Jane Clarke and Caitríona Palmer Headline HoCoPoLitSo’s 49th Annual Irish Evening
Saturday, February 6, 2027
Doors open 7 p.m., stage show commences at 7:30 p.m.
Smith Theatre, Horowitz Center, Howard Community College
HoCoPoLitSo’s 49th annual Evening of Irish Music and Poetry on Saturday, February 6th, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. features Jane Clarke, award-winning poet and author of four collections, including Coracle (October 2026), reading from her work followed by a conversation moderated by journalist and writer Caitríona Palmer, a former correspondent for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, and others.
This year’s program also features musical performances from the Baltimore Irish Music School presenting Billy McComiskey, Laura Byrne, Jim Eagan, Matt Mulqueen, and Catherine O’Kelly; Will Hill of Unranked; and, we are proud to announce, the return of dancers from the Teelin Irish Dance Company. A representative of the Irish Embassy to the United States has been invited to continue the long-standing tradition of providing opening remarks.
The evening program commences at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 6th, 2027 in the Smith Theatre of the Horowitz Visual & Performing Arts Center on the campus of Howard Community College; guests may be seated starting at 7 p.m. Responsible patrons aged 21 and up are invited to partake at our cash-only bar, at intermission and prior to the stage show while enjoying live music by Unranked in the theater lobby. Non-alcoholic drinks and light fare will be provided free to ticketed attendees. A book signing follows the reading and discussion, and books by the featured authors will be available for purchase. After intermission, the featured performers of Baltimore Irish Music School will join with Teelin dancers for a concert of traditional Irish music.
Ticket sales will open soon, via links here on hocopolitso.org or through the Horowitz Center Box Office. A discounted early-bird rate of $40 will be offered for tickets purchased prior to January 1, 2027. A reduced rate is further offered for educators and students.
Check back soon for ticket sales, available here!
All proceeds from the event support the live and recorded literary programs offered by HoCoPoLitSo for student and general audiences, including production of The Writing Life, a writer-to-writer talk show now seen worldwide by more than one million viewers on youtube.com/hocopolitso.
Jane Clarke is the author of four poetry collections published by Bloodaxe Books, The River (2015) When the Tree Falls (2019) A Change in the Air (2023) and Coracle (2026). Jane’s fourth collection Coracle, published in October 2026, includes ten poems from Coracle, a limited edition pamphlet responding to biodiversity loss which was commissioned and published by MoLI, Museum of Literature Ireland, in 2023. Jane edited the illustrated anthology, Windfall: Irish Nature Poems to Inspire and Connect (Hachette Books Ireland, 2023). She co-authored with Catherine Cleary The Hare’s Corner: Making Space for Nature, New Island Books 2025.
In 2016 Jane won the Hennessy Literary Award for Emerging Poetry and the inaugural Listowel Writer’s Week Poem of the Year Award; the Ireland Chair of Poetry Travel Award 2022; and the Arts Council of Ireland Literature Bursary in 2017, 2021, and 2024. Jane’s work has been shortlisted for prizes including the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize; Pigott Poetry Prize; Irish Times Poetry Now Award; T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize, and more. A Change in the Air includes a sequence of poems written for The Miner’s Way, a feature for BBC Radio 4 broadcast in May 2020.
Jane was born in 1961 and grew up on a farm in Co. Roscommon. Since 1996 she has lived with her wife in Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow. She holds an Honours Degree in English and Philosophy from Trinity College, Dublin, an MPhil in Writing from the University of South Wales, a diploma in Action Research from the University of Bath and a diploma in Group Analytic Psychotherapy from the Institute of Group Analysis, UK. She has worked in community development, organizational development and psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Caitríona Palmer is an Irish writer living in Washington, D.C. An Affair with My Mother (Penguin Ireland, 2016), Caitríona’s bestselling memoir, explores the legacy of secrecy and shame in Ireland towards unmarried mothers and examines her quest to find the birth mother who gave her up for adoption in Ireland in 1972. In 2018, Caitríona jointly published Climate Justice (Bloomsbury), the result of a two-year collaboration with former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson which was nominated for Best Non-Fiction Book at the 2019 Irish Book Awards.
In her journalistic career, Caitríona has brought a lifelong focus on justice, human rights, and those living on the margins to reporting on stories and engagements including post-war Bosnia and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague; as embedded correspondent for the Irish Times during the 2004 Iraq War, writing about life in the Islamic Republic; and advocacy for survivors of Ireland’s forced adoption system and mother/baby homes, where her work has appeared in the Irish Independent, BBC, RTE Radio, and CNN, among others.
Caitríona is a graduate of University College Dublin and Boston College, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. She was the recipient of the 2017 Ireland Funds Monaco Writer-in-Residence fellowship and 2021 UCD Alumni Award for Social Sciences for her human rights and climate justice work. Caitríona grew up in Ireland but has lived in Boston, Sarajevo, Tuzla, The Hague, London, and Tehran; she now calls Washington, D.C. her home, where she is mother to three wonderful children: Liam (21), Caoimhe (19), and Neasa (14).
The Baltimore Irish Music School Ensemble brings together five of the region’s finest Irish traditional musicians for a spirited performance of lively dance tunes, beautiful airs, and heritage song. Accomplished performers, recording artists, and dedicated educators, they share a deep love of Ireland’s musical heritage and Baltimore’s vibrant Irish music tradition.
- Billy McComiskey (button accordion) is a legendary figure in Irish traditional music, known for his work with The Irish Tradition, Trian, Pride of New York, and Green Fields of America, and a recipient of the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship.
- Laura Byrne (flute and whistle) is an internationally-recognized performer, recording artist, and founder and Artistic Director of the Baltimore Irish Trad Fest, known for her work with the great NY Sligo style fiddler Rose Flanagan.
- Jim Eagan (fiddle) is a longtime mainstay of Baltimore’s Irish music scene, having performed and toured with the John Whelan Band, O’Malley’s March, and the Old Bay Ceili Band.
- Matt Mulqueen (piano) is a founding member of the Old Bay Ceili Band and a sought-after accompanist who has performed with renowned musicians including Frankie Gavin and John Whelan.
- Catherine O’Kelly (vocals and fiddle) is an accomplished traditional singer and musician known for her expressive interpretations of Irish traditional song.
Together, they bring decades of performance experience, infectious energy, and a shared passion for passing this living musical tradition on to future generations through their work at the Baltimore Irish Music School.
Teelin Irish Dance Company is known for performances that accentuate the energy of Irish dance with cutting edge choreography. From the graceful beauty of jigs and reels, to the thundering beat of percussive dance, a performance by this company leaves audience members at the edge of their seats, wishing for more!
Based in Columbia, Maryland, the Teelin Irish Dance Company has graced stages locally, nationally, and internationally since 2001. Some of these stages include The Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera House, Meyerhoff, Weinberg, Carrol County Arts Center, Turning Stone Resort and Casino in New York, and Jacobs Pillow. They have also performed alongside many other artists including The Young Irelanders, Cherish the Ladies, Gaelic Storm, and Eileen Ivers. In addition to numerous performances at public, private and corporate events, Teelin Irish Dance Company is also well known for its original productions of feature-length stage shows: Portraits of Ireland (2006–2011), StepDance (2012–2013), Sláinte (2014), Celtic Storm (2016–2019), and Celtic Journey (2020–present).
Unranked is a four-piece American roots rock band made up of musical ruffians blending layered guitars, mandolin and violin aiming to please the human soul. Unranked blends a mix of Irish and Americana sound with beautiful harmonies creating a unique brand of music. Core members include Aaron Lubliner-Walters (mandolin/vocals), Skyle Malcom (violin/vocals), Neal Barthleme (electric guitar/vocals), and Will Hill (accoustic guitar/vocals).
Denny Lynch‘s photography has been featured for more than 30 years in numerous exhibitions throughout the U.S., Ireland, and other parts of Europe, including at the Irish Arts Center and American Irish Historical Society in New York, the Irish Embassy in Washington D.C., and the American Library in Paris. His photographs are displayed in the permanent collections of the Museum of the City of New York and the New York Historical Society. A former history teacher named in 2000 as Teacher of the Year by the Baltimore City Council of PTAs, he holds dual Irish and American citizenship and contributed photos to Monuments To Heaven: Baltimore’s Historic Houses of Worship (Authorhouse 2010).
HoCoPoLitSo is honored to again continue our tradition of highlighting a selection of Denny’s recent work at a gallery outside the Smith Theatre during Irish Evening, available for viewing during the pre-show and at intermission.
Irish Evening Sponsors
HoCoPoLitSo is honored this year to receive a first-time grant award supporting the program through the Emigrant Support Programme grant provided by the Irish Abroad Unit of Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Embassy of Ireland.
HoCoPoLitSo’s Irish Evening is made possible in part through the generosity of our individual and corporate sponsors. Without your contributions we could not continue this historic legacy, and on behalf of our current and past staff and Board members— thank you. To speak to a member of our team about making a pledge to support Irish Evening, please contact us at (443) 518-4568 or info@hocopolitso.org. Tax-deductible donations in any amount are accepted year-round, by mailed check to HoCoPoLitSo, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia MD 21044 or via PayPal.
About HoCoPoLitSo’s Annual Irish Evening
Howard County Poetry and Literature Society’s annual Evening of Irish Music and Poetry features Irish writers and poets, musicians and dancing. This program debuted in 1979 and is chaired by HoCoPoLitSo’s Irish Evening Co-Chairs Anne Reis and Edward Young.
Among the many poets, novelists and memoirists to be featured at past Irish Evenings are such distinguished writers as:
- Frank McCourt
- Seamus Heaney
- Emma Donoghue
- Paula Meehan
- Theo Dorgan
- Colm Tóibín
- Colum McCann
- Claire Keegan
- Anne Enright
- Maureen Dowd
- Seán Hewitt
- Caoilinn Hughes
Each year’s featured artist is invited to participate in HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life, a half-hour, writer-to-writer talk show produced with technical support from HCC’s Dragon Media, and provided free, worldwide via HoCoPoLitSo’s YouTube channel, where it has now been seen by more than one million viewers. Recordings of select past in-person events are also available.
HoCoPoLitSo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (FEIN 52-1146948) registered in the state of Maryland, donations to which are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. A copy of our current financial statement is available upon request. Documents and information submitted to the State of Maryland under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act are available from the Office of the Secretary of State for the cost of fees and postage.
HoCoPoLitSo is supported in part by funds gratefully received from the Maryland State and Howard County Arts Councils; Howard County Government; Community Foundation of Howard County; the Government of Ireland’s Emigrant Support Programme; Dr. Lillian Bauder; and from numerous other, generous individual and corporate contributors. Event proceeds support the live and recorded literary programs offered by HoCoPoLitSo for student and general audiences. The artistic contents and opinions expressed at HoCoPoLitSo events do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of HoCoPoLitSo’s grantors, donors, or individual Board or staff members.
The Bauder Lecture Series and Blackbird Poetry Festival are partnerships of HoCoPoLitSo and Howard Community College. The Howard County Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate Programs are a partnership of HoCoPoLitSo, Howard County Arts Council, and the Office of the Howard County Executive.
