18.00

.

Registration

.

19.30

.

Reception

.

20.00

.

Welcome

.

20.20

Reading

Homelands in the World

Kathleen Hill and Tess Gallagher

21.00

Reading

A Harvest of Words

Remembering writers Eoin Bourke, Tom Murphy, Macdara Woods. Matthew Sweeney  and singer-songwriter Thom Moore – with Vincent Woods, Maelíosa Stafford, Eva Bourke, Mary McPartlan and Seamie O’Dowd.

10.30

Readings

Melatu Uche Okorie

Author of ‘This Hostel Life’

.

.

Eva Bourke

.

11.10

.

Tea/Coffee

.

11.30

Discussion

Harbour, Hostel, Home: New Voices in Irish Writing

Melatu Uche Okorie, Gráinne O’Toole, founder of Skein Press, Eva Bourke, co-editor of Landing Places.

12.00

Readings

Darach Ó Séaghdha

Dispatches from a Changing Language

.

.

John Woods

‘L’Attaque’: Gaelic Ireland and revolutionary France - Eoghan Ó Tuairisc’s 1798 Leitrim novel remembered.

12.40

.

Lunch

.

14.00

Reading

Farming, Planting, Writing:

John Connell and Thomas Pakenham

 John Connell reads from 'The Cow Book: A Story of Life on an Irish Family Farm' and Thomas Pakenham reads from 'The Company of Trees: A Year in a Lifetime's Quest'. 

14.40

Discussion

Digging and Planting:

Land, farming and forestry – words and reality

John Connell, Thomas Pakenham, Edwina Guckian

15.10

Discussion

Lost and Found in Translation: 

Darach Ó Séaghdha, Eva Bourke, Melatu Uche Okorie, Kathleen Hill

15.40

Discussion

Truth is not Truth:

Journalism, Truth and Ethics in the Era of Trump

Maurice Walsh, Carole Coleman, Bryan Dobson, Susan McKay

16.10

.

Tea/Coffee

.

16.30

Reading

Beyond borders: New writing from Northern Ireland 

Ciaran McMenamin reads from his novel 'Skintown'.

17.00

Discussion

Border Writing

Susan McKay discusses the work of Anna Burns ('Milkman', 'No Bones') and talks to Ciaran McMenamin about his writing. (Includes booklaunch by Susan McKay of Borderlines by Henry Glassie and Vincent Woods)

17.40

.

John McGahern Award

.

18.00

.

Break

.

20.00

Reading

Bitter Freedoms, Solar Bones: Maurice Walsh, Mike McCormack 

Maurice Walsh reads from ‘Bitter Freedom’ and considers the essential role of journalistic and literary witness in history and politics. Mike McCormack reads from his work, including ‘Solar Bones’, winner of the 2018 Dublin Literary Prize.

21.00

Performance

Open Room

Composer and fiddle player Danny Diamond, dancer Edwina Guckian and writer Vincent Woods explore themes of memory, migration, inspiration and creative connection. An open room is made for words, dance, music and unexpected links between their individual art forms. Syrian Kurdish musician and Leitrim resident Mohammad Saif will join this open room to play music from his cultural tradition.

11.30

Reading

Liberty, Memory, Miley of the Spear: 

Thomas Pakenham reads from his book ‘The Year of Liberty: The Great Irish Rebellion of 1798’ and considers ‘the year of the French’ in Leitrim and Longford. Alan Woods sings local ballads associated with the 1798 rebellion and Napoleon Bonaparte.

12.15

Field Trip

Field Trip

Excursion to Kilronan Cemetery followed by the Iron Mountain Session and readings in Mulvey’s bar, Ballinaglera, at the foot of Sliabh an Iarainn.

15.30

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Bus returns to The Dock Carrick on Shannon

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