Markievicz Award 2021

top of page

Broadcasts

Broadcasts

Broadcasts

Cover, Legion, Eleanor Hooker.jpg

"There are chapbooks, and there are chapbooks. And then there is Legion by Eleanor Hooker.

Letterset by hand, crafted in the old style, these 8 poems sing of honeybees and intone the "trembling water of the lake". Eleanor's work is evocative as always, teeming with the profusion of nature and its gifts and the people who interact with these, in good ways and bad. Echoes of Yeats's "bee-loud glade" come to mind, not just because of the theme but for the texture of the language too.

But Eleanor's words focus on the feminine, weaving images like spells cast over the page, words to harness the energy of the natural world that most of us don't understand but that lead the poet "to wheedle with words".

The honeybee with all its associations - productivity, sweet honey, its sting, the drone reproducing only to die - is a charming metaphor for the many dichotomies of life as well as the greed that abounds in society, where the bee-elect is "trapped in the syrup of its own success".

A beautiful artefact made by Hans van Eijk of Bonnefant Press, Maastricht, Holland, with frontispiece by Jeanie Tomanek."

Anamaría Crowe Serrano - poet and author

"There are chapbooks, and there are chapbooks. And then there is Legion by Eleanor Hooker.

Letterset by hand, crafted in the old style, these 8 poems sing of honeybees and intone the "trembling water of the lake". Eleanor's work is evocative as always, teeming with the profusion of nature and its gifts and the people who interact with these, in good ways and bad. Echoes of Yeats's "bee-loud glade" come to mind, not just because of the theme but for the texture of the language too.

But Eleanor's words focus on the feminine, weaving images like spells cast over the page, words to harness the energy of the natural world that most of us don't understand but that lead the poet "to wheedle with words".

The honeybee with all its associations - productivity, sweet honey, its sting, the drone reproducing only to die - is a charming metaphor for the many dichotomies of life as well as the greed that abounds in society, where the bee-elect is "trapped in the syrup of its own success".

A beautiful artefact made by Hans van Eijk of Bonnefant Press, Maastricht, Holland, with frontispiece by Jeanie Tomanek."

Anamaría Crowe Serrano - poet and author

Music Art

Music Art

Search

Eleanor Hooker
- Apr 12, 2021
- 1 min read

It's a massive honour to be a recipient of the Markievicz Award this year, and to be afforded time to write new poems of reclamation and celebration for five women. Thanks so much to the Arts Council of Ireland and to Catherine Martin TD, The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

I'm grateful to Linda Connolly whose research has lead my way for my project, and to Martina Evans and Thomas McCarthy for their incredible support. I'm so excited to be working with artist Stephen Rhatigan, and with Tor, Frank and Camilla at Ponc Press. #MarkieviczAward #poetry Read More Watch Here

Recent Posts

Where Life Sounds Greener - RTÉ LyricFM

An absolute joy to record to meet Ellen Cranitch again and record this short piece on the birds on Lough Derg for RTÉ LyricFM. The music I chose to accompany my piece was 'Song of the Birds' by Pablo

Poetry Reading - Irish Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis

Greatly enjoyed reading for the University of Missouri-St. Louis and chatting to poet Eamonn Wall, Professor of Irish Studies at the University on 7 February . The reading was sponsored by the Smurfit

'Erosions' (Salmon Poetry) by John A Griffin

My brother John has just published Erosions, his first full collection, with Salmon Poetry. It's a beautiful cllection. Read More John wrote an essay for the Irish Times (with thanks to Martin Dolye,

bottom of page