Kathleen Watkins has always loved poetry. From the days she had to learn it line by line at school to performing it at gatherings of family and friends, and as part of her stage show with her husband, the broadcaster Gay Byrne – it has been and still is a constant in her life.
This personal, curated collection of favourite poems from Kathleen is a small but perfectly formed anthology, covering the best of Irish poets including Brendan Kennelly, Padraic Colum, Seamus Heaney, Rita Ann Higgins, Carol Ann Duffy, Eavan Boland, Patrick Kavanagh, Mary Dorcey, WB Yeats, Francis Ledwidge and Paula Meehan.
Accessible and recognisable, the poems cover a range of emotions and experiences. Often concerning the family, relationships and life in the home, they are a celebration of the extraordinary moments that can be found in the everyday events of our daily lives, and are to be savoured, read aloud and enjoyed by all.
Kathleen Watkins was a well-known harpist and folk singer when she became the first continuity announcer to appear on screen on Telefís Éireann’s launch night in 1960. She was a member of the Arts Council for ten years and a board member of the National Gallery of Ireland. She married the broadcaster Gay Byrne. She is the author of the bestselling Pigín children’s picture books, with illustrator Margaret Anne Suggs.
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