The Strokestown International Poetry Festival was founded in 1999, taking place annually on the first weekend of May, in Strokestown, Co. Roscommon.
The weekend provides a world-renowned forum for excellence in poetry. Strokestown is famous for the large audiences that attend all readings and allied to the welcome, the friendliness and the scenery, the weekend is an unforgettable experience and a thrilling immersion in contemporary poetry.
‘Our mission is to showcase contemporary poetry, local, national and international, foster the development of emerging writers and consolidate poetry in local cultural life, bringing it to the widest possible audience’.

Click above to listen to the latest from the Books for Breakfast podcast, where Peter Sirr and Enda Wyley talk to Joseph Woods, Director of the Strokestown International Poetry Festival, about what this year's programme will offer poetry lovers this May Bank Holiday weekend in Strokestown Park House.










1999 – Vona Groarke
2000 – Sheila O’Hagan
2001 – Martin Dyar
2002 – Daniel Holmes
2003 – Beatrice Garland
2004 – Paddy Bushe
2005 – James Greene
2006 – Cahal Dallat
2007 – Maureen Boyle
2008 – Tony Barnstone
2009 – Padraig Rooney
2010 – Lawrence Kessenich
2011 – Jane Routh
2012 – Jim Maguire
2013 – Jude Nutter
2014 – Jane Robinson
2015 – John Murphy
2016 – John Murphy
2017 – Patrick Maddock
2018 – Matthew Barton
2019 – Majella Kelly
2020 – Jane Wilkinson
2021 – No Competition
2022 – No Competition
2023 – No Competition
2024 – Thomas Brezing
2025 – Olga Dermott-Bond
2026 – Catherine Ann Cullen