Kerry Writers’ Museum Launches Groundbreaking Exhibition Celebrating the Women Who Shaped Kerry’s Literary Legacy
Kerry Writers’ Museum is proud to announce the launch of its new permanent exhibition, Kerry Women in Literature, officially opening on Wednesday 28th May at 6pm. This Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media-funded exhibition honours generations of Kerry women whose voices, stories and lived experiences have profoundly shaped Ireland’s literary and cultural landscape.
From the oral traditions of Peig Sayers, whose autobiographical storytelling preserved a way of life on the Blasket Islands, to the haunting lament of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, regarded as one of the greatest poets of the 18th century, the exhibition brings to light the powerful legacy of women who often worked against societal constraints to share their words.
The exhibition features thirteen writers whose contributions span centuries, genres, and social backgrounds – including nationalist and children’s author Máirín Cregan, playwright and short story writer Siobhán Ní Shúilleabháin, and civil servant and dramatist Pauline Maguire. Also included are lesser-known yet culturally significant figures such as Mary Downing, an active nationalist poet known by the pen name “Christabel,” and Anne Margaret Rowan, historian, novelist, and campaigner against Home Rule.
Through a dynamic and multidisciplinary format, Kerry Women in Literature interweaves biography and newly commissioned visual artworks by five contemporary artists.
Each artist interprets the life and work of a specific Kerry writer:
• Damian Daly evokes the lyrical precision of Sonja Broderick, whose poetry elevates everyday experience through evocative imagery and rhythm.
• Aidan O’Leary brings to life the psychological and historical tension in the fiction of Anne Margaret Rowan through atmospheric mixed media.
• Myfanwy Frost-Jones explores themes of land, lineage, and feminine power in a film work inspired by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill.
• Roisín McGuigan reflects on communication and resistance in her tribute to Máirín Cregan, blending printmaking and political symbolism.
• Ciara Tuite creates an abstract landscape echoing Peig Sayers’ raw accounts of hardship and resilience on the Blasket Islands.
The exhibition is curated by Louise Lynch, a leading visual artist and curator in Kerry. Louise’s curatorial vision ensures that each writer’s story is given visual form, bridging art and literature in meaningful ways. With a strong track record at St. John’s Theatre & Arts Centre, the Listowel Visual Artists’ Collective, and Kerry Writers’ Museum, her work continues to spotlight local creativity with depth and nuance.
The museum also pays tribute to its Executive Director, Cara Trant, whose ongoing leadership has transformed Kerry Writers’ Museum into a recognised centre of excellence. Her work in securing vital funding, nurturing creative partnerships, and prioritising female representation has made initiatives like Kerry Women in Literature possible.
This permanent exhibition is not only an artistic and cultural milestone – it is an invitation to rediscover the women of Kerry who wrote, resisted, imagined, and recorded the world around them. Their stories live on in the words they left behind and now, through this vibrant new exhibition, in the visual responses they continue to inspire.
For media enquiries, interviews, or images, please contact:
Kerry Writers’ Museum | info@kerrywritersmuseum.com | +353 (0)68 22212
