A few tidbits for Dublin Writers Festival

The who’s who of the literary scene in both Ireland and abroad have descended on Dublin City this week for the Dublin Writers Festival.

It is the 16th year of the much admired Dublin festival, running since Monday  and with 100 events over nine days, there’s something for all ages and tastes.

The festival runs at venues around the city until Sunday, May 25th 

 

 Edmund White

Date: Wed 21st May at 8pm     Venue: Smock Alley Theatre     Price: €12 / €10

Edmund White is a novelist, as well as a writer of memoirs and an essayist on literary and social topics. Much of his writing is on the theme of same-sex love. He is celebrated as a prose writer of rare style and observational powers.

He comes to Dublin with Inside a Pearl, an account of his 16 years in Paris.

Together with Jean-Phlippe Imbert, his mischievous wit and scrupulous honesty promises an evening to remember.

 Ciaran Berry & Tess Gallagher

Date: Fri 23rd May at 6pm     Venue: Smock Alley Theatre     Price: €10/€8

Ciaran Berry’s first collection, The Sphere of Birds, was one of the most praised debuts of recent years, winning numerous awards. His new collection, The Dead Zoo, which takes its name from the nickname for Dublin’s Natural History Museum, confirms his reputation as a leading Irish poet of his generation.

Tess Gallagher will discuss Midnight Lantern, a collection of poems from her forty-year career that has included several books of short stories, a dozen poetry collections and numerous awards.

 

Ned Boulting, Richard Moore & Tim Moore – Cycling Fever

Date: Sun May 25th at 4pm     Venue: Conference Hall (Dublin Castle)     Price: €12 / €10

With the visit of the Giro d’Italia a few weeks ago, cycling has never been more popular.

Dublin Writers Festival gathers three acclaimed writers and cycling fanatics to examine cycling’s phenomenal rise. Why, despite the drug scandals that have threatened to discredit the sport, has cycling become so popular? Where does it go from here? And can anyone tackle the Tour de France?

 Johnny Vegas in concert

Date: Sunday May 25th at 8pm     Venue: National Concert Hall     Price: Price: €20 / €18

In the closing event of the festival, Vegas talks to actress and author Pauline McLynn,Eastenders and fr.Ted as well as Fiona Looney’s plays,   about his life, his career and his attempts to find a balance between his real self and the troubled personal that made him a star.

His autobiography, Becoming Johnny Vegas, describes the sometimes dark struggle between Michael (his real name), the shy boy who once trained for the priesthood, and ‘Johnny Vegas’, the anarchic alter ego who at times has threatened to destroy him. 

Dublin Writers Festival runs in various venues around the city until Sunday, May 25th. For ticket information and the full list of events, see http://www.dublinwritersfestival.com

 

 

Everyday Sexism Project: Smock Alley Theatre for Dublin Writers Festival evening event

 Laura Bates, Jenny Dunne and Dearbhail McDonald – The Everyday Sexism Project

Date: Fri 23rd May at 8pm     Venue: Smock Alley Theatre     Price: €12 / €10

In a recent interview, Laura Bates said she didn’t know what sexism meant. After enduring a spate of unrelated incidents, she began to ask friends and colleagues about their own experiences and a shocking fact emerged: every woman she spoke to had encountered sexism not at some point in the past.

She then set up the Everyday Sexism Project, a website dedicated to documenting people’s personal experiences of sexism.

Chaired by Sinéad Gleeson, a panel of leading journalists and campaigners will explore sexism in all its contemporary forms.

Joining Bates to discuss these issues are Dearbhail McDonald, Legal Editor at the Irish Independent, and Jenny Dunne, who runs the Irish branch of Hollaback, an international website dedicated to ending street harassment.

Sebastian Barry, Anne Enright and Hugo Hamilton – Translating Ireland

Sebastian Barry, Anne Enright and Hugo Hamilton – Translating Ireland

Date: Fri 23rd May at 8pm     Venue: The Printworks (Dublin Castle)     Price: €12 / €10

‘Translating Ireland’ brings together three leading Irish novelists to share their experiences of being translated, read excerpts from their work, and to talk about the translations that have most inspired them.

In novels like A Long, Long Way, Sebastian Barry has shone a light into the dark corners of Irish life, focusing on the ordinary people whose lives are neglected, forgotten or written out of history.

Booker Prize-winner Anne Enright is celebrated for her capacity to explore serious issues with compassion and wry humour in works like The Forgotten Waltz.

Hugo Hamilton is the bestselling author of seven novels and two memoirs, including The Speckled People, a memoir of his German-Irish childhood that won a clutch of European awards.

Check out robert fisk (@IndyVoices): https://twitter.com/IndyVoices

International Down Syndrome Coalition- IDSC: Meet Ashley!

http://www.theidsc.org/2014/05/meet-ashley.html?m=1

In defence of teaching History

Fintan O'Mahony

credit: https://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-i-m-a-history-teacher-16/

This is my response to this article from The Irish Times.

You bet Junior-cycle reform remains a contentious topic! You bet many history teachers think it represents a threat to the subject we love!

The problem isn’t the breath of the current syllabus, but that when we were asked a decade ago to clean up the vast course we made recommendations about shortening it. Those recommendations are sitting on a shelf gathering dust somewhere in Marlborough St. That’s what happens when you consult teachers, sure you’d be better off not asking them for their opinions at all!

Teachable moments come thick and fast in history class, we know well how to turn dry topics like Gothic architecture or French revolutionary peasants (to pick two from today alone) into gold for students. Long gone are the days of ‘learn the textbook of by heart girls and boys’. We use…

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The Local Elections

John Hurley

In two weeks time we’re heading for the poles to elect our next round of county Councillors and Members of the European Parliament.

There are a few big changes this year.

• Town councils are being abolished, and some councils are being amalgamated.  (from 114 local authorities to 31)
• The total number of Councillors in Ireland will reduce from 1,627 to 950 (a drop of 677 seats)
• With the property tax being earmarked to go to the local councils, they will have their own funding for the first time in about 40 years.

And what do our Councillors do?

• Make decisions about how the local budget is spent.
• This may be on Housing, Roads, Libraries, Amenities (playgrounds, etc)
• Make policy decisions around various local issues
• Help people dealing with the bureaucracy of a council

Local councillors can’t make any decision regarding national issues, for example in Education, Health, etc.

So, when we go…

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The School Musical

John Hurley

Tonight, in Mayfield, our school musical will open, and there are a lot of nerves around the place.  Kind of the reaction that you would hope from the students.  But what a journey they have had to get this far.

I don’t know how many schools still do musicals as part of their Transition Year experience, but I hope that it’s a lot.  There is so much going on that it is something that, I believe, really adds to the whole TY experience, and benefits the students hugely.

Obviously, there is the sheer work of learning script and song.  There is the choreography, there’s the stage directions.  But unless you have been in one, it’s hard to comprehend just how much time is taken up with nitty-gritty details, and how much commitment is required from ALL of the cast and crew.

When the musical practices began, we had students who…

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Corrs for celebration as Andrea turns 40

Talk of the Town

Andrea Corr, second from left, with siblings Sharon, Jim and Caroline at her birthday bash at the weekend. Picture: Mark Doyle

Dundalk-born singer Andrea Corr celebrated her 40^th birthday in style at the weekend with a party for 120 of her closest family and friends in Dublin.

Pizza E Porchetta near Grand Canal Dock was the mother-of-two’s venue for the exclusive party.

Andrea, who was the lead singer in family band The Corrs, booked the entire venue out to ensure privacy.

Amongst those in attendance were her siblings and fellow band members, Caroline, Sharon and Jim, as well as her father Gerry and husband Brett.

Proud father Gerry Corr gives his daughter Andrea a kiss to mark her 40th birthday at the weekend

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I Have A Tribe – Chancery Lane Theatre

The Last Mixed Tape

I Have A Tribe a.k.a Patrick O’Laoghaire launched his brilliant new E.P Yellow Raincoats within the ambient, intimate setting of the Chancery Lane theatre in Dublin on Friday night.

With the flickering glow of candlelight dancing upon the walls of a sold-out Chancery Lane theatre, songwriter Hilary Woods opened the show delivering a mood setting performance that showcased the artist’s unique take most recently found on her album The River Cry.

With the bustling crowd attentively anticipating I Have A Tribe’s set, the artist opened the show with his deftly performed vocal quietly filling and echoing within the venue’s close quarters, leaving small moments to reverberate and recede as the audience were held in hushed silence.

Moving through powerful renditions of ‘Monsoon’ and the E.P’s title-track ‘Yellow Raincoats’ I Have A Tribe stripped back each song to its essence, translating the emotion and melodically intricate elements through whispered, precise…

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