Lost Kerry poet found

Christabel, the pen name used by Mary Downing, is a name full of sound but to truly know Ms Downing, you need to hear the rhythmic qualities of her language and metre. You can do just that at Kerry County Library on Thursday 19th Feb at 6:30pm, when KWWN presents a talk on the Kerry poet on the 200th anniversary of her birth in 1815.

The talk will be given by Dermot Twomey, and it will cover the poet's background, her father, Daniel McCarthy, the anti-tithe campaigner; her brother -in-law McCarthy Downing, the MP for Cork, her husband, Washington Downing, the parliamentary reporter for Charles Dickens' newspaper and her daughter Helena Paulina Shearer, the famous suffragist.

KWWN member Claire O'Mahony will recite Christabel's poetry.