The Fanny Parnell Poetry Project returns to Old City Hall in Bordentown, New Jersey, on Saturday, Feb. 1.

The two-part free event celebrates the famous 19th century Irish poet and revolutionary with direct connection to Bordentown 

Now in its 4th year, the event’s date is set for St. Brigid’s Day, the Irish saint whose patronage includes poetry.

The day’s first session is “Poetry, Politics, and Ms. Parnell,” a voice theater work that gives voice to Parnell’s politically charged poems and passages from her 1879 “The Hovels of Ireland.”

That book was written in Bordentown to advance the efforts of her famed brother, Irish Home Rule leader Charles Stewart Parnell, and examines the causes and effects of Ireland’s historic social and economic inequality.

Fanny Parnell’s poems likewise confront that inequality but include a call to action.

Her much-anthologized poem “Hold the Harvest” has been called “The Marseillaise” of the Irish peasant.

Parnell’s connection to Bordentown is through her mother, Adelia Stewart Parnell, the daughter of celebrated War of 1812 naval commander and prominent Bordentown resident Charles Stewart, aka “Old Ironsides”

Using her family’s estate as a base to raise funds for the Irish cause, the 33-year-old poet died suddenly of heart failure in Bordentown in 1882.

“Poetry, Politics, and Ms. Parnell” will feature regional Irish musicians and Hopewell-based professional theater artist Carol Kehoe, known regionally for her work with Princeton Rep, Foundation Theater, and other venues.

The work was developed by Bordentown-based writer Dan Aubrey, whose theater credits include productions at Passage Theater, La Mama ETC in New York, and the once prominent southern New Jersey professional Foundation Theatre.

The venue for the event is Old City Hall, 11 Crosswicks Street, Bordentown, New Jersey.

The second part of the program is the 4 p.m. “Poets and Pints” session at Bordentown Square Tap + Grill, 233 Farnsworth Avenue.

That session will feature regional and state writers D. Ryan Lafferty (Bordentown), Todd Evans (Trenton/Willingboro), and Derrick Owings (Burlington). A limited open reading will also be included.

Admission to all events is free.

The Fanny Parnell Project is part of the larger Bordentown Poetry Project developed through the Bordentown Old City Hall Restoration Committee, a volunteer group dedicated to providing awareness and funds to restore the historic landmark building in downtown Bordentown. 

For more information, contact oldcityhallprograms@gmail.com.

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