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‘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 since 2003, Clare's popular and quirky poems provoke thought and laughter... often at the same time!  She has won or been placed in more than a dozen, local, national and international poetry competitions (see right).

With well over a hundred performances under her belt (from Birkenhead to Bolton, London to Las Vegas), in 2009 Clare undertook her first 'Dead Good Down Under' in Australia and New Zealand.

‘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

She took part in Radio 4's 'Ear Candy' project and BBC Big Screen's 'Nothing Rhymes with Poets' and has twice been commissioned by The Mediation Centre in Stafford to produce poems for their annual Mediation and Arts weekend.

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

Clare's writing is not limited to poetry. 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 any kind of event - material can be tailored for audience. 

• Experienced compere 

• Keen to collaborate with other poets and artists

contact

Some previous performances:

Poetry prizes won

Stafford Poetry Competition 2010 - Commended

Troubador International Poetry Prize 2009 - Runner Up

Ragged Raven Poetry Competition 2009 - Runner-up

Big Issue in the North Poetry Competition 2009 - WINNER

First Thursday Poetry Competition 2008 - 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 Place

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

Wirral Ode Show Poet of the Year 2003 – WINNER

Ragged Raven Poetry Competition 2003 – Runner up

• Much Wenlock Poetry Festival - strolling poet
• Oxton Secret Gardens - strolling poet

2009

• Poetry at the Dan O'Connell, Melbourne

• Live Poets at Don Bank, Sydney

• Poetry Live, Auckland

• New Zealand Poetry Society, Wellington

• Thames Poets, Coromandel

• Wirral Bookfest 2009
• Big Issue, Apotheca, Manchester

2008

• Bristol Poetry Festival, The Arnolfini

• Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool

• Radio Merseyside & 7Waves radio

• Oxton Secret Gardens - strolling poet

• Wirral BookFest 

• Mersey Care NHS Trust Poetry Experience Day 

• Liverpool Poetry Cafe (City of Culture)

• Riders at Bolton Socialist Club

• Funny Business Royal Court 

• Seconds Out Slam - NW heat, BBC Radio 4 

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

• Zest at Alexander's Jazz Bar, Chester

• Write Out Loud, Bolton Octagon

• 'Originals' Hoylake

• 'In The Red' launch, Liverpool

• Dead Good Poets Society, Everyman, Liverpool

• Radio Merseyside 'Poet of the Week,' 

• Monsters of Poetry Inter-City Slam, Belfast

• JawJam (with Common Ground sign dance)

• 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 

• Spotlight, Yorkshire House, Lancaster 

• Write Out Loud, Octagon Theatre, Bolton 

• Babycham Funny Women, Slaughterhouse

• Tea Leaf and Coffee Bean, Las Vegas 

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

• Off the Wall, Exeter Festival of Comedy 

• Sefton Park Palm House, Liverpool

• Oxford Poetry Weekend