Galway last night marked the publication of the two Patrick Kavanagh poems with a celebration in the city's arts centre.
Dr Frank Shovlin of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool joined the publishers of the journal, west47 at a reading of the poetry by Rita Ann Higgins. west47 carries the two newly published poems in its current issue.
Ms Maura Kennedy of the arts centre described it as "a coup" for the journal, which was initiated by the centre this year. "Dr Shovlin chose west47 as a medium for publishing, because he felt it most closely resembled the outlets which Kavanagh had submitted the work to in the first place," she explained.
"Open submissions are our lifeblood, and we always try to have a well-known contributor in the issue. We didn't quite anticipate something like this."
The arts centre was delighted to be involved in this addition to the Kavanagh oeuvre, she said.
