Jennifer Liston

Author: Jennifer Liston

  • Two of my poems published to celebrate Brigid the Bard in 2026

    Míle buíochas – many, many thanks – to Mark Roberts & Linda Adair for publishing my poems ‘Creidim, 1579 AD’ and ‘Imbolc Incantation’ (includes audio of me reading) in the Rochford Press/Rochford Street Review Brigid the Bard 2026 supplement.

    ‘Creidim, 1579 AD’ is from my collection Grace Notes: Giving Voice to Gráinne Mhaol, Ireland’s Pirate Queen, published by Salmon Poetry, with huge gratitude as always to Jessie Lendennie & Siobhán Hutson Jeanotte.

    ‘Imbolc Incantation’ is getting its first airing. Listen to it here:

    20260125_Imbolc_Incantation_Jennifer_Liston.m4a

    Congratulations and best wishes to Anne Casey & the Prankqueans for a successful Brigid the Bard Festival 2026 celebration in Sydney & Katoomba, NSW!

  • Grace Notes launched by Jill Jones in the southern hemisphere – where it was born!

    What a wonderful launch of Grace Notes at Goodwood Books in Adelaide, South Australia on Thursday 18 September 2025! We had a full house, plenty of wine (thank you, Robert Rath), & a wonderful Q&A session.

    My deepest gratitude to the acclaimed Australian poet Jill Jones for her considered, thoughtful and lovely remarks about the book.

    It was so good to bring the book back to where it all began, where the seeds of the idea grew into a fully fledged project, & where I performed 5 sold-out solo shows at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2020 based on the poems & songs in the collection.

    Many thanks to Sarah Tooth at Goodwood Books, where there are still some copies for sale. You can also order the book directly from Salmon Poetry (they ship worldwide).

    These photos were taken by my dear super-talented friend Nat Charlesworth. Robert took the photo of Jill Jones & me.

  • Grace Notes at Mallow Arts Festival: that’s a wrap!

    I was thrilled and very grateful to be included in the jam-packed Mallow Arts Festival programme in July this year (2025)! More than 60 events took place and town was buzzing with festival enthusiasts.

    I read/performed in the fabulously independent Philip’s Bookshop Mallow to 30+ people who were kind enough to come long, listen, clap, and buy books!

    Thank you so much to everyone who came along, I really appreciate your support. Many thanks particularly to all my gorgeous songsters at Mallow Choir/Cor Mhagh Ealla.

    Grace Notes is available in many bookshops (you can always ask your local bookshop to order it in) and also online at Salmon Poetry.

  • ‘Grace Notes’ is launched in Books Upstairs, Dublin

    We had a delightful event to launch my book Grace Notes in Books Upstairs, Dublin’s oldest independent bookshop, on Sunday 9 February 2025.

    Anne Chambers, author of Granuaile, the definitive biography of Gráinne Mhaol, spoke most eloquently about Gráinne the woman, and most kindly about Grace Notes.

    We were honoured that the current chieftain of the O’Malley Clan, Grace O’Malley, as well as Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, the Clan’s Guardian Chieftain, attended the gathering.

    Thank you so much to everyone who came along, I really appreciate your support. Grace Notes is available in many bookshops (you can always ask your local bookshop to order it in) and also online at Salmon Poetry.

  • ‘Grace Notes’ is launched. Sail far and wide, little book of big poems!

    Author Jennifer Liston at a book signing event, smiling at the camera while pointing to a stack of her book, <em>Grace Notes: Giving Voice to Gráinne Mhaol, Ireland’s Pirate Queen</em>. She is wearing a sparkly silver jacket over a black top and a necklace. The books on the table have a blue and green abstract cover with a sticker saying 'Signed by the Author.' A wine glass sits nearby on the table. This ALT-text was generated by ChatGPT.

    We had a fantastic launch on Friday 8 November 2024 of my poetry collection, Grace Notes, published by Salmon Poetry, at The Allingham Festival in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal. I was so moved at the number of people who made an effort to be there: my sister Susan Coakley and her husband Daragh, my brother Tony and his wife Marie, and my brother James flew over from England as a surprise, as well as several close friends. And of course my dearest Robert Rath.

    Author Jennifer Liston on stage seated next to Win McNulty at a small table with microphones in front of them. Jennifer, wearing a sparkly silver jacket, holds a copy of <em>Grace Notes: Giving Voice to Gráinne Mhaol, Ireland’s Pirate Queen</em> in her lap and looks toward the audience. The setting is a theatre with red carpeting and seating in the foreground. This ALT-text was generated by ChatGPT, then edited.

    Local writer Win McNulty and I decided we would structure the launch as an interview/conversation. Win drew out of me many key points about the collection and its structure, how I came to focus on Gráinne Mhaol and voices/voicings as themes, my ideas about writing with and through constraints, and my rescued poetry process. It was a great conversation, and I’m very grateful to Win for all her background work and her intelligent, thoughtful and considered questions. We’re hoping to post video highlights publicly soon, so I’ll keep you updated.

    I’m very grateful to The Allingham Festival committee for including me on the festival programme and for providing a beautiful space. I feel very privileged that my book launched on the 200th anniversary of the birth of William Allingham.


    I’m particularly indebted to Tony and Marie Liston for arranging the amazing wine and canapés reception, and for looking after all the logistics associated with the event.

    And of course my deepest gratitude goes to Jessie Lendennie and Siobhan Hutson Jeanotte of Salmon Poetry for publishing my work in such a beautiful form. The book itself is a work of art.

    A display table with multiple stacks of Jennifer Liston's book, <em>Grace Notes: Giving Voice to Gráinne Mhaol, Ireland’s Pirate Queen</em>. Several copies are propped up to showcase the cover, which features a vibrant abstract design in blue, green, and purple tones. The books are neatly arranged, creating an inviting setup for a book signing or sale event. This ALT-text was generated by ChatGPT.

    Christmas is coming, dear readers, so you might like to buy a few books as gifts for the bookworms and poetry lovers in your life! Order the book directly from the Salmon Poetry website. They ship worldwide!

  • You can now buy my poetry collection ‘Grace Notes’ from Salmon Poetry!

    Cover of the book Grace Notes: Giving Voice to Gráinne Mhaol, Ireland’s Pirate Queen by Jennifer Liston. The design features bold, swirling brushstrokes in shades of blue, green, and purple, with touches of red, resembling an abstract painting of ocean waves. The title and author’s name are overlaid in white and gold text, with the publisher, Salmon Poetry, noted at the bottom. This alt text was generated by ChatGPT.

    It’s finally here!

    Ennistymon-based Salmon Poetry has published my poetry collection, Grace Notes. It will be launched at the Allingham Festival in Ballyshannon on Friday 8 November 2024. I’m really looking forward to launching this baby into the world. It’s been a long time in the making.

    Grace Notes is a collection of poems that express fragments of the life of Grace O’Malley/Gráinne Mhaol. The Gráinne compositions place Gráinne at different points in her life and also situate her in a mediaeval past and a borrowed future via her dreams, or aislings. Interspersed with these compositions are ‘rescued’ poems. (I’ve posted many examples and written quite a bit on this site about my ‘rescued poetry’ process. You could also check out my rescued poetry website.) I chose 17 texts connected to Gráinne – a selection of factual or fictional biographies of her and a small number of contemporary historical texts – from which I rescued 50 poems.

    Isn’t the cover gorgeous? Salmon Poetry’s Siobhán Hutson Jeanotte designed it. I requested that it wouldn’t feature the usual pirate queen image bandied around whenever Grace O’Malley is illustrated, and Siobhán did a wonderful job with an abstract image that suggests movement and sea and waves without hitting us over the head with them.

    You can buy the book directly from the Salmon Poetry website. They ship worldwide!

  • Bringing the sound of The Corrs to Adelaide via tribute band Talk on Corners

    I’ve been so lucky to be part of the Talk on Corners project, an exciting musical tribute in Adelaide, SA, to Irish traditional/pop superstars The Corrs.

    The brainchild of keyboard player/singer Sara Sizer and former drummer Dave Owen, this band of seriously talented Adelaide musicians brings together their extensive experience to deliver the unmistakeable rich harmonies, soulful guitars, melodic keys, and distinctive violin and tin whistle trademarks of the original hugely popular group.


    Talk on Corners’ first gig at Littlewood Agapanthus Farm, November 2021.

    The line-up is Jennifer Liston (me!) (lead vocals and tin whistle), Sara Sizer (keyboards and vocals), Christine Morphett (violin), Robbie Lennox (guitars and vocals), Peter Franche (bass guitar) and Nick Carroll (drums). Alan Sizer provides fantastic audio engineering support.

    We’ve had fantastic feedback from wonderful audience members who sang along and grooved to many of the gorgeous tunes. And of course we rocked it ourselves too!


    Rockin’ it at Marion Cultural Centre, July 2022.

    When Chris and Pete relocated to the UK mid-2023, Casey Franchi took over violin duties and Chris Hart joined as bass player.


    INC Cafe, October 2023.

    As well as private functions, some of the venues we have played are:

    The Adelaide Irish Club
    The Gov
    The Brit
    Inc Cafe
    Marion Cultural Centre
    The Norwood Hotel
    Littlewood Agapanthus Farm

    With many thanks to Philip van Pamelen for some great photos!

  • Clock for No Time: asking what endures when we are gone, and revealing my inner actor

    I was privileged to have had the opportunity to be cast in the amazing play ‘Clock for No Time’, written and directed by all-round-talent Michèle Saint-Yves.

    The play asks the question ‘What endures when we are gone?’ It juxtaposes the brain neuropathologies of Simone (who has an acquired brain injury) and her father Ian (who has advanced Alzheimer’s disease), and how facing the realities of their conditions in the context of a father-daughter relationship may help Simone find the answer.

    The play’s season ran from 19–31 October 2021 at the Rumpus Theatre in Bowden, Adelaide. I was a last-minute recruit: the Sydney-based actor Gina Zoia who was originally to perform was unable to make it because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.


    Cast of Clock for No Time (l-r): Paul Reichstein (Ian), Jennifer Liston (performer, MRI technician, Margaret), Jo Stone (Simone), Michèle St Yves (writer, director)

    I was cast as a performer, the MRI technician, and as Margaret (Ian’s wife/Simone’s mother). I had to learn six poems, four songs (although I ended up singing only two), a monologue, and some tracts of dialogue within a few weeks.

    Working alongside two stellar actors, from whom I learned so much, gave me such a buzz. Jo Stone (who played Simone), Paul Reichstein (who played Ian) and I shared many moments of laughter, tears, exhaustion, awe, and pure wonder. And we shared many gigglesome times with Michèle Saint-Yves too.

    We certainly needed humour to manage our way through the serious intensity and emotional demands of the play (although it does have some wonderful comedic moments).

    The play embedded access in performance and audience-inhabited spaces and was neurodivergent- and dementia-friendly. It had financial and in-kind support from many sources including Arts South Australia, the Richard Llewellyn Deaf and Disabled Artist Fund, the Department of Premier and Cabinet, SA COVID Arts recovery fund, and the State Theatre Company of South Australia.

    We had two solid weeks to rehearse, a third week called ‘tech week’ which meant we didn’t always get many ‘run-throughs’, then the season itself – a run of 13 shows over two weeks.

    The level of preparation and input on the tech side was amazing to witness, so capably envisioned and handled by Mark Oakley (AV/Digital & Technical Design). Production coordinator and stage manager extraordinaire Abbie Heuer kept us all safe, organised, on time and on our toes.

    The reviews were thoughtful, considered, and very complimentary. I was so happy for Michèle because this play is courageous, brave and confronting.

    Many thanks, Michèle, for that amazing, unforgettable opportunity.

    All photos courtesy Saige Prime.

  • Bringing Gráinne the Pirate Queen to Penola, regional South Australia

    Plans to tour my solo show of poems and songs about Gráinne Mhaol after the sold-out Adelaide Fringe 2020 season were somewhat foiled by the advent of COVID-19. Who knew a global pandemic was imminent?! So when we had the opportunity to bring the show to the beautiful town of Penola in July 2021, we were a bit apprehensive because of course we had to be ready to cancel at a moment’s notice. Penola is almost 400 kms south-east of Adelaide, in a winery region called the Coonawarra.

    Anne and Leigh Miller, our wonderful hosts and people ‘on the ground’ there, did all the legwork, all the promotion, organised the venue, and invited us to stay in their lovely self-contained studio/flat. We packed our car to the roof with lights, mixing desk, and all the associated light and sound gear, and took to the road. It was a good exercise for us to prove to ourselves that we could be completely self-contained and not need anything to set the venue up the way we wanted. We even brought our own ladder! It was looking like a reasonably late arrival (by Adelaide standards, not by ours!) at our generous hosts’ home, so we were delighted that we arrived slap bang in the middle of one of their regular music sessions – a great start to the weekend.

    Robert and I spent all of Saturday setting up the lighting and sound in the RSL hall. We decked it with candles to make it cosy and inviting – it really was the perfect setting to regale everyone with songs and poems about this amazing woman’s exploits. About 30 souls braved the chilly weather to see the show on Saturday evening. With full bellies from delicious suppers plus ample supplies of wine and beer, the audience was wonderfully receptive and warm and offered very kind feedback about the show.

    Thank you to my talented right-hand man, Robert Rath, who seamlessly integrated lighting and sound in his wonderfully exacting way. Thank you particularly to David Milton for recording the show, which will be useful for me to review and improve or change aspects of it for future showings. We were extremely grateful to those who helped us move things around in the hall to prepare for the show, and who helped return it to its former state afterwards.

    On Sunday we visited a few of the gorgeous local wineries. Some wines from Zema and Majella may have travelled back with us to Adelaide!

    As I’ve said before, it is a privilege to have the opportunity to bring Gráinne to life through my original poems and songs, and to be able to share them with such a diverse and willing group of people. I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve had along the way.

    Again, tremendous gratitude, particularly to Penola residents Anne and Leigh Miller, and to all those who came to the show that evening.

  • Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    Thank you, all of you, who came to one of my five Adelaide Fringe solo shows, ‘Grace Notes: Grace O’Malley, Irish rebel, pirate queen’, at the Gilbert Street Hotel. My sold-out season has now finished. I am particularly grateful to those who came from quite a distance specially to see the show: Sydney, Hobart, and Kadina, among others.

    I have had fabulous feedback from the audience (on the feedback forms) – thank you so much! And thank you to the reviewers who came (from the Advertiser, Tulpa magazine, and the AU Review) and who wrote really great reviews (you can read the complete reviews in earlier posts here). Thank you also Emily Sutherland for interviewing me on your program ‘Kaleidoscope’ on 5MBS.

    To those who didn’t manage to get tickets before they sold out, I’m really sorry. There’s a good chance we’ll put on a couple of more shows in regional South Australia, and who knows, maybe even further afield!

    Thank you Robert Rath, my main man, my technologist, production manager, lighting and sound director, and general creative critic. You helped shape the show and brought it to another level with your eye for detail and your ‘no compromise’ attitude. Thank you, Geoff Perkins, for giving us your precious time and valuable advice when we weren’t sure what we were doing. And thank you, Brian Gilbertson. It was your idea, and you helped me believe I could.

    Many thanks too, to Madeleine Seys for your invaluable wardrobe advice and to Michelle Wheare for hair care; to Cathryn Charnock; to Alexandra Roberts, for bump-in, bump-out, and front-of-house duties; and to Sam and Steph at the Gilbert Street Hotel for being so lovely and helpful.

    I’ve had an absolute blast. It’s been a privilege to have the opportunity to bring Gráinne to life through my original poems and songs, and to share them in the Adelaide Fringe.

    Thank you all again for your support; I’m ever so grateful.