The Stranorlar Workhouse

Panel Discussion with Niamh Brennan, Rev. Raymond Blair, Clare Curran.

In 2022, acclaimed Donegal poet Annemarie Ní Chuirreáin was appointed as Decade of Centenaries Artist-in-Residence at the Donegal County Archives and County Museum and asked to look at the final days of the Workhouse system in Donegal.

Focusing on the period 1922, Annemarie re(imagined) the experience of one unmarried mother residing in Stranorlar Workhouse, drawing from the minute books of the institution which are held at the Donegal County Archives, as she explored the challenging cultural and personal circumstances in which this young mother may have found herself.

In response, Annemarie has created a longform poem and pamphlet, Ghostgirl, which she will read for the first time in public, as part of this year’s Frances Browne Literary Festival.

A panel discussion will follow, chaired by Niamh Brennan, Donegal County Archivist, with the Rev. Raymond Blair, Clare Curran, Manager of Dunfanaghy Workhouse Heritage Centre and Annemarie Ní Churreáin.

Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Award and a co-recipient of The Markievicz Award. A native of An Falcarrach, her recently published third collection of poetry, The Poison Glen, centres on the story of the lost or missing child. Annemarie is also the guest Editor of this summer’s edition of Poetry Ireland Review.

Ní Churreáin often captures a whole world of cultural and historical implications in a single, simple but metaphorically rich, image. The Yale Review.

For more on the works of Annmarie Ní Churreáin see www.studiotwentyfive.com

This project was funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media under the Community Strand of the Decade of Centenaries programme, as part of the Decade of Centenaries Initiative 2012-2023.