A 29-year-old west Belfast woman has been named Translink’s poet-in-residence at the flagship £340m Grand Central Station.
Niamh McNally previously completed a similar stint at the £17m York Street transport hub.
“Poetry is exciting, it’s current, it’s around us all the time,” she said.
“I’ll write a piece of public poetry to be displayed in the station during the residency but I’m also taking creative writing workshops in Grand Central, based on journeys and connections.
“I’m also writing a blog on different journeys that I take around Northern Ireland.”
Poet Niamh McNally
Being a poet-in-residence is not a nine-to-five job, nor is it salaried. That’s why Niamh is also working on other projects, including coordinating a festival.
Niamh is particularly excited about the prospect of taking cross-community poetry workshops for around 300 children, ranging from Primary 7 to A-level, from schools in the local area.
Part of her remit is to extol the virtues of public transport, as well to inspire children and young people to write poetry.
Niamh said she appreciates Translink’s decision to fund the arts.
“It’s a unique thing for a corporation to put money into the arts, but it makes them more personal,” she added.
As York Street’s poet-in-residence, Niamh spearheaded Translink’s Poetry in Motion campaign, a collaboration between the public transport provider and Ulster University.
Read more
The initiative included a poetry competition, encouraging members of the public to have a go at creative writing.
But, thanks to Niamh’s suggestion, Translink also encouraged poets to travel around Northern Ireland, creating poems based on their journeys.
Those poems form the basis of a new anthology called Poetry in Motion, which was launched this week in Grand Central and available, free, for everyone to enjoy.
“It’s a compilation of poems from our poets in motion, and the general public, we had over 100 entries,” Niamh explained.
“Translink collaborated with Ulster University and Dr Frank Ferguson, Research Director for English Language and Literature spearheaded the project for the university.
“Renowned Strabane poet Maureen Boyle has also written two bespoke poems for the publication, making it an exciting mixture of new and established voices.”