PROGRAMME 2018
Friday 5th Oct.
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.
Saturday 6th Oct.
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.
Sunday 7th Oct.
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
.
Bus returns to The Dock Carrick on Shannon
.