We were delighted and honoured to have the wonderful Clara Rose Thornton come to Working Artist Studios and perform her poetry. See here for more on her visit to WAS.
What all the blurbs and informational pieces don’t express about Clara Rose is her passion, energy and personal warmth. A highlight of the year.
Clara Rose Thornton is a culture journalist, radio and television broadcaster, spoken word artist; poetry workshop instructor, and event organizer. Hailing from Chicago, she has lived in New York City, Vermont, Oregon, and Quebec in North America; in Paris, Croatia, and Germany in Europe; and currently resides in Dublin. In 2004 she founded the company InkBlot Complex to incorporate writing, editing, and entertainment services under one umbrella. InkBlot Complex focuses on the arts and their intersection with social justice, identity politics, history, and place.
A lively, erudite broadcaster, in Ireland Clara Rose is a film and music critic on “Arena,” the national radio arts program from Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ); discusses film and culture on the likes of “Tubridy” on RTÉ 2FM; and appeared regularly as a television cultural critic on RTÉ 1’s “Morning Edition.” Print cultural criticism has appeared in the Irish Independent, Relix, Time Out Chicago, Artscope, Stop Smiling: The Magazine for High-Minded Lowlifes, and various culture glossies. From 2008 to 2012 she wrote “Southerly Exposure,” the weekly fine arts column for the Rutland Herald, Vermont’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning daily.
She is the 2015-16 and 2014-15 Leinster (Dublin) Slam Poetry champion, a Dublin Slam Sunday champion, and a 2015 and 2014 All-Ireland Poetry Slam finalist. As a spoken word artist and event organizer, her concerts and events across Asia, Europe, and the United States have been lifeblood since 2001. Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City honored her at the onset of 2015 with a half-hour featured artist set. Fall 2014 saw her tour Ireland as the headlining performer for the nation’s inaugural Black History Month, which she was instrumental in founding. The year prior, she toured Europe as Vice & Verses, a site-specific performance involving her spoken word set to live music, co-composed with native musicians in each country in which the shows were performed [Denmark, Croatia, France, Ireland]. She’s taught the InkBlot Complex Poetry Workshop in South Korea, Ireland, and the United States, and judged two Poetry Out Loud competitions [US]. In Ireland she’s been featured at Electric Picnic, Body & Soul, International Literature Festival Dublin, Lingo Festival, The Workman’s Club, Trinity College, and University Colleges Cork and Dublin. A full-time touring performer, her provocative live show may be experienced in many countries around the world. And in Ireland, Vice & Verses: Neo-Soul Brigade unites poetry and song on the first Tuesday of each month.