An Evening with the Award Winning Poet, Damian Gorman.

The Irish Cultural Centre is delighted to present an evening with the Northern Irish Poet and Playwright DAMIAN GORMAN, who’s been described as "Ireland's best-kept secret". His work has garnered many awards over the past 25 years, from a Better Ireland Award to an MBE; a Golden Harp Award to a BAFTA. His verse documentary for BBC 2 - Devices of Detachment - was hailed in the national press as "a television masterpiece", and Considerations, his recent series of online poems, was described by the writer and founder of “Blood Axe Books’, Neil Astley, as "powerful, humane, moving - everything that video poetry should be".

His selected poems and memoir ‘AS IF I CARED’ was officially launched in The Seamus Heaney Homeplace at the end of October 2021 and has been enthusiastically welcomed by readers and critics alike. 

In 2019 and 2020 Damian was International Resident Artist at the Theatre Peacebuilding Academy, a project which uses theatre as a vessel to allow individuals, whose lives have been deeply affected by conflict and The Troubles, to share their stories. Damian is currently a Fellow of the Oxford Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights. 

Damian says that, "for me - just for me - writing on it’s own isn't enough". So, as well as his own writing, he has worked for many years as an encourager of writing in other people and communities, especially in areas of conflict. 

Damian rarely publishes his work, but he is noted for his wonderful readings, so this evening promises to be a very special evening. His readings have been described as powerful, inspirational, moving and profound, but also always full of warmth and craic. At this special event Damian will read poems and extracts from his memoir and plays.