Irish Arts Center Presents MULDOON'S PICNIC

Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet, New Yorker Poetry Editor and pop music lyricist Paul Muldoon returns for his sixth season of monthly words-and-music jamborees, joined by his house band Rogue Oliphant and a stunning lineup of world-class special guests from across the spectrum of music and literature. The series, which takes place at Irish Arts Center (553 West 51st Street, New York) on February 13, March 13 and April 10, will feature guest appearances by some of the biggest names is music and literature, including So Percussion, Lisa Dwan, The Knights, Bill Flanagan, Brenda Shaughnessy, Marie Howe and many more.

Tickets for the Muldoon's Picnic start at $35 and are available by visiting www.IrishArtsCenter.org or by calling 866-811-4111.

Muldoon won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 2002 collection Moy Sand and Gravel (2002), which also earned him the Griffin International Prize for Excellence in Poetry. His other notable books of poetry include New Weather (1973); Mules (1977); Why Brownlee Left (1980); Quoof (1983); Meeting the British (1987); Madoc: A Mystery (1990); The Annals of Chile (1994), which won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry; Hay (1998); Horse Latitudes (2006), shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize; Maggot (2010); and One Thousand Things Worth Knowing (2014). He has won numerous other awards, including the 1997 Irish Times Poetry Prize, the 2004 American Ireland Fund Literary Award, the 2004 Shakespeare Prize, and the 2006 European Prize for Poetry. He has been described by The Times Literary Supplement as "the most significant English-language poet born since the Second World War," and The New York Observer says he is "one of the great readers alive today. His voice alters with every change in tone and he'll often pace around a room, his whole body responding to his intricate rhythms."

Featured special guests include:

Monday, February 13 | 7:30 PM

• Lisa Dwan, stage and screen actor
• Bill Flanagan, author and television executive
• Damsel, Queens-based indie neofolk duo
• So Percussion, NYC-based percussion-based music collective

Monday, March 13 | 7:30 PM

• Marie Howe, poet named State Poet for New York in 2012
• Peter Quinn, novelist, political historian and winner of the American Book Award
• Colm Mac Con Iomaire, musician and band member of The Frames

Monday, April 10 | 7:30 PM

• Jean Korelitz, novelist, playwright, theater producer and essayist
• Brenda Shaughnessy, poet
• The Knights, acclaimed orchestral collective led by brothers Colin and Eric Jacobsen

About Irish Arts Center

Founded in 1972, Irish Arts Center is a New York-based arts and cultural center dedicated to projecting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America for the 21st century, building community with artists and audiences of all backgrounds, forging and strengthening cross-cultural partnerships, and preserving the evolving stories and traditions of Irish culture for generations to come. Our multi-disciplinary programming is centered around three core areas: Performance - including live music, dance, theatre, film, literature, and the humanities; Exhibition - including visual arts presentations and cultural exhibitions that tell the evolving Irish story; and Education - with dozens of classes per week in Irish language, history, music, and dance.

Located in New York City, a global capital of arts and culture, Irish Arts Center serves as a dynamic platform for top emerging and established artists. Irish Arts Center is currently developing plans to construct a new facility to serve our multi-disciplinary program and will be the strongest possible gateway for artists to reach into our cultural community and nourish their work, to connect with our partner institutions who help them innovate, and to become visible in the New York City media market which enhances their ability to achieve U.S and further international success.

The New Irish Arts Center will contain a purpose-built, state-of-the-art contemporary performance space for music, dance and theatre seating up to 160; industry-standard back of house and support facilities to allow artists to achieve their vision; a second, intimate performance space - the renovated historic Irish Arts Center theatre - optimized for live music, literature, film, talks, large classes and special events; classrooms and studio space for community education programs in Irish music, dance, language, history, and the humanities, and for master classes and workshops by visiting and resident artists; technology capability to project the Irish Arts Center experience on the digital platform; an avenue-facing café lobby to engage with the neighborhood and provide a social setting for conversation and interaction between artists and audiences; a beautiful new courtyard entrance on 51st Street where the historic Irish Arts Center building and the new facility meet.

For more information on the New Irish Arts Center, or to support our campaign, Almost Home, please contact Nick Rolf at nick.rolf@irishartscenter.org.