click here for sample poems

‘Clare Kirwan's poetry is distinctive, sometimes ballsy & challenging, sometimes deeply profound, sometimes gut-bustingly funny but always completely accessible. She performs with an energy & passion that can transform an event … funny, abrasive, quirky, profound, a fine poet and definitely not to be missed.’    Paul Blackburn, Write Out Loud

An active member of Liverpool's Dead Good Poets Society and popular performer of quirky poems which provoke thought and laughter... often at the same time! 

Clare came 2nd in the Feile Filiochta International Poetry Competition 2007 and is officially Liverpool's 2nd Most Glamorous Poet after a photo finish in Liverpool's first ever Glam Slam at the Bluecoat, August 2008. She recently returned from her first 'Dead Good Down Under' in Australia and New Zealand.

In 2005 she won the Liverpool Slam, was a finalist in the North West Slam Championship and the Monsters of Poetry Inter-city slam in Belfast. Since then she has come in the top four in every Liverpool Slam. 

She has performed widely (from Birkenhead to Bolton, London to Las Vegas), including Radio 4's 'Ear Candy' project and BBC Big Screen's 'Nothing Rhymes with Poets.' Since 2005 she has been commissioned by The Mediation Centre in Stafford to produce poems for their annual Mediation and Arts weekend.

‘Clare's massive body of work is funny, profound, thought provoking and moving. She is a very skilled and experienced compere as well as being able to put together a set which will receive rapt attention from audiences of many different types.’   Malcolm Saunders, Wirral Words

Her poems have been published in MsLexia, Orbis, Iota, The Ugly Tree, Strong Verse, The Interpreter's House, Aberrant Dreams, Citizen 32, In the Red, etc and in various anthologies.

 ‘A true original; witty and inventive in language, ideas, imagery.’   Carole Baldock, editor, Orbis

‘Brilliant, witty, wish-I'd-said-that poetry... just a continuing delight.’  Roger Cliffe-Thompson B.T. Liverpool Arena Poet

‘Clare’s poetry glides effortlessly through the witty and profound. Her audiences love her  flirting and marrying of language. A great live poet.’  Chloe Poems, poetry diva

Her fiction has won Dark Tales Competition and been published in Nerve, Electric Spec, Espresso Fiction, Electricspec, Vestal Review and Bloody Books' anthology Read by Dawn II.

Her comedy material has been used on BBC radio's Parsons and Naylor and she performed her stand-up comedy debut in 2007 at Liverpool's Royal Court theatre.

• Available for bookings at any kind of event

• material can be tailored for event or audience. 

• Experienced compere 

• Keen to collaborate with other poets and artists

contact

Some previous performances:

Poetry prizes won

Ragged Raven 09 - Runner-up

Big Issue in the North Poetry Competition 2009 - WINNER

Liverpool Glam Slam 2008 - 2^nd place

Feile Filiochta International Poetry Competition 2007- 2^nd  Place

Southport Writers Circle Poetry Competition 2007 - 2^nd Place

Liverpool Slam 2007 - 2^nd Place

Flicklit 2005 - WINNER

Liverpool Slam 2005 - WINNER

Spotlight Annual Slam 2004, Lancaster – 2^nd Prize (and I would have got away with it but for those pesky kids.)

Off the Wall (Exeter Festival of Comedy) Comic Verse Competition 2003 – 3^rd Prize

Wirral Ode Show Poet of the Year 2003 – WINNER

Ragged Raven Poetry Competition 2003 – Runner up

2009

• Poetry at the Dan O'Connell, Melbourne

• Live Poets at Don Bank, Sydney

• Poetry Live, Auckland

• New Zealand Poetry Society Guest Night, Welington

• Thames Poets, Coromandel

2008

• Bristol Poetry Festival, The Arnolfini

• Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool

• Radio Merseyside & 7Waves radio

• Oxton Secret Gardens - strolling poet

• Wirral Words at The Scouse House

• Wirral BookFest 

• Mersey Care NHS Trust Poetry Experience Day 

• Liverpool Poetry Cafe (for Liverpool City of Culture)

• Riders at Bolton Socialist Club

• Funny Business Liverpool Comedy Trust, Royal Court 

• Seconds Out Slam - NW heat, BBC Radio 4 slam

• 2nd place Liverpool Slam (BBC Radio 4 slam)

• The Bards of New Brighton

• Zest at Alexander's Jazz Bar, Chester

• Write Out Loud, Bolton Octagon

• 'Originals' Hoylake

• Shortlisted for BBC Big Screen

• 'In The Red' launch, Liverpool

• Radio Merseyside 'Poet of the Week,' 

• Monsters of Poetry Inter-City Slam, Belfast

• JawJam ( DGPS with Common Ground sign dance group)

• The Cavern, Liverpool  

• North West Slam Championship Final (finalist)

• BBC Big Screen 'Nothing Rhymes with Poets' 

• WINNER Seconds Out! Slam, Liverpool

• Big Words in a Little Theatre, Formby 

• 'Second Light' network prize-giving, London 

• The Zanzibar, Liverpool 

• Spotlight, Yorkshire House, Lancaster 

• Write Out Loud, Octagon Theatre, Bolton 

• Babycham Funny Women, Slaughterhouse, Liverpool

• Tea Leaf and Coffee Bean, Las Vegas 

• BBC Radio 4's Ear Candy, The Bluecoat, Liverpool 

• Wirral Ode Show Poet of the Year (slam winner)

• Off the Wall, Exeter Festival of Comedy 2003 

• Sefton Park Palm House, Liverpool

• Oxford Poetry Weekend 2003