John Hewitt International Summer School 2015

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John Hewitt Society International Summer School A Festival of Culture & Creativity

“Coming to terms: learning to live with difference”

Including : Tess Gallagher | Bernard O’Donoghue Yasmin Alibhai-Brown | Ian Sansom | Colum Sands Patrick McCabe | Mary Costello | Paul Muldoon Christine Dwyer Hickey | Paul Brady I Barry Devlin Lord Steel of Aikwood | Alistair Moffat

Monday 27th – Friday 31st July 2015 The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre, Armagh www.johnhewittsociety.org

Booking Information Book online: www.marketplacearmagh.com Book by phone: The Market Place Theatre Box Office: 028 3752 1821 Book in person: The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre, Market Street, Armagh, BT61 7BW Box Office Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday 9.30am – 4.30pm.

Open until 7pm on performance nights.

Tickets: Individual events: £6-£7 or otherwise specified Daily ticket: £45 (includes lunch) Weekly ticket: £195 (includes lunch) Three-day creative writing workshop: £40 Stay in touch: www.facebook.com/john.hewitt.3158

@The_JHS #JHISS

“Coming to terms: learning to live with difference” I would be neighbourly, would come to terms with your existence, but you are so far – John Hewitt, O Country People, 1949 Welcome to the 28th John Hewitt International Summer School, a five-day celebration of culture and creativity through talks, readings, theatre, writing workshops and discussions.

This year’s event is themed ‘Coming to Terms: learning to live with difference’, with the aim of exploring politically and culturally challenging issues of religion, race, and gender within our society.

Daily news reports highlight our need to come to terms with difference, in everyday life in Northern Ireland and on the world stage.

2015 has seen the continued rise of right wing political parties, clashes between religious fundamentalism and an increasingly secular society, and attacks on freedom of speech, such as the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris this year.

Can writers only speak up for their ‘own sort’? Or can art help to see another side, to come to terms with difference?

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS Monday 27th, Tuesday 28th & Thursday 30th July 2.15pm – 3.45pm | 1 hour 30 mins £40 for three-day workshop

Memoir Maureen Boyle

Crime Fiction Anthony J. Quinn

Prose Fiction Mary O'Donnell

Scriptwriting Daragh Carville

Maureen Boyle won the Ireland Chair of Poetry Prize and the Strokestown International Poetry Prize in 2007, and in 2013, she was awarded the Fish Short Memoir Prize.

Anthony J. Quinn’s debut novel Disappeared was shortlisted for a Strand Literary Award in the US. Two more of his Celcius Daly novels, Border Angels and Silence, are to appear this year.

Mary O’Donnell is an awardwinning poet and prose writer whose best-selling novels include The Light-Makers, Virgin and the Boy, The Elysium Testament and Where They Lie.

Daragh Carville is a playwright and screenwriter. His films are Middletown and Cherrybomb and TV credits include Being Human (BBC3), 6Degrees (BBC NI) and The Smoke (Kudos/Sky One).

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS Develop your writing skills under the direction of one of our seven tutors who are all experienced facilitators and published authors. Each workshop runs over three days, and each intensive session lasts for 1hr 30 mins, with six genres to choose from.

Spaces are limited – advance booking is essential.

Supported by the Open University

Poetry Niall Campbell

Poetry Siobhán Campbell

Short Story Heather Richardson

Niall Campbell has been recipient of an Eric Gregory Award and a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. His collection, Moontide, was given a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.

Siobhán Campbell is an award-winning poet whose collections of poetry include The Permanent Wave (1996), The Cold that Burns (2000) and Cross-Talk (2009).

Heather Richardson is the author of Magdeburg, a novel, and Chilled, a short story collection. Her short fiction and poetry have been published widely in the UK and Ireland.

ART EXHIBITION

Response - Eight Poets - Eight Artists

The Life and Times of an Armagh Writer: John O'Connor (1920 – 1959)

Foyer Walls, 27th July – 15th August

Upper Foyer, 27th July – 15th August

Belfast Print Workshop invited eight poets to submit a poem that they thought would elicit a visual response from a Belfast Print Workshop artist. Poets Ciaran Carson, Michael Longley, Paul Muldoon, Sinead Morrissey, Leontia Flynn, Alan Gillis, Miriam Gamble and Medbh McGuckian accepted the invitation and Belfast gallery owner, Jamshid Mirfenderesky, selected the artists to respond.

To complement the presentation of John O’Connor: A Celebration at JHISS, the author’s nieces have put together an exhibition of original manuscripts, magazines, letters, photographs, recordings and other items featuring the work, life and times of the locally celebrated Armagh writer. [Recording of John Hewitt reading a John O'Connor short story by kind permission of BBC.]

Belfast Print Workshop

ART EXHIBITION Rita Duffy The Thaw Factory Exhibition The Gallery, 27th July – 29th August Rita Duffy is one of Northern Ireland’s most groundbreaking artists. Her art is often biographical, including themes and images of Irish identity, history & politics, paying homage to magic realism and including elements of the surreal.

Here she previews The Thaw Factory project for 2016, a year of remembering wars and revolution, presenting the work in galleries and museums in Berlin, London Belfast and Dublin.

Monday 27th July OFFICIAL OPENING

FICTION

Lord Rana

Ian Sansom

10:45am FREE The 28th Summer School is opened

by Lord Rana MBE, Baron of Malone.

1:05pm £7 Death in Devon is the second instalment of Ian Sansom’s The County Guides, a series of detective novels set in 1930s England. A prolific writer, Sansom’s essays and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including The New York Times. A regular broadcaster on BBC Radio, he teaches on the English and Comparative Literary Studies programme at University of Warwick.

OPENING ADDRESS

Lord Steel of Aikwood Towards a federal United Kingdom?

11:15am £8 Lord Steel was Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. As David Steel he served as Member of Parliament from 1965 to 1997 and as a Member of the Scottish Parliament from 1999 to 2003, during which time he was the parliament's first Presiding Officer. Since 1997, he has been a member of the House of Lords.

Introduced by Lord Rana.

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 2:15pm Three day course: £40

www.johnhewittsociety.org

RECEPTION

LECTURE

The Heaney O’Driscoll Memorial Lecture Bernard O’Donoghue Distraction as Inspiration 4:15pm £7 The second in a three year series of lectures dedicated to the memories of two of Ireland’s foremost poets of the 20th century and friends of the John Hewitt Society, Seamus Heaney and Dennis O’Driscoll. Bernard O’Donoghue is a poet, academic and literary critic. He is the author of Seamus Heaney and the Language of Poetry (1994).

BOOK LAUNCH

Hosted by the North South Ministerial Council Opening of The Thaw Factory Exhibition

Northman: John Hewitt, (19071987) An Irish Writer, His World, and His Times

By W.J.McCormack

5:30pm See Exhibitions for more details.

7pm Free The Oxford W. J. Mc Cormack University Press, in association with No Alibis Bookstore, is pleased to launch the first Northman John Hewitt, 1907-1987 complete life of John Hewitt, written by the highly regarded academic, W.J. McCormack. The book will be launched by Chair of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Bob Collins. This book was commissioned by the John Hewitt Society with the financial assistance of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

An Irish Writer, His World, and His Times

Monday 27th July POETRY

Gallery Goes‌to the John Hewitt International Summer School Sara Berkeley, Alan Gillis & Eamon Grennan 8:30pm £9 The Gallery Press provides us with a rare treat to hear from three remarkable Irish poets as they return to home soil from life abroad for this special event.

Sara Berkeley has published poems, stories and a novel and has published three poetry collections with The Gallery Press, most recently What Just Happened (July 2015). Alan Gillis released Scapegoat in 2014, the year he was chosen as one of the PBS Next Generation Poets. Eamon Grennan has published ten collections with The Gallery Press, including Still Life with Waterfall, which won the Lenore Marshall Prize, and There Now (July 2015).

Supported by Arts Council Ireland Touring and Dissemination Scheme

www.johnhewittsociety.org

Tuesday 28th July TA L K

POETRY

C.L. Dallat The Other Sort

Bernard O’Donoghue & Hannah Lowe

9:45am £6 Poet, musician and critic Cahal Dallat reviews literature and the arts for several publications including The Guardian and Times Literary Supplement and has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Review. In this talk he discusses how John Hewitt dealt frankly, and tentatively, with difference and shared neighbourliness within a divided community in Northern Ireland.

11:15am £7 Bernard O’Donoghue is an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, University of Oxford, where he taught Medieval English and Modern Irish Poetry. He has published six collections of poetry, including Gunpowder, winner of the 1995 Whitbread Prize for Poetry, and Farmers Cross (2011). Hannah Lowe's first collection Chick (shortlisted for the Forward, Aldeburgh Best First Collection Prizes and Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize) was published by Bloodaxe in January 2013. In September 2014, she was named as one of 20 Next Generation poets.

Supported by Poetry Ireland

READING

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown 1:05pm £7 Yasmin AlibhaiBrown is a Ugandan-born British journalist and author, who describes herself as a "leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim, part-Pakistani, and ... a very responsible person". Currently a regular columnist for The Independent and the London Evening Standard, she is a wellknown commentator on issues relating to immigration, diversity and multiculturalism. Yasmin will read from and talk about her recently published book, Refusing the Veil.

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

Tuesday 28th July CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

BOOK LAUNCH

Gael Linn: Aspects of a Shared Heritage

2:15pm Three day course: £40

DISCUSSION

Learning to Live With Difference 4:15pm £7 Broadcaster C.L. Dallat, author Yasmin Alibhai Brown & poet Hannah Lowe discuss difference and diversity in the UK and Ireland.

Has the shifting demography of UK & Ireland helped us to see that there are other ‘others’ in our neighbourhoods now, Bangladeshis, Vietnamese, Romanians, Syrians, Latvians, Somalis? And does that diversity change things? Or are we still stuck in the binary oppositions of 1690 & 1916, of Paisley vs the Pope?

5:30pm FREE The launch of a new publication of a collection of essays on linguistic and cultural crossover in Ulster. ‘Not to learn Irish is to miss the opportunity of understanding what life in this country has meant and could mean in a better future.’ – Seamus Heaney

Aspects of a Shared Heritage Essays on linguistic and cultural crossover in Ulster

www.johnhewittsociety.org

Tuesday 28th July and Colum combine their considerable talents for this hybrid storytelling event, blending readings and music.

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Plays, Prose & Pictures inspired by Northern Ireland 7pm FREE The culmination of a month-long residency in Armagh by a group of North American students, exploring their place in the world through fiction, playwriting and images. A wine reception will follow.

Supported by ieiMedia Armagh

FICTION & MUSIC

Patrick McCabe and Colum Sands Songs and Novels from a Two Storey Bungalow 8:30pm £12 Patrick McCabe is an inimitable voice in Irish literature, known for his dark characters situated in small-town Ireland. Joined by acclaimed songwriter, storyteller and broadcaster Colum Sands, Patrick

READING

After Hours The Squat Pen 10pm FREE The first of three late-night informal readings in The Market Place Bar. The Squat Pen presents an evening of poetry, music and prose. Special guests include Howard Wright, twice winner of the Frogmore Poetry Prize, novelist Jan Carson, poets Tory Campbell and Colin Hassard, and singer/songwriter Hannah McPhillimy. Poet Anne-Marie Fyfe will choose a favourite poem for the Desert Island. The Squat Pen is hosted by poets Ray Givans and Paul Jeffcutt. Facebook.com/squatpen

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

Wednesday 29th July TA L K

Dr Myrtle Hill 9:45am £6 'Women, War and Welfare: The CoOperative Crusades of Margaret Taylor McCoubrey, 1880-1956'.

Dr Myrtle Hill was formerly a Senior Lecturer at the School of Sociology, Social Policy, & Social Work, Queen's University Belfast. Previously Director of the Centre for Women's Studies, she specialises in history, gender studies, disability studies, and approaches to the NI Conflict.

Her research has focused on social, religious, and gender history in Ireland, and she has published widely in these areas.

POETRY

Moyra Donaldson & Iggy McGovern 11:15am £7 Moyra Donaldson is the author of six collections of poetry including

Snakeskin Stilettos and Miracle Fruit from Lagan Press. Her most recent commission was Dis-Ease for Abridged 0-36 magazine, a collaboration with photographic artist Victoria J Dean.

Iggy McGovern is Fellow Emeritus in Physics at Trinity College.

His poetry collections include The King of Suburbia, Safe House and A Mystic Dream of 4, a sonnet sequence based on the life of the Irish mathematician & poet, William Rowan Hamilton.

FICTION

Christine Dwyer Hickey 1:05pm £7 Christine Dwyer Hickey has published seven novels, one short story collection and a full length play.

Her short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines worldwide and have won several awards.

The Cold Eye of Heaven (Atlantic Books UK) won the Irish Novel of the Year 2012 and was nominated for the IMPAC award. Her first play Snow Angels premiered at the Project Arts Centre in March 2014. She is a member of Aosdana. Her latest novel, The Lives of Women was published in April 2015.

www.johnhewittsociety.org

Wednesday 29th July TA L K

INTERVIEW

Ian Knox subVersions 2:15pm £7 Ian Knox has been the editorial cartoonist for the Irish News for 26 years. He has cartooned for BBC Northern Ireland’s Hearts & Minds, Newsnight, Channel 4 News, and made two films for Sky News, The Downfall of Tony Blair and The Downfall of Gordon Brown.

This illustrated talk looks at the attempts at cartoonists to subvert the status accorded to violent actions and undo the visual bypass that Irish people display towards the natural and built environment.

P R E S E N TAT I O N

Paul Muldoon in Conversation

John O’Connor, A Celebration

4:15pm £8 Now based in USA, Co Armagh-born poet, Paul Muldoon, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Some of his many accolades include the Pulitzer Prize, an American Academy of Arts and Letters award in literature, the 1994 T. S. Eliot Prize, and the 2006 European Prize for Poetry. He has been described by The Times Literary Supplement as "the most significant English-language poet born since the Second World War."

7pm £10 A contemporary and friend of Sam Hanna Bell and John Boyd along with many of the leading Northern Irish writers of his time, John O'Connor was a significant writer whose life was cut tragically short and whose work has been unfairly eclipsed. A group of Armagh writers and actors, including Daragh Carville, John Paul Connolly, Karl O’Neill and Paul Muldoon, along with two of John O'Connor’s nieces, join to celebrate his life in his home town and to introduce his writing to a whole new generation.

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

Wednesday 29th July T H E AT R E Green Shoot Productions present

Two Sore Legs

by Brenda Murphy Directed by Martin Lynch Original Direction by Noreen Kershaw 8:30pm £13

who had six children by a married man who lived around the corner with his other family. The play explores the pain, the joy and the fall-out from this extraordinary family arrangement. In an absolute tour de force, acclaimed actress Maria Connolly purrs, struts, weeps and explodes around the stage in equal measure. This story will stay with you long after you’ve left the theatre.

POETRY

After Hours The Lifeboat

Set in Belfast in the 1950s and 60s, Brenda Murphy's powerful, autobiographical play is based on the experiences of her mother, Bridie,

10pm FREE The second of our three late-night informal readings in The Market Place Bar, join us for a drink and a chat and hear some new writing. The Lifeboat is a monthly reading series hosted by Stephen Connolly and Manuela Moser in The Sunflower Bar, Belfast that pairs an established poet with a new poet. lifeboatbelfast.co.uk

www.johnhewittsociety.org

Thursday 30th July TA L K

Professor Paulo de Medeiros 9.45am £6 ‘Mare Mortis: The Shipwrecking of Europe on the Rocks of Difference’ Paulo de Medeiros is Professor of Modern and Contemporary World Literatures, and teaches at the University of Warwick. His field of study is Post imperial Europe. This talk will examine changing attitudes towards Europe and the identity of being European.

Supported by the Centre for Cross Border Studies

POETRY

Anne-Marie Fyfe & Tess Gallagher 11.15am £7 Former Chair of the Poetry Society, Anne-Marie Fyfe has been awarded the Academi Cardiff International Poetry Prize and has organised the Coffee-House Poetry series of

readings and workshops at London's Troubadour Coffee-House since 1997. Her new collection is House of Small Absences (Seren).

Tess Gallagher’s Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems, from Bloodaxe Press in England is her ninth volume of poetry. Most recently she has been involved in the film Birdman with director Alejandro Inarritu, since it presents both a poem and a story from her late husband, Raymond Carver.

FICTION

Mary Costello 1.05pm £7 Mary Costello’s collection of stories, The China Factory, was nominated for the 2012 Guardian First Book Award. Her first novel, Academy Street, won the Eason’s Novel of the Year Prize at the Bord Gais Awards and was named overall Irish Book of the Year 2014. It was also shortlisted for the 2014 Costa first novel prize, and featured on BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime.

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 2:15pm Three day course: £40

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

Thursday 30th July POETRY

THE SIXTH ANNUAL IRISH PAGES LECTURE John F. Deane Too Christian For His Own Good: Reflections on a Faith in Poetry

Supported by Irish Pages

4.15pm £7 John F. Deane is the author of eleven books of poems, most recently Snow Falling on Chestnut Hill: New and Selected Poems (2012) and Semibreve (2015), both from Carcanet Press. He is also the author of two novels and a memoir, Give Dust a Tongue (Columba, 2015). In 1979, he founded Poetry Ireland, the national poetry organisation, and Poetry Ireland Review.

Irish Pages is the island’s premier literary journal, combining outstanding writing from Ireland and overseas. Its annual lecture alternates between an Irish and an international writer, and is published in the subsequent issue of the journal.

RECEPTION

Hosted by Irish Pages 5.30pm

T H E AT R E

Newbliss One-man play written and performed by Keith Donald 7pm £10 A renowned saxophone and clarinet player, Keith Donald has played with some of the biggest names in Irish music, including Van Morrison, Ronnie Drew, The Moving Hearts and Christy Moore. Through poetry, storytelling and music, Keith recounts the highs and lows of a career in the music industry spanning six decades, half of which was spent under the shadow of alcoholism.

www.johnhewittsociety.org

Thursday 30th July MUSIC

POETRY

A Not-to-be-Missed Music Event!

Holy Ghosts, Some Horslips and Special Guests:

After Hours Purely Poetry

Barry Devlin, Jim Lockhart, Johnny Fean, Paul Muldoon & Paul Brady 8.30pm £16 A rollicking evening with a difference as poet Paul Muldoon returns to his first love and straps on a guitar to join a star-studded pickup band that augments Paddy Goodwin’s Holy Ghosts with Barry Devlin, Jim Lockhart and Johnny Fean of Horslips for a night of blues classics, Celtic rock anthems songs co-written with people such as Warren Zevron and Paul Brady, with special guest on the night … Paul Brady! A truly unique one-off performance that’s unlikely ever to happen again.

10pm FREE Belfast’s premier open mic poetry night comes to Armagh for the first time. Purely Poetry welcomes readers of all styles, backgrounds and experiences, fostering an open, friendly and encouraging atmosphere for people to read their work and to listen, in the comfort of the downstairs bar in the Market Place.

Sign up to read will be available during the festival and at the start of the night. All names are drawn out of the hat at random, and then we hand the mic over to YOU, for your poetry to be a part of this year’s Summer School. poetryni.com

Proceeds from this event will go towards an initiative to publish the short stories of Armagh writer John O’Connor.

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

Friday 31st July TA L K

POETRY

Alistair Moffat The DNA of a Nation

Colette Bryce & Niall Campbell

9:45am £6 From a simple saliva sample, scientists can trace your genetic ancestry across continents and over many thousands of years.

BritainsDNA combines historical analysis and DNA testing to provide new insights into the tremendous diversity of our genetic history.

Founder Alistair Moffat will be talking about the fascinating research behind the project and the innovative tests available to answer a fundamental question – where do we come from? britainsdna.com

11:15am £7 Colette Bryce is currently based in the North of England where she works as a freelance writer and editor. Her new collection, The Whole & Rain-domed Universe, which draws on her experience of growing up in Derry during the Troubles, was shortlisted for the Forward and Costa poetry awards in 2014.

Niall Campbell’s first collection, Moontide (Bloodaxe, 2014), won the Saltire First Book of the Year Award in 2014. It was also shortlisted for the Aldeburgh and Forward Prizes for Best First Collection. Last year he was named inaugural winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award.

Supported by Poetry Ireland

www.johnhewittsociety.org

Friday 31st July FICTION

CREATIVE WRITING SHOWCASE

Dermot Bolger 1:05pm £7 Dermot Bolger is one of Ireland’s best known poets and playwrights and the author of eleven critically acclaimed novels including The Journey Home and New Town Soul.

His numerous awards include the Samuel Beckett Award for his play, The Lament for Arthur Cleary, and he was named Commentator of the Year at the 2012 Irish Newspaper Awards.

Dermot will read from his recently published novel, Tanglewood.

2.15pm Free Hosted by poet and workshop leader Niall Campbell, this showcase provides an opportunity for some of those attending the Summer School creative writing workshops this week to read their work in front of an audience.

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

Friday 31st July DISCUSSION

Can we live with difference?

4pm £7 Journalist and commentator Malachi O’Doherty discusses with the panel whether we can really live with difference.

Linda Ervine is Irish Language Development Officer in East Belfast, Gearóid Ó hEára was Lord Mayor of Derry City Council, and Rev Brian Kennaway is a former Presbyterian minister and member of the Orange Order, who continues to comment on politics, orangeism, and religion.

CLOSING RECEPTION

Close of Summer School 5:45pm A reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council brings the Summer School to a close.

www.johnhewittsociety.org

The John Hewitt Society

About Us The aim of the John Hewitt Society is to promote literature, arts & culture inspired by the ideas and ideals of John Hewitt.

Hewitt’s work and writings transcended traditional societal divisions in Northern Ireland, and The Society’s role is to bring different identities together in safe circumstances via literature and creative writing.

For almost thirty years, The John Hewitt Society has developed a range of literary and cultural activities to break down parochialism, narrow, exclusive concepts of identity, and hostility towards the ‘other’.

Day T D Tours to

Armagh A £15.00pp

Ireland’s Ancient Cathedral City

Return coach trip

Departs Visit Belfast Welcome Centre @ 10.00am

EVERY FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Places to visit include: • Apple Juice & Cider Tours • Armagh Gaol • Armagh County Museum • Armagh Observatory • Armagh Planetarium • Armagh Public Library • Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Library • Lough Neagh Discovery Centre • Navan Centre & Fort • No5 Vicars’ Hill • Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum • Saint Patrick’s Cathedral [Catholic] • Saint Patrick’s Cathedral [Church of Ireland]

Bookable at at Visit Belfast Welcome Welcome Centr Centre e T T:: +44 (0) 28 902 9024 4 6609 or online at at www www.armagh.co.uk/daytours .armagh.co.uk/daytours

More to Experience in Armagh!...

This is Armagh... a story of our city and area that has a place in Ireland with a significance and influence felt across the island for 6500 years...

We are at the heart of celebrating the life of Saint Patrick and a major destination on the Saint Patrick’s Trail. There are many special things to experience in Armagh ranging from the historically unique Navan Fort, Ireland’s only Planetarium, stunning National Trust properties, unmatched Georgian architecture, two Saint Patrick’s Cathedrals, the amazing green space of the Mall and the chance to indulge in all manner of activities in a beautiful natural environment.

For further information contact Armagh Visitor Information Centre 40 English Street, Armagh, BT61 7BA t: +44 [0] 28 3752 1800 | e: vic@armagh.gov.uk

www.armagh.co.uk

Once Alien Here

“As native in my thought as any here” - John Hewitt Coming Autumn 2015: a community outreach scheme to promote equality and address social exclusion by exploring issues of identity through literature and creative writing.

For more information on The John Hewitt Society’s community engagement initiatives, please contact us: hello@johnhewittsociety.org In association with Eastside Arts Festival & East Belfast Partnership Once Alien Here is supported by Belfast City Council Good Relations Fund

Upcoming Events Literary Lunchtime Wednesday 23rd September 2015 | 1pm The Ulster Hall, Belfast Literary Lunchtime with Donal Ryan Wednesday 9th December 2015 | 1pm The Ulster Hall, Belfast blank page Banbridge Autumn Arts 14th – 24th October 2015 Old Town Hall, Banbridge The John Hewitt Birthday Poetry Reading Wednesday 28th October 2015 | 8pm The John Hewitt Bar, Belfast For further information call 028 9032 4522 or click on www.johnhewittsociety.org Sign up to our mailing list on our website to keep updated on upcoming John Hewitt Society events and writing workshops Registered address: The John Hewitt Society, 7 North Street, Belfast, BT1 1NH Company No NI 41294 Charity Reg No XR 52617

Board, Committee & Staff Chair: Tony Kennedy, OBE Board & Committee: Ryan Cornett | C.L. Dallat | Anne-Marie Fyfe | Stephen Gordon Myrtle Hill | Bill Jeffrey | Tony Kennedy | Paul Maddern | Carmel Maguire Paul McAvinchey | Patricia McCooe | Peter Morgan-Barnes | Brian Scott General Manager: Hilary Copeland Administration & Finance Officer: Geraldine O’Kane

John Hewitt Society Patrons Eilish Clerkin | Margaret D’Arcy | Seamus Deane | Brian Garrett | Maurice Hayes | Fred Heatley Marie Jones | Edna Longley | Michael Longley | Terence McCaughey | Carmel McGuckian Keith Millar | John Montague | Tom Paulin | Lord Rana MBE, Baron of Malone

Principal Funders

Summer School Sponsors

PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE Monday 27th

Tuesday 28th

Wednesday 29th

Thursday 30th

Friday 31st

9.45am

10.45am Official Opening Lord Diljit Rana

Talk C.L. Dallat

Talk Dr. Myrtle Hill

Talk Professor Paulo de Medeiros

Talk Alistair Moffat

11.15am

Opening Address Lord Steel of Aikwood

Poetry Bernard O'Donoghue Hannah Lowe

Poetry Moyra Donaldson Iggy McGovern

Poetry Tess Gallagher Anne-Marie Fyfe

Poetry Colette Bryce Niall Campbell

1.05pm

Fiction Ian Sansom

Reading Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Fiction Christine Dwyer Hickey

Fiction Mary Costello

Fiction Dermot Bolger

2.15pm

Creative Writing Workshops

Creative Writing Workshops

Talk Ian Knox

Creative Writing Workshops

Creative Writing Showcase

4.15pm

Talk The Heaney O’Driscoll Memorial Lecture Bernard O'Donoghue

Panel Discussion Yasmin Alibhai-Brown Hannah Lowe C.L. Dallat

Talk The 6th Annual Irish Pages Lecture John F. Deane

Panel Discussion 4pm The Idea of Region

5.30pm NSMC Reception

5.30pm Reception Gael Linn Book Launch

7pm

8.30pm

10pm

Book Launch & Reception Northman: John Hewitt

iei Media Student Showcase

Interview Paul Muldoon

Presentation John O’Connor: a celebration

5.30pm Reception Theatre Newbliss

by Keith Donald

Poetry Gallery Goes Alan Gillis, Sara Berkeley, Eamon Grennan

Words and Music Colum Sands and Patrick McCabe

Theatre Green Shoot Productions Two Sore Legs

Music Holy Ghosts, Some Horslips & Special Guests Paul Brady and Paul Muldoon

Music

The Squat Pen

The Lifeboat

Purely Poetry

Lord Mayor’s Reception Close of Summer School