Born in Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, where he has worked as a community development worker, poet, librarian and publisher, Keith Armstrong, now residing in the seaside town of Whitley Bay makes a return visit to Limerick to read at the White House Poetry Revival.
Keith is coordinator of the Northern Voices creative writing and community publishing project which specialises in recording the experiences of people in the North East of England.
He has organised several community arts festivals in the region and many literary events featuring the
likes of Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Douglas Dunn, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Katrina Porteous, Ian McMillan, Edward Bond, Edwin Morgan, Uwe Kolbe, Attila the Stockbroker, Brendan Cleary, Adrian Mitchell, Jackie Kay, Linda France, Frank Messina, Benjamin Zephaniah, Liz Lochhead, The Poetry Virgins, and The Poetry Vandals.
His poetry has been extensively published in magazines such as New Statesman, Poetry Review, Dreamcatcher, Other Poetry, Aesthetica, , Iron, Sand, The Poetry Business, and Poetry Scotland, as well as in the collections The Jingling Geordie, Dreaming North (with Graeme Rigby), Microphone On, Pains of Class and Imagined Corners, He has been described as 'a noble dissident.' by poet Brendan Cleary and as 'a genial rogue.' by Councillor Ken Manton, Durham County Council.
The White House Poetry Revival has being going now for three years. Every Wednesday the famous old world bar is transformed into a centre of culture as poets recite their latest work. Barney Sheehan, the man behind the revival of poetry at the White House, continues to attract the best of Irish and International poetry to Limerick. He sees the involvement of Foras na Gaeilge as a recognition of the work they have put in to making the White House one of the pre eminent venues for poetry in Ireland.
As usual the reading is preceded by an open mic session in which anyone who wishes to read is invited to do so. Complementary finger food is provided and proceeding commence at 9.00 pm.
For further information contact Barney Sheehan at 086 8657494 or Dominic Taylor at 087 2996409.
Email whitehousepoets@eircom.net Website www.limerick.com/whitehousepoets
Blog http://druidpaddy.blogmatrix.com/ Podcast: http://druidpaddy.blogmatrix.com/
Make a donation to the WhiteHousePoets. Details:
http://whitehousepoets.blogspot.com/2006/05/make-donation-to-white-house-poets.html
How To get There
The White House pub is located in the centre of Limerick City at 52 O'Connell Street. Its exact location is on the corner of Glentworth Street and O'Connell Street, opposite the Ulster Bank and the Bank of Ireland. It is approximately 5 minutes walk from the train and bus station - exit the station and go down Davis Street, pass Taits Clock continue on down Glentworth Street and the White House is on the right hand corner at end of street.
Map http://www.limerick.com/streets/map.html
Visit the WhiteHousePoets and friends here:
http://www.limerick.com/whitehousepoets/thepoets.html
Buy the White House Anthology http://www.limerick.com/anthology.html
