Jennifer Liston - Salmon Poetry

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

nospam@example.com (Jennifer Liston) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 11:54:00 +0000

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' is launched in Books Upstairs, Dublin

nospam@example.com (Jennifer Liston) — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 22:26:00 +0000

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 at Mallow Arts Festival: that's a wrap!

nospam@example.com (Jennifer Liston) — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 16:04:00 +0000

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 launched by Jill Jones in the southern hemisphere - where it was born!

nospam@example.com (Jennifer Liston) — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:38:00 +0000

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.

You can now buy my poetry collection 'Grace Notes' from Salmon Poetry!

nospam@example.com (Jennifer Liston) — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 22:45:00 +0000

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!