Poetry of Rita Ann Higgins on Cúirt literary trail in Galway

Booker prize winning author among participants in week-long event

Tributes were paid to the work of Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins in her native city yesterday when a bronze casting of one of her poems was unveiled as part of this year's Cúirt international literary festival.

The opening lines to Men with Tired Hair , which Higgins wrote more than 25 years ago are:

On a bank holiday Monday in Galway, you can see old men, sitting on window sills in Prospect Hill

The poem, from her Witch in the Bushes collection published by Salmon Poetry, has been placed on a plaque outside Richardson's Bar on Bohermore -named after the Bóthar Mór out of the city.

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It is the latest in a series of literary plaques initiated by bookseller Tom Kenny and Galway City Council with Cúirt, and was unveiled by Prof Adrian Frazier.

Higgins, a member of Aosdána, is author of 10 collections of poetry, several plays and has won several awards.

Booker prize winner Eleanor Catton and authors Sebastian Barry, Adam Foulds and Eimear McBride are also participating in the festival.

Lorna Siggins

Lorna Siggins

Lorna Siggins is the former western and marine correspondent of The Irish Times