘Little Tern Colony, Kilcoole’.  The digital gallery accompanying Jane's poem features a stunning photographic portrait of Jane, the text of the poem, her introduction to it, and a film of her reading it.

 

View here.

 

NEW POEM ON RTE RADIO 1'S THE POETRY PROGRAMME

The Poetry Programme: Poems in a Pandemic, RTE Radio 1, Monday 1 June 2020, 1.30pm

Jane Clarke and Kerry Hardie both read new poems on this very moving special edition of The Poetry Programme broadcast on Ireland’s Bank Holiday, 1 June.

Both poems were written in April, and are included on Manchester Writing School’s WRITE where we are NOW website, which gathers together poems written in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Jane Clarke’s poem ‘First Earlies’ was written in Glenmalure on 21 April 2020.  It is now published in her third collection A Change in the Air.  
https://www.mmu.ac.uk/write/first-earlies.php

‘On Bank Holiday Monday, at 1:30 pm on 1st June, Olivia O'Leary presents a selection of poems from poets responding to the Covid 19 crisis in Poems in a Pandemic: a Poetry Programme Special.’

Kerry features at 15:09 and Jane at 22:58.  Listen via The Poetry Programme's webpages here. 

 

 

BBC RADIO 4 FEATURE PRESENTED BY JANE CLARKE - CHOSEN FOR BBC RADIO 4'S PICK OF THE WEEK