10 Reasons The Literature Strand Rocks
Honestly, there's more than 10 but I'm really going to try and keep this one at a nice round number. For more on each of these events, please click the titles of each entry.
1. Robert Fisk Will Be There... Will You?
Robert Fisk has done a lot of things in his 63 years that none of us will ever do. He's interviewed Osama Bin Laden. He's reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon. He's been kidnapped twice. He's suffered hearing problems from getting too close to heavy artillery. He's also won a plethora of awards for a journalistic career that spans 40 years. And of course, he will be the subject of this year's Hubert Butler lecture. He'll be talking about his experiences since he worked as the Belfast correspondent for The Times in the early 1970's. Witty, insightful and absolutely fearless in his questioning, Robert Fisk will no doubt be all those things and more in this 90 minute talk that will take place in St. Canice's Cathedral on August 7th. So yes, the great journalist will be there. Will you?
2. There Is No Sports Strand, But...
After the success of last year's fascinating GAA: Blood and Thunder event in Set Theatre, Kilkenny Arts Festival is once again delving into the storied history of the GAA with this unique event. Once again taking the Monday evening slot in Set Theatre, this year's hurling themed event is titled 'Ireland's Athletic Assault and Battery? Hollywood and Hurling'.
 poster 2(1).jpg)
This programme of films are taken from GAA tours to the US from the 1920's through to the 1940's. They offer a fascinating and rarely glimpsed representation of Hollywood's attitude to Ireland. This representation of both hurling and Ireland proved controversial in some quarters and offers a meaty subject matter for this event. These films and the tales surrounding them will be presented by Dr. Sean Crosson on Monday 9th of August at 7pm.
3. No Better Men To Talk Music And Literature...
In what will be a very special event, Philip King will be talking to Joseph O'Connor about the influence on Irish/American balladry in his recent fiction. O'Connor's recent fiction of course encompasses the 800,000 copies sold worldwide of his best seller Star Of The Sea. It also encompasses 2007's Redemption Falls and his new novel, Ghost Light, a haunting ghost story about the relationship between JM Synge and the actress Molly Allgood. Philip King is well known for a series of fascinating musical projects that he has spearheaded in recent times, most notably the hugely popular Other Voices and The Full Set. It should prove to be a great night of wit, banter, readings and even a song or two. The event takes place in The Watergate Theatre on Friday 6th of August at 8pm.
In the red corner.... He is one of our greatest living writers. A man so good that he has an alter ego named Benjamin Black write wonderfully slick thrillers like Christine Falls for him. He hails from Co. Wexford but currently resides in Dublin. He's a Man Booker Prize winner for The Sea. He is... John Banville! In the blue corner... one of the most original Irish authors of recent times. A writer of German descent who set some of his early works in Europe and achieved great success with his childhood memoir The Speckled People. He has been awarded the Rooney Prize For Irish Literature. Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, he is... Hugo Hamilton! This huge event will take place on August 12th. Get your ringside seats quick!
5. Get Ready To Be Electrified
Paul Durcan has been called many things over a long and accomplished career but electrifying is certainly a word that sums the great poet up to a tee. He was certainly one of the writers who made English class in my latter years of schooling somewhat bearable. He'll be bringing his style, wit and craft to bear on the Watergate Theatre on Saturday August 7th in what should prove to be a masterclass in oratory skills. The focus of this event will be his new, all encompassing collection Life Is A Dream which brings together 4 decades of work. His wonderful and witty anecdotes should be the cherry on top of this event. One of the most electrifying ways to spend a Saturday afternoon this August.
There are many reasons to love Gabriel Byrne. The cool screen presence, the silvery brogue, the harsh glint in his eyes or maybe the wry smirk. Or in the case of Kilkenny folk, the fact that he led a standing ovation for Kilkenny Musical Society’s production of Oklahoma in 2008. Whatever the reason (and there are many) the love usually stems from a stunning 30 year career and a reputation as one of Ireland’s greatest acting exports. This retrospective will include The Coen’s stone cold classic Miller’s Crossing along with the enchanting Into The West. We’ll also be treated to the intimate 2008 portrait of the man himself, Stories From Home. The event takes place on Saturday August 7th in Set Theatre from 10am.
It’ll be another collision of big hitters as two of the countries biggest poets headline an event on Tuesday 10th of August. Ciaran Carson has been at the forefront of literature and poetry in Northern Ireland since the 1970’s and is the current director of the Seamus Heaney centre at Queen’s University. He’ll be reading from his near 40 year career and there’ll no doubt be many gems to be found. I’m a massive fan of his recent reworking of The Tain and will be hoping in vain that he might touch on the epic. Michael Coady’s work is far removed from the epic in scale and focuses on the intimacies of place, environment and community. One of Ireland’s most revered poets and a former winner of the Patrick Kavanagh award, the Carrick-on-Suir native will also be dipping into his long and prolific career. Pure poetry brilliance from the top to the tail of Ireland!
This is shaping up to be one of the most unique events of this year’s Kilkenny Arts Festival. It’s titled When I’m Sixty-Four and while I suspect a lot of people might balk at a symposium on the area of pension reform for a night out, this event will surely prove them wrong. Especially when it’s being headed up by a woman nicknamed ‘the most dangerous woman in America. Theresa Ghilarducci is the Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research in New York and her radical plans for pension reform earned her that deadly moniker. She will be joined in this most pertinent discussion by Jim Stewart and Gerry Hughes from the School of Business in Trinity College Dublin. The event will be chaired by Fintan O’Toole who did an exemplary job at last year’s festival in his conversation with Thomas Kilroy. The event will take place in St. Canice’s Cathedral on Wednesday August 11th.
9. Striped Pyjamas, Special Purposes and Marilyn Monroe’s Dog
All of these disparate elements will be in the mix on the 8th of August when John Boyne and Andrew O’Hagan headline an event in the Watergate Theatre where they will both be delving into their fascinating new works. Boyne is best known as the author of the publishing behemoth that was The Boy With The Striped Pyjamas and you can bet that some of the 5 million or so people who bought that book will be in attendance. He’ll be reading from his latest novel The House Of Special Purpose which is set I early 20th century St. Petersburg and should prove another enthralling historical perspective.
Andrew O’Hagan has been labeled one of the most exciting young British novelists and he’s already become acquainted with a Booker Prize shortlist. He’ll be bringing his new novel The Life and Opinions Of Maf The Dog which looks at the early 60’s through the eyes of the dog Frank Sinatra bought Marilyn Monroe. Yup, you heard that right. This is going to rock so I reckon get booking while you can!
10. I Wouldn’t Mess With Nell McCafferty
Well, would you? Archbishop Diarmaid Martin found out recently that she certainly hasn’t lost any of her verbal whiplashing skills. She will be one of four speakers who are partaking in a talk entitled Forty Years Of Feminism on Friday August 13th in The Parade Tower. The event can also be summed up with its subheading ‘a discussion on where we are, where we were and where we’re going’ and will focus on the feminist movement in Ireland since the dark days of the early 1970’s and how the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement fought for the rights of women country wide. Nell McCafferty will be joined in the talk by Margaret MacCurtain, Catriona Crowe and Bridget Fitzsimons and it will be chaired by Diarmaid Ferriter. It should prove enlightening, engaging and of course, empowering.
1 Reason The Literature Strand Is Scary
Dennis Waterman in the nip. Yup, he of The Sweeny and Minder fame will be a bit naked this year. Not in the flesh mind. The British tough guy stars in I Can't... I Can't (Wedding Night) which receives it's first Irish screening after being censored in 1969 after it premiered at the Cork Film Festival. It's from a screenplay by Lee Dunne who bothered most of DeValera's Ireland with his smutty stories and naughty tales. It will be screened on Friday August 13th in the Parade Tower. It is possible it will cause you to have 'immodest thoughts'. Although Dennis Waterman in the nip should put paid to that.
We're Social