Sunday 24 May 2009

Goldsmith International Literary Festival


Here's one not heavily advertised. The website is out of date. They had a competition but it's closed now.

The weekend commences on Thursday, May 28, with an art exhibition in Cooney’s Hotel in Ballymahon. The exhibition will be officially opened by well known artist Kevin Flood, and will afford an opportunity for many of the well-known local artists to display their wares.

On Friday, May 29, the official opening by John Murray of RTE takes place at the Rustic Inn, Abbeyshrule.

Doctor Andrew Carpenter, a professor at the English department in UCD, will deliver the keynote address “Goldsmith the Novelist” and Doctor Chris Wheatley, a professor of English at the Catholic University of America in Washington will chair the session. Musical entertainment will follow the formalities.

On Saturday, the programme takes place from the Bog Lane Theatre in Ballymahon. At 11.30am, Athlone native Desmond Egan, well-known and internationally recognised poet, will talk on “Goldsmith the Poet”. At 12.15pm, Doctor Brian Arkins University College Galway will talk on “Goldsmith the Dramatist” while Chris Wheatley will give some insight into Goldsmith’s contribution to Irish and English literature.

At 3.00 pm Dr Fergus O’Ferrall will give a talk on “Goldsmith – politics then and now.” These discussions will be chaired by Ollie Hegarty, Athlone IT and John O’ Donnell, former principal of Ballymahon Vocational School and former secretary and member of the committee.

At 4pm on Saturday, the literary tour of the Goldsmith Country will visit the sites associated with Goldsmith – Ardagh, Forgney Church, Lissoy Parsonage, the Busy Mill, the Hawthorn Bush, Kilkenny West (the decent church that topped the neighbouring hill) and the Three Jolly Pigeons.

On Saturday at 7.30pm the weekend reaches a crescendo at the Three Jolly Pigeons with traditional music and song.

On Sunday, May 31st, all roads lead to Pallas where results of the children’s and adult poetry competitions will be announced and winning entries will be read by the winners. Poets, Noel Monahan, Mary Melvin Geoghegan and Desmond Egan will read from their own collections. Anne Tully will introduce the entertainments.

Weather permitting, this event at Pallas is hosted out-doors; cheese, wine and refreshments will be provided through the generosity of Pallas residents and sponsors, Joe and Chris Farrell.

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