Muldoon’s Picnic tours Ireland next week: special guests Glen Hansard, Roddy Doyle, Liz Nugent and more to join

Following a successful Irish tour in 2017, 2019 and again in 2022, as well as ten sold-out seasons at the Irish Arts Centre in New York City, Muldoon’s Picnic returns next week for four dates across Galway, Armagh, Wexford and Dublin.

A variety of poetry, prose and music, Muldoon’s Picnic is a cabaret-style evening, by turns witty, exuberant and sophisticated. Each date will be hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, known for such works as The Annals of Chile (1995) and 2002’s Moy Sand and Gravel.

Each show on the tour has a bespoke mix of artists across all creative disciplines, namely literature and music. Guests such as Glen Hansard, Roddy Doyle, Liz Nugent, Anne Enright, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Donal Ryan, Anna Burns, Hugh Buckley, Sile Denvir and many more will join Muldoon for four different evenings of creative and collaborative energy.

Under Muldoon’s creative oversight, hosting duties will be accompanied by house band Rogue Oliphant — a collective of musicians and composers including Chris Harford (Three Colors, Band of Changes), Cáit O’Riordan (The Pogues), David Mansfield (Bob Dylan, The Alpha Band), Ray Kubian (Electric Six, Chris Forsyth) and Warren Zanes (Del Fuegos).

The title 'Muldoon's Picnic' refers to a popular 19th century New York vaudeville set and likewise promises a mixture of specialty, burlesque acts and cabaret entertainment.

Muldoon describes his Picnic as a direct response to that ancient impulse for performance and storytelling: “It’s one of our most basic instincts; to listen to a song, listen to a poem. Even in this era when people have their noses stuck in their tablets, it still works.”

The tour kicks off on Monday 13 May in Galway’s Town Hall Theatre. Paul and house band Rogue Oliphant will be joined by Booker Prize-winning novelist Anna Burns, award-winning Belfast poet Padraig Regan and Oscar-winning musician Glen Hansard. For Galway tickets, please see here.

On Wednesday 15 May, the Market Place Theatre in Armagh will host poet and recent T.S. Eliot Prize nominee Jane Clarke, composer and musician Colm Mac Con Iomaire and internationally-acclaimed author and Booker Prize winner Anne Enright. For Armagh tickets, please see here.

At the Wexford Arts Centre on Thursday 16 May, lauded author Donal Ryan, singer and harpist Síle Denvir and poet Nithy Kasa will join Muldoon for a night of exhilarating conversation and performance. For Wexford tickets, please see here.

The Muldoon's Picnic tour comes to a close in Dublin on Friday 17 May. At Dun Laoghaire's Pavilion Theatre, Muldoon will be joined by Booker Prize-winning novelist, dramatist and screenwriter Roddy Doyle, guitarist, composer and author Hugh Buckley, Irish language poet Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh and crime novelist Liz Nugent. While the tickets are sold-out, you can join the waiting list here.

For more information, please see Poetry Ireland's website.