Wild Connections: Nature, Wellbeing and Belonging Lisa Clancy, Jane Clarke, John Doyle, Brigit Anna McNeill, Dearbhla Mescal, Miriam Mulcahy, Bex Sheridan and Eoin Warner

In Partnership with Green Foundation Ireland / TU Dublin

What can nature teach us about how we live, heal and belong? At a time when questions of sustainability, resilience and how we belong within the natural world feel more urgent than ever, staff, students and the wider public are invited to a day of stimulating, thought-provoking and inspiring events at TU Dublin’s Grangegorman campus. Featuring leading authors exploring our relationship with nature and with one another, the programme focuses on nature, wellbeing and reflection, tracing connections between landscape, biodiversity and personal recovery. Join us for readings, conversations, a walk and workshops that bring diverse perspectives into dialogue.

Bookings for this day of events will open on Tuesday 15 September.

Poetry and Music Walking Tour
Jane Clarke & musician TBC
11am – 12 pm

Join acclaimed poet Jane Clarke for a walk through TU Dublin’s Grangegorman campus based on her latest collection Coracle (Bloodaxe Books), which explores what it means to care for each other and the natural world in the midst of social and environmental jeopardy. These finely observed, distilled and intimate poems reflect on our kinship with all living things, facing the reality of loss while celebrating acts of restoration that inspire hope. 

We will pause along the way for poetry and music, while also paying attention to the biodiversity being nurtured on the campus.

Renewed in Nature
John S. Doyle and Eoin Warner in conversation with Duncan Stewart environmentalist and documentary maker
12pm – 1pm

Join us for a powerful and moving conversation with two authors as they discuss their memoirs, both exploring the importance and impact of nature on us as individuals. John S. Doyle’s Salt Wind, Rising Water: Planting a Wood on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Coast (Merrion Press) is a gentle and hopeful ode to nature, capturing a story of resilience, community and learning to work with the land, as John and his family transformed two wild, windswept acres on Sligo’s north coast into a thriving wood, orchard, and garden. Eoin Warner’s Through the Long Grass: Love, Loss and Belonging in Nature (Gill Books) is a moving memoir that begins with loss but emerges as a powerful meditation on how the natural world reflects so much of our human story. Charting Eoin’s many vivid encounters with the natural world, this book celebrates the gifts that nature gives us when everything else falls away – patience, solace and a sense of belonging. The authors join environmentalist and documentary maker, Duncan Stewart, in conversation.

Insect Portraits
Photography Workshop with Lisa Clancy
1pm – 2pm

Join insect photographer and nature enthusiast Lisa Clancy for a captivating workshop where she will discuss her book Insect Portraits: Capturing the Personality of (Mostly) Irish Insects (Mayo Books). This collection of portrait-style photographs reveals the remarkable ‘personalities’ of Irish insects and offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of scientific research using these extraordinary creatures. In this session, Lisa will detail the techniques she used to photograph many of the portraits, as well as some of the interesting natural histories she learned about the subjects. The session will involve an interactive, hands-on component. Attendees are welcome to bring their own equipment, if they wish, and try their hand at creating their own insect portraits. 

The Healing Power of Nature
Bridget Anna McNeill, Dearbhla Mescal and Miriam Mulcahy in conversation Maria Kenneally
2pm – 3pm

Join us for an inspiring afternoon of conversation with three authors whose books explore how nature positively impacts our well-being, and the importance of self-care in a fast-paced and challenging world. Exploring the wildlife, folklore and medicinal properties of common wild flowers and trees, Bridget Anna McNeill’s The Wild Within (Duckworth Books) is an immersive and enriching journey of recovery, healing and rewilding, one wild plant at a time. Dearbhla Mescal’s Finding Joy (Eriu) is a wise and heartfelt collection of poems, musings and prompts encouraging readers to slow down and notice the ordinary joy and calm to be found in the world around us. Miriam Mulcahy’s Walking to the Foot of the Sky (Eriu) charts Miriam’s story of walking the Beara Breifne Way. What began as a desire to experience the beauty of nature became a lyrical and life-changing journey through Irish landscape, history and renewal in the spaces where myth and memory linger. The authors join mindfulness expert, Maria Kenneally, in conversation.

School groups will also be taking part in the day at an immersive and engaging workshop.

Creating Creatures 
Workshop with Bex Sheridan
10:30am – 11:30am
Age: 3rd – 5th Class

Join author and illustrator Bex Sheridan for an exciting and hands-on workshop inspired by her heartwarming picturebook Wild Eyes (Natural World Publishing). In this beautifully illustrated book, a young girl carefully and thoughtfully nurtures her little garden, making a deeply meaningful and lasting impact on the nature and wildlife around her. Immerse yourself in nature and discover some of the wonderful wildlife that might even be found in your own garden as Bex shows you how to create your own creatures. Then have a go at drawing them for yourself, putting your imagination on the page and developing your own ideas through illustration!

Lisa Clancy is an insect photographer and nature enthusiast based in Galway City. Her passion for the natural world began early and guided her academic journey, starting with a BSc in Zoology from the University of Galway, followed by an MSc in Biological Photography and Imaging from Nottingham University, and culminating in a PhD in Insect Behaviour from Aberystwyth University in Wales in 2015. Lisa currently works as Research Integrity Manager at Compuscript in Shannon.

Jane Clarke is the author of four poetry collections with Bloodaxe Books, The River (2015), When the Tree Falls (2019), A Change in the Air (2023) and Coracle (2026). She edited the illustrated anthology Windfall: Irish Nature Poems to Inspire and Connect (Hachette Books Ireland, 2023) and co-authored with Catherine Cleary The Hare’s Corner: Making Space for Nature (New Island Books, 2025). In 2016 Jane won the Hennessy Literary Award for Emerging Poetry and the inaugural Listowel Writer’s Week Poem of the Year Award. Jane’s third collection A Change in the Air was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2023 and the T.S. Eliot Prize 2023. Jane grew up on a farm in Co. Roscommon and now lives in the Wicklow uplands. She is particularly interested in how poetry can support collective action to protect and restore nature at this time of environmental breakdown.

John S. Doyle is a journalist and presents ‘It Says in the Papers’ on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1. He was the founder editor of In Dublin, the arts and current affairs magazine which flourished in the 1970s and 1980s and uncovered the talents of such writers as Colm Tóibín and Fintan O’Toole, the photographers Tony O’Shea and Tony Murray, and the cartoonist Tom Mathews.

Brigit Anna McNeill is a writer, naturalist, herbalist, and wilderness guide whose work explores the meeting place of trauma, ecology, and the wild heart. Her essays and teachings weave science, story, and soul, with plants and wild places at their centre. She is the author of Bloom & Thrive: Essential Healing Herbs and Flowers and The Wild Within. She also writes the newsletter Into the Woods on Substack, shares her work with nearly 75,000 followers on Instagram and has contributed to Resurgence & Ecologist, The Green Parent, and the BBC’s Countryfile. Alongside her writing, she leads projects at the Sharpham Trust, supporting people to reconnect with the land and themselves. She lives on Dartmoor with her three sons, in a granite cottage surrounded by rivers, moss, and oak.

Having retired as a member of An Garda Sìochána, reared her three children, and experienced cancer, Dearbhla Mescal is now finding the time to follow her own dreams and enjoy her second act of life.

Miriam Mulcahy is a writer, journalist and editor who contributes to The Irish Times. Her first book, This is My Sea was a number one bestseller, nominated for an Irish Book Award and was an Irish Times book of the year. Walking to the Foot of the Sky has already hit the bestseller charts since its publication in May. She lives in Kildare with her children and her dog, Juno. 

Bex Sheridan is an author, illustrator, designer and educator. She has a passion for creating stories and putting them into pictures. Her children’s picturebooks include Wild Eyes; Go to Sleep, Hoglet! and Irish Farm Animals.  Her work often features animals, nature and even fantasy! Her goal is to generate excitement among all audiences for story worlds in all formats. She’s just started her PhD study, focusing on narrative storytelling and fictionality for digital natives.

Naturalist Eoin Warner is an award-winning wildlife documentary presenter in both the Irish and English languages. He has presented some of Ireland’s foremost nature documentaries in recent years. His Irish-language documentaries include Éire Fhiáin (Wild Ireland), Iontais na bhFarraigí Ceilteacha (Wonders of the Celtic Deep) and Oileán Glas, Fásach Bán (Green Island, White Desert), a two-part series on the wildlife of the Burren. His English-language documentaries include A Wild Irish Year, Wild Connemara and the internationally acclaimed Ireland’s Wild Islands. 

TU Dublin is deeply committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) strategy. Reflecting this commitment, TU Dublin has been shortlisted for Sustainability Institution of the Year at the Green Gown Awards UK & Ireland 2026. The university is embedding sustainability across all academic programmes (SDG 4 – Quality Education), while internationally recognised initiatives such as the award-winning TU Dublin Food Pantry contribute to SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). TU Dublin also raises awareness through public engagement, including its partnership with Green Foundation Ireland and Dublin Book Festival to host these events, which align with a number of the UN SDGs.

​​While this event is free, by making one of your tickets a ‘Supporter’s Ticket‘ you will be making a valuable contribution towards keeping future events accessible and towards the sustainable growth of Dublin Book Festival.