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Year 35, No. 25
Celebrating 35 Years of Community News
FIND YOUR COMMUNITY Beyond the Words: Portraits of Irish NEWS HERE! Writers Exhibit Opens March 13 Villanova Art Gallery and Villanova Center for Irish Studies Present an Exhibit by Photographer Robin Hiteshew March 13 - April 14, 2020
February 19 – February 25, 2020
T HE R EAL J AMES B OND B OOK L AUNCH WITH A UTHOR J IM W RIGHT March 3 at the Academy of Natural Sciences
he island of Ireland is known for its outsized literary tradition: Its novelists, poets, and playwrights have produced many of the world’s most significant works, across
T Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh to Speak Page 6
Peace Drums Performances in April Page 11
Comedian Lewis Black at the Merriam Page 12
Photo detail of Moya Cannon in the exhibit, “Beyond the Words: Portraits of Irish Writers” by Philadelphia-area photographer Robin Hiteshew. The exhibit opens Friday, March 13, with a reception to meet the artist, from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. centuries, genres, and styles. As a student of that grand tradition, Philadelphia-area photographer Robin Hiteshew has made a decades-long project of capturing the images – and even the essences – of as many contemporary Irish writers as he can. Fifty-eight of his finest portraits will be presented at the Villanova Art Gallery from March 13 - April 14, 2020, in his exhibit, Beyond the Words: Portraits of Irish Writers. Visitors to Beyond the Words will encounter the likenesses of poets Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, Eamon Grennan, and Michael Longley; and novelists Colm Toibin, Anne Enright, and Glenn Patterson, among many others. Some writers – like Heaney – sat for Hiteshew multiple times over the course of several years, and each portrait captures a different moment in the writer’s evolution. Always, the images represent a collaboration between the photographer and the subject. Hiteshew says, “My goal is to try and capture in a portrait something about who the person is. I hope that the viewer will come away from the photograph knowing something about who that person is in some kind of intangible way. But also, I hope that the viewer will leave wanting to know more about the writer—to read his or her work, perhaps.” The images in Beyond the Words: Portraits of Irish Writers are about evenly divided between black and white film and digital color photographs. Nearly half of them were shot on the Villanova University campus, while those writers were in town for a reading or as the Charles A. Heimbold Jr. Chair of Irish Studies, a visiting professorship. Early in the development of the series, Hiteshew would attend a wide variety of readings by Irish writers and introduce himself right there, sometimes capturing the writer’s portrait in the few minutes before or after an event. As the project gained momentum, however, he has been able to develop on-
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e’s described as an international man of mystery, but also a humble birdwatcher. He’s James Bond, 007 and also an ornithologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Jim Wright, the New Jersey author of a new book, The Real James Bond, will shed light on the intrigue on Tuesday, March 3 at an illustrated conversation, audience question and answer, and book signing at the Academy. The book-launch event runs 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. and also features a display of Bond’s rare bird specimens from the Academy’s collection and items
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See “The Real James Bond” Book Launch page 8
See “Beyond the Words: Portraits of Irish Writers” Exhibit page 7
Find Unique Arts & Cultural Events Inside!
Jim Wright, the New Jersey birder and author of “The Real James Bond.” Photo/Kevin Watson
East Passyunk Restaurant Week Returns 25 Award-Winning and New Restaurants Along Restaurant Row Between February 24 and March 6 ast Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District (EPABID) presents the 8th Annual East Passyunk Restaurant Week, with two dozen award-winning restaurants offering three course prix fixe lunch and/or dinner menus starting
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Enjoy the 8th Annual East Passyunk Restaurant Week, with two dozen award-winning restaurants offering three course prix fixe lunch and/or dinner menus starting Monday, February 24 through Friday, March 6. Shown is Barcelona Wine Bar table. Photo/Tom McGovern Monday, February 24 through Friday, March 6. This year’s line-up includes seven new eateries along Philadelphia’s restaurant row, including highly anticipated debuts from new hot spots like Bing Bing Dim Sum’s Dumplings! Townsend Wine Bar, Flannel, June BYOB and River Twice. From BYOBs to James Beard nominees, East Passyunk Restaurant Week is the See East Passyunk Restaurant Week Returns page 8