On Thursday, June 15, 2017, at Dublin’s iconic Abbey Theatre, Poetry Ireland and celebrated Irish poet Paul Muldoon announced details of the forthcoming and eagerly anticipated Muldoon’s Picnic Tour. The hugely popular show is set for a whirlwind run of performances around Ireland beginning in August 2017, a rare treat for lovers of music and literature.

Muldoon is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet, professor, editor and critic. Often compared to Joyce, Muldoon is known for his playful, often cryptic wordplay and prolific creative output (there are 12 major volumes of his poetry, along with many other publications). His poems have been translated into twenty languages worldwide, and The Times Literary Supplement has described the author as "the most significant English-language poet born since the second World War".

Muldoon hails from Portadown, County Armagh but now resides in New York, where his hugely popular show Muldoon’s Picnic makes its home at the Irish Arts Centre. Described by Muldoon himself as ‘an omnium-gatherum’ of words and music, it’s a performance the likes of which no two are ever the same.

The show features Muldoon and house band Rogue Oliphant, with Cait O’Riordan of The Pogues on bass guitar, as they welcome a revolving door of distinguished guests in an evening of words and music that has attracted critical praise from the likes of Time Out, who awarded the show its Critic’s Pick distinction and dubbed it a ‘music-and- literature extravaganza’.

On this rare tour outside the Irish Arts Centre, Muldoon’s Picnic will travel to Navan, Galway, Cork, Carrick-on-Shannon, Belfast and Dublin, and featured guests will include award-winning writer Kevin Barry, poet Eavan Boland, singer-songwriter Paul Brady, actor Lisa Dwan, Booker Prize winner and Laureate for Irish Fiction Anne Enright, master fiddler Martin Hayes, and cutting-edge songwriter Duke Special, to name just a few.

This unmissable event is produced by Poetry Ireland and supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Arts Council of Northern Ireland Touring Grant, and Culture Ireland.

More info on the full Creative Ireland lineup can be found here