Aspects Festival Bangor 20 September – 6 October 2019 A celebration of Irish writing
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TOURIST INFORMATION
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HELLO AND WELCOME
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Welcome to Aspects 2019
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We use the cliché all too often but there really is something for everyone in this year's programme! There are events celebrating historical writing, poetry, crime fiction, writing workshops, children’s events, politics, memoir, journalism, scriptwriting, the short story and exhibitions.
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Back by popular demand, we welcome some of our Aspects friends in Michael Longley, Fergal Keane and Malachi O’Doherty – as well as local talents Moyra Donaldson, Ian Sansom and Colin Bateman.
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We are delighted to host the launch of Darina Allen’s new cookbook and Gerald Dawe’s new poetry collection.
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We hope you enjoy exploring our programme and look forward to seeing you at the festival.
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Don’t miss out on our female crime event and Women Aloud NI shares its poetic thoughts on food.
SERC
Aspects Festival Team
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BELFAST ROAD TO CLANDEBOYE ESTATE
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P BANGOR AURORA AQUATIC & LEISURE COMPLEX
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1 THE BLACKBERRY PATH ART STUDIOS 2 BANGOR CARNEGIE LIBRARY
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3 BANGOR CASTLE & NORTH DOWN MUSEUM 4 WALLED GARDEN
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5 SERC THEATRE 6 BOOM! STUDIOS
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Aspects At A Glance P6
4 Sep–6 Oct
Opening hours
Writers in the Frame
North Down Museum
Free
P24 3 Oct
6pm
1,000 Books To Read Before You Die
North Down Museum
£7
P6
26–29 Sep
Opening hours
Poetry and Art
Blackberry Path Art Studios
Free
P25 3 Oct
8pm
Malachi O’Doherty
Bangor Castle
£10
P7
8 Sep–6 Oct
Opening Hours
Gathering Silence Exhibition
Bangor Castle Walled Garden
Free
P26 4 Oct
5pm
Olivia Manning
Clandeboye Courtyard
£7
P8
2–27 Sep
Opening Hours
Fabrications Exhibition
Seacourt Print Workshop
Free
P27 4 Oct
7pm
An Evening with Poets and Poetry
Clandeboye Courtyard
£7
P8
28 Sep
2–4pm
Brainy Crafternoon
Seacourt Print Workshop
Free
P28
6.30pm/ 2pm
Lightning Talks
Clandeboye Courtyard
Free
P9
10 Sep–5 Oct
Opening Hours
This World is Magic Exhibition
Bangor Carnegie Library
Free
P29 5 Oct
3pm
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
Clandeboye Courtyard
£20
P10 21 and 28 Sep 10am–1pm Reading Like a Writer
North Down Museum
£30
P30 5 Oct
8pm
Darina Allen
Clandeboye Courtyard
£10
P11
10.30am–1pm
The Woodland Chew and Yarn
Clandeboye Courtyard
£5
5 Oct/ 6 Oct
26 Sep
8pm
Michael Longley
Bangor Castle
£12
P31
P12 27 Sep
6pm
Poetry: New Collections
North Down Museum
£7
P32 6 Oct
3.30pm
Shane Connolly discusses Flowers, Food and Drink
Clandeboye Courtyard
£10
P13 27 Sep
8pm
Fergal Keane
Bangor Castle
£12
P33 6 Oct
5pm
The History of What We Eat and Drink
Clandeboye Courtyard
Free
P14 28 Sep
5pm
Rise of the Short Story
North Down Museum
£5
P33 6 Oct
6.30pm
Women Aloud NI
Clandeboye Courtyard
Free
P15 28 Sep
3pm
Colin Bateman and Stephen Walker
Bangor Castle
£10
P34 6 Oct
8pm
The Darkling Air
Clandeboye Courtyard
£12
P16 28 Sep
7pm
Poetry Slam
Space, SERC Theatre
£5
P36 20 Sep
10–11am
Toddler Storytime
Bangor Carnegie Library
Free
P17
29 Sep
2pm
Carlo Gébler and Gavin Weston
Bangor Castle
£8
P36 20 Sep
3.30–4.45pm
Illustration Workshop
Bangor Carnegie Library
£7
P18 29 Sep
4pm
Gerald Dawe Book launch
Bangor Castle
Free
P37 20 Sep
4pm and 5pm
Book Inspired Yoga
Boom! Studios
£7
P19 29 Sep
6pm
Polly Devlin
Bangor Castle
£10
P37 20 Sep
6.30–8.30pm
Tablets and Text
Boom! Studios
£8
P20 30 Sep
6–9pm
Writing to the Image
North Down Museum
£15
P38 21 Sep
10.30am and 12noon
Sensory Story
Bangor Carnegie Library
£8
P21 1 Oct
6–9pm
As Good as it Gets
North Down Museum
£15
P38 21 Sep
2–4pm
Comic Book Creations
Bangor Carnegie Library
£8
P22 2 Oct
6pm
Female Crime
North Down Museum
£7
P39 21 Sep
10am–4pm
Poetry Collage Making
Boom! Studios
P23 2 Oct
8pm
Bangor Literary Journal Launch
Fealtys Back Bar
Free
P39 21 Sep
6pm
Bedtime Stories
North Down Museum
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6 Oct
Free £3
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Sunday 8 September – Sunday 6 October Wednesday 4 September – Sunday 6 October
Writers in the Frame North Down Museum Free during opening hours This is a literature inspired exhibition displaying works including author portraits and book-related framed pieces. Aspects Festival is delighted to present a small number of works held in the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Art Collection, including this portrait of Michael Longley by David Russell, charcoal on paper.
Thursday 26 September – Sunday 29 September
Poetry and Art
Gathering Silence Bangor Castle Walled Garden Free during opening hours Gathering Silence showcases new work by artists Helen Hanse and Owen Crawford. Inspired by exhibiting in the unique and beautiful environment of the Walled Garden, the sculptures in stone and wood reflect a gathering of experience, of quiet moments and the changing seasons. The process of carving to create in stone and wood is time worn and allows for the alliance of story and word in the careful definition of these materials. Stories often precede and germinate the carving yet the materials seem always to provide a new telling of whatever has to be said. Exhibition Launch event Sunday 8 September 3pm Free – all welcome, meet at the Bandstand
The Seventh Bangor Poetry Competition and Art Exhibition The Blackberry Path Art Studios Free during opening hours The Bangor Poetry Competition’s theme this year was ‘Elements’. In this seventh year of the competition, it saw poets from all over the globe submit original poems to be considered for the shortlist. The final selection, made by the editorial team of The Bangor Literary Journal, are displayed alongside original artwork. The public is invited to come along and vote for their favourite poems and choose a winner for the prestigious competition. Exhibition opening hours: Thursday 26 and Friday 27 September 11am–2pm Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September 11am–3pm
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Monday 2 September – Friday 27 September
Fabrications: Unravelling Facts from Folklore
Tuesday 10 September – Saturday 5 October
This World is Magic Drawings by Barry Falls
Bangor Carnegie Library Free during library opening hours
Work by Susan Robinson Seacourt Print Workshop Free during opening hours Monday to Friday, 10am – 4pm Fabrications examines the fine line between facts, fiction and folklore. Combining screen-printing, stitch, knitting and crochet, Robinson examines, embroiders and embellishes our understanding of memory and the human brain. Where did the idea of ‘woolly thinking’ come from? How exactly does someone’s mind ‘completely unravel’? What is a ‘hare-brained scheme’? How does one put ‘a twist in the tale’? This exhibition gathers all these curious threads to produce some imaginative textile art.
Saturday 28 September
Brainy Crafternoon Seacourt Print Workshop 2 – 4pm Free during opening hours Our take on a stitch’n’bitch, bring your current knitting or stitch project or we’ll provide a project for you to work on. Session will be inspired by the exhibition of fiction or folklore. Open to all ages and no experience required.
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Barry is an award-winning illustrator and artist from County Tyrone. He provides illustration for editorial, design, advertising and publishing. Barry works with a variety of pen, pencil, paint and found materials. Sections of a drawing are created individually and then assembled on the computer in a digital collage. Texture and vibrant, saturated colours are a hallmark of his work. Facial expression and nuances of gesture or posture allow for the creation of a complex personality within the context of a ‘simple’ drawing. Barry’s love of drawing fauna and flora is apparent in much of his work. His aptitude at finding a compelling visual to accompany an abstruse subject, has led to repeated work for The Lancet medical journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times and The Financial Times. As well as editorial, corporate and advertising work, Barry has also produced book covers for Faber & Faber, Random House and Macmillan and illustrated short stories in The New Yorker. His first picture book for young children, It’s Your World Now! was published in 2019.
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Saturday 21 September and Saturday 28 September
Thursday 26 September
Reading Like a Writer
Aspects Launch Event
Michael Longley
with Patsy Horton
Bangor Castle 8pm £12
North Down Museum 10am–1pm £30 total for both sessions
Michael Longley is an award-winning poet whose love of his craft remains undimmed. This is his description of writing a poem: ‘You’re concentrating, and all of you is gathered up, deeply attentive, and that concentration is like a drug, and you realise you’ve been at a sheet of paper for four hours. I love that. I love the intensity of that. It’s such excitement.’
‘Like most – maybe all – writers, I learned to write by writing and, by example, reading.’ Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose Whether you are a writer or someone with aspirations to write, or whether you love reading and talking about books, this session is for you. Join editor and expert reader Patsy Horton to discuss two fantastic and critically acclaimed novels that are loved by readers – David Park’s Travelling in a Strange Land and My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.
Michael’s most recent collection, Angel Hill, was published in June 2017. Winner of myriad literary awards, he is also the recipient of a CBE and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. He was the Ireland Professor of Poetry 2007-2010. His latest publication is A Stream’s Tattle (2019) a pamphlet of new poems which celebrate his eightieth year.
The session, which will require participants to have read both novels in advance, will explore why these novels are powerful works of fiction, and what it is about the writing that makes them so beloved by readers and critics. We will discuss how these novels have been ‘built’ and structured through character, setting, plot and other elements. We’ll also spend time discussing the style of the writing in novels, using close reading to explore the rhythm and flow of sentences and paragraphs.
© Bobbie Hanvey
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Friday 27 September
Friday 27 September
Poetry: New Collections
Fergal Keane
with Maureen Boyle, Moyra Donaldson and Ross Thompson North Down Museum 6pm £7 Maureen Boyle’s The Work of a Winter contains poems written over sixteen years. They are often narrative and many attempt to give a voice to women and men whose voices we haven’t often been able to hear, reflecting the idea that poetry can give intimate imaginative access to people’s lives. Carnivorous is the eighth collection from County Down poet Moyra Donaldson. Drawing on myth, nature and memory, the poems speak of the extraordinary in the ordinary. Fluidity of self and of time, an evocation of the natural world, our human need to try to make sense of our lives – all themes that are expanded and developed in this latest book. Bangor Poet, Ross Thompson’s debut collection of poems, Threading The Light, will be published by Dedalus Press in October 2019. It charts a chronological journey through the pre-adventure world of childhood, the wounds of awkward adolescence and the future promise of adult life. Honest and emotive, Threading The Light is a book about hope, love, faith and forging ahead without letting go of the past.
Bangor Castle 8pm £12
‘The journalism of witness is a form of atonement. If by bearing witness to these things we’ve got to confront unpalatable truths one can then … make a small start to look at the past … To look back, not with misty eyes, not with sentimentalism, but with cold hard facts.’ Fergal Keane Fergal Keane is a multi-award winning foreign correspondent and author. His books have covered a diverse range of subjects, from the Rwandan genocide, to the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, to South Africa and the history of Apartheid, to the Siege of Kohima and the Second World War. He is also a memoirist, with Letter to Daniel and All These People. His five-part series The Story of Ireland was broadcast in 2011. A personalised style of writing is present throughout his work. ‘I’m just uncomfortable with sanctimony’, he says, ‘but I’m still a great believer in the things that have always moved me, in the fundamental principles of human rights. They moved me long before journalism ever did.’ He was awarded an OBE for his services to television journalism in 1997 and holds an honorary Doctor of Letters from University of Liverpool.
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Saturday 28 September
Saturday 28 September
The Rise of The Short Story
with Claire Simpson and Mia Gallagher
Colin Bateman and Stephen Walker in conversation
North Down Museum 5pm £5
Bangor Castle 3pm £10
Claire Simpson was born in north Antrim and educated in Dublin but now lives and works in Belfast. A journalist for more than 13 years, she also hosts a weekly news podcast. She has an MA in creative writing from Queen's University, Belfast and has had work published in Crannog magazine and Surge: New Writing from Ireland. She is working on her first collection of short stories.
Join Colin Bateman and Stephen Walker as they discuss their very different writing experiences. Expect stories of journalism, books and Hollywood with a love of football thrown in for good measure.
Prize-winning author Mia Gallagher’s novels are HellFire (2006), awarded the Irish Tatler Literature Award 2007 and Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland (2016), longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Award 2016. Mia has received several literature bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland and has enjoyed the role of writer-in-residence in many different environments. Her award-winning short fiction has appeared widely in journals and anthologies. Mia has also written for the stage and worked as an actor. Shift (2018) is her first short-story collection.
Award-winning author Colin Bateman is a prolific crime novelist, children’s author, screen writer and dramatist. The series Murphy’s Law, adapted from his novel of the same name and starring James Nesbitt, ran for six years. Bateman’s The Journey was released in 2016, and his drama Driven, focussing on the DeLorean story, comes out later this year. Nearly a quarter of a century after the publication of his awardwinning novel Divorcing Jack, Bateman will soon bring us the eleventh novel featuring Dan Starkey. Stephen Walker is an award-winning author and broadcaster. Since 1989 he has worked for the BBC as a television and radio reporter, a documentary maker and a political correspondent at Westminster and Stormont. Stephen is the author of three books. Forgotten Soldiers: The Irishmen Shot at Dawn, Hide and Seek and Ireland’s Call: Irish Sporting Heroes Who Fell in the Great War.
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Saturday 28 September
Sunday 29 September
Poetry Slam
Aesop’s Fables
with Carlo Gébler and Gavin Weston
Space SERC 7pm £5
Bangor Castle 2pm £8
Aspects Festival presents: The North Down Heat of the All Ireland Poetry Slam. This dynamic, competitive event pits poet against poet. They’re working against the clock and their peers, to showcase their original work. Poets who register at the start of the night, will be chosen at random and have three minutes to perform. Three judges will score the work and choose who goes through to the next round. The outright winner will be crowned ‘Aspects Poetry Slam Champion’! The top two poets from the Aspects Slam will join winners from other regional heats across Ulster in an All-Ulster final. From there, two winners join six other poets from across Connacht, Leinster and Munster.
Rules of Slam
One poet will walk away with the prestigious crown of All Ireland Poetry Slam Champion.
2 Pieces should be the poet’s own work
Good luck to all. This event will be hosted by Clare McWilliams, director of Articulate Art NI, and will include special guest readers and judges. @Articulateartni aims to raise the profile of all NI artists whose work is articulate and can be heard out loud.
1 Poems should not exceed three minutes
3 No props*, musical instruments 4 Poets should perform solo 5 There will be penalties/ disqualification for nonadherence to the rules 6 Timing begins after the poet gives their name and title of the poem 7 Winning poets are required to attend the Ulster Slam Championship heat *Page/book to read poem from is acceptable
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A witty, illustrated version of the world’s greatest collection of fables, allegedly written by a slave in the 5th century BC. A book for our times, this retelling of the Fables makes them relevant and richly enjoyable. This is a new version of a book that was often used to teach moral lessons to children. Gébler’s Aesop is darker, more realistic and compulsively readable. Carlo Gébler is one of Ireland’s most prolific and respected writers. He was born in Dublin, the elder son of the Irish writers Ernest Gébler and Edna O’Brien. He is a novelist, biographer and playwright. His most recent novel is The Innocent of Falkland Road, inspired by his youth in London. He is also the author of several novels for children, and works of non-fiction including a biography of Ernest Gébler, The Projectionist. Gavin Weston was born in Belfast, studied Fine Art at Saint Martin’s School of Art and Design and Goldsmiths’ College, London, and University of Ulster. He has lectured at University of Ulster and Belfast Metropolitan College for many years and was a regular contributor to The Sunday Times from 1994 to 2002. He is a former prizewinner of the Claremorris Open and Iontas, a recipient of The Tyrone Guthrie Award and was nominated for The Becks Futures Award in 2002.
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Sunday 29 September
Gerald Dawe Bangor Castle 4pm Free – registration essential Gerald Dawe is an award-winning poet, literary critic, anthologist and academic. A widely published poet, his other books include Earth Voices Whispering: Irish poetry of war 1914-1945 (2008), Of War and War’s Alarms: Reflections on Modern Irish Writing (2015) and The Wrong Country: Essays on Modern Irish Writing (2018). Dawe is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets (2017) and author of In Another World: Van Morrison and Belfast (2017). This event is the launch of Gerald Dawe's latest poetry collection The Last Peacock published by The Gallery Press.
Sunday 29 September
Polly Devlin Bangor Castle 6pm £10 ‘If I had been born a writer, I would have written all the time, and I had many years of not writing. I was too busy living. But I was born a seanchaí. I was born a storyteller. Those years were spent telling stories to my children and to anyone who would listen.’
© Bobbie Hanvey
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Polly Devlin is an author, broadcaster, filmmaker, art critic and professor. Her list of interviewees as Features Editor for Vogue is a who’s who of the 1960s – Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Janis Joplin to name but a few. Devlin has written for the Sunday Times, New Statesman, the Evening Standard, the Observer and the International Herald Times. She is the author of many books, including All of Us There and The Far Side of the Lough, and was awarded an OBE for services to literature. Despite this she admits: ‘you have to prod me with a cattle prod to make me write. I’ve never written without being asked. And prodded. I find writing very easy. I just hate it.’ Her latest book is Writing Home, a collection which reflects on her remarkable life.
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Monday 30 September
Tuesday 1 October
Writing to the Image with Malachi O'Doherty
As Good As It Gets with Moyra Donaldson
North Down Museum 6–9pm £15
North Down Museum 6–9pm £15
Workshop
The printing press separated the reproduction of text from the reproduction of image. Before that the intermingling of the two seemed natural. Digital technology has made the interaction of text and image easier, but we have lost the habit of it. We have film in which image predominates; we have photography in newspapers and other formats as simple illustration; but we also have career structures in journalism and film making which define photography and writing as distinct endeavours.
Poetry Workshop
This workshop will focus on the skill of editing your own poetry, and offer helpful and practical suggestions as to how best to ensure that your poem is ready for publication. What are the questions you can ask yourself? How do you know when a poem is finished? The second half of the workshop will look at applying these skills to individual poems. Please send one example of your work to info@aspectsfestival.com by 20 September. Moyra Donaldson is an award-winning poet whose most recent collection is Carnivorous from Doire Press. She is a creative writing facilitator with more than 20 years’ experience and her workshops are designed to be both supportive and encouraging. She is a professional mentor for the Irish Writers Centre and Words Ireland and also mentors poets who are working towards a first collection. Moyra has been a judge for a number of poetry awards, including the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing and the Mairtín Crawford Award.
This workshop for writers and photographers shows how image and text are naturally symbiotic, and how each can be enhanced by the other.
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Wednesday 2 October
The Bangor Literary Journal Launch: Aspects Edition Fealtys Back Bar 8pm Free – registration required Come and join us for the launch of the special Aspects edition of The Bangor Literary Journal!
Wednesday 2 October
Female Crime
Several of the shortlisted poets from The Bangor Poetry Competition will read their entries and the winners will be announced. There will be readings from contributors to the special issue and our featured writers.
North Down Museum 6pm £7 Catriona King is a doctor, manager and writer. Raised in Northern Ireland, she worked for many years in central London as a doctor and trained as a police forensic medical examiner, working with the Metropolitan Police on many occasions. Catriona now lives in Northern Ireland, basing her Craig Crime Series of novels here. This contemporary series comprises twenty-one detective novels to date, the latest being The Depths. She has also written an Irish fantasy novel and a science fiction novel set in New York. Sharon Dempsey studied Politics and English at Queen’s University, Belfast and journalism at City University, London. She has written for a variety of publications and newspapers, including the Irish Times. She is a creative writing tutor at Queen’s University. Her debut crime novel, Little Bird, was published by Bloodhound Books to critical acclaim in 2017. A Posy of Promises, a heartwarming story about life and love, followed in 2018. She is working on a new crime series, along with a modern day Gothic thriller. Kelly Creighton lives in Newtownards and facilitates creative writing classes. Since 2014, she has curated The Incubator literary journal. Her books include: Three Primes (2013, poetry); The Bones of It (San Diego Book Review’s 2015 Novel of the Year); and Bank Holiday Hurricane (shortlisted in the Saboteur Award’s Best Short Story Collection category and longlisted for the 2017 Edge Hill Prize). She is currently writing the third book in her series of detective novels set in East Belfast; the first instalment will be published in spring 2020.
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Thursday 3 October
1,000 Books To Read Before You Die with James Mustich North Down Museum 6pm £7 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List puts a thousand great books at readers’ fingertips. Fourteen years in the making this compelling compendium of a thousand noteworthy books to get lost in is essential reading for every book lover.
Thursday 3 October
Malachi O’Doherty Bangor Castle 8pm £10 Malachi O’Doherty is an author, journalist, political commentator and photographer. As well as two books on religion, he has written two books on the IRA, The Trouble With Guns (1998) and The Telling Year: Belfast 1972 (2007). He reflected on his rediscovery of his love of cycling in On My Own Two Wheels (2012). His unauthorised biography of Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams was published by Faber & Faber in 2017. His book Fifty Years On. The Troubles and the struggle for change in Northern Ireland is published this year by Atlantic Books.
The book is as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the thousand books it recommends, and it celebrates something every reader loves — the joy of discovery. James Mustich began his career in bookselling at an independent bookstore in Briarcliff Manor, New York, in the early 1980s. In 1986, he co-founded the acclaimed book catalog, A Common Reader, and was its guiding force for two decades. He has subsequently worked as an editorial and product development executive in the publishing industry. Enjoy James Mustich in conversation as he discusses the Irish titles that made his list and find out if he really read all of them!
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Friday 4 October
Friday 4 October
The Writing of Olivia Manning
An Evening with Poets and Poetry
Clandeboye Courtyard 5pm £7
Clandeboye Courtyard 7pm £7
The novelist Olivia Manning (1908-1980) was born in Portsmouth but had Irish roots and connections to the Morrow family who owned The Olde House at Home on High Street, Bangor. Her Balkan trilogy was published in the 1960s followed by her Levant trilogy in the late 1970s. The final book of that trilogy, The Sum of Things was published posthumously the year she died. The two trilogies, known as Fortunes of War, were described by the Sunday Times as ‘the finest fictional record of the war produced by a British writer.’
Ian Sansom is a novelist, critic, journalist, broadcaster and academic. He has written for The Guardian, the New Statesman and the Irish Times, as well as writing and presenting programmes for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. In addition to his books on cultural history and literary criticism he had two novel series – The Mobile Library series and The County Guides series. His latest book, September 1, 1939: A Biography of a Poem, is published this year by Fourth Estate.
Join us for a conversation between Eve Patten and Linda McAuley about this remarkable writer. Linda McAuley is an award-winning broadcaster. She is best known as the presenter of BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘On Your Behalf’. In 2017 she was inducted into the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) Radio Awards Hall of Fame and was awarded an MBE for services to consumers in Northern Ireland in the New Year Honours 2018.
Gail McConnell is a poet, literary critic and an editor. Her work has featured in Poetry Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Manchester Review and The Tangerine. Her long poem, Type Face, was published in Blackbox Manifold in December 2016, while her first pamphlet Fourteen was published in 2018. Her second, Fothermather, is forthcoming with Ink Sweat & Tears in autumn 2019. Stephen Sexton’s poems have appeared in Granta, Poetry London, and Best British Poetry 2015. His pamphlet, Oils, published by The Emma Press in 2014, was the Poetry Book Society’s Winter Pamphlet Choice. He was the winner of the 2016 National Poetry Competition and the recipient of an ACES award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. In 2018 Stephen was one of seven poets presented with the Eric Gregory Award, for his collection The Animals, Moon. If All the World and Love Were Young is published by Penguin this year.
Eve Patten is Professor of English in Trinity College Dublin. She has published widely in nineteenth and twentiethcentury Irish and British literature: her books include Samuel Ferguson and the Culture of Nineteenth-Century Ireland (2004), Imperial Refugee: Olivia Manning’s Fictions of War (2012) and (coedited with Aidan O’Malley) Ireland: West to East: Irish Cultural Connections with Central and Eastern Europe (2013).
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Saturday 5 October and Sunday 6 October
Clandeboye Reading Party – Food for Thought
Saturday 5 October
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
with Lady Dufferin and friends Clandeboye Courtyard 3pm–5pm £20
Clandeboye Courtyard Join us at the Courtyard at Clandeboye throughout the weekend for a series of public talks, discussions, readings, launches and food! The Clandeboye Reading Party brings together staff and students from Queen’s University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin, the local community and Aspects’ audience for the fourth Clandeboye Reading Party. This year the theme of the weekend is Food for Thought.
Join Lady Dufferin and friends to enjoy an afternoon of local delights in the beautiful surroundings of Clandeboye Courtyard. This Food for Thought event, as part of the Clandeboye Reading Party, is sure to be a highlight of the weekend. There will be introductions between historic and contemporary food delights. You are invited to join in the fun and wear your favourite hat!
Saturday 5 October and Sunday 6 October
Lightning Talks Clandeboye Courtyard Saturday 6.30pm Sunday 2pm Free – registration required Early career researchers from Queen’s University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin will give lightning talks about the history, culture and literature of food and drink on both days. These showcases always promote interesting discussions!
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Saturday 5 October
Sunday 6 October
Darina Allen: A Life in Food
The Woodland Chew and Yarn
Clandeboye Courtyard 8pm £10
Clandeboye Courtyard 10.30am–1pm £5 per child/adult
Darina Allen is an award-winning cook and author who runs the world-famous cookery school at Ballymaloe House in East Cork. Her contribution to culinary education was recognised in 2013 when she was awarded the UK Guild of Food Writers’ highest accolade the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’. An ambassador for Irish food, she is part of the International Slow Food Movement for Ireland. Her Simply Delicious series for RTÉ ran for eight series, and last year saw the publication of Simply Delicious, The Classic Collection. She is the author of many other cookery books, including the kitchen bible that is the Ballymaloe Cookery Course and Grow, Cook, Nourish which won The World Gourmand Cookbook Award 2018. Her new cookbook One Pot Feeds All will be launched at this event.
This Forest School family event will spend the morning in the great outdoors in the beautiful Robin Wood. This unique morning of walks, cooking and creative writing will be fun for all the family. We will be using Clandeboye’s very own yoghurt and apples to make delicious food for all on the campfires. Trinity College Dublin’s Pádraic Whyte will be keeping us all on the edge of our logs with his own unique brand of creative writing and storytelling throughout the morning. Robin Wood is home of the Clandeboye Nature Rangers, North Down’s after-school Forest School programme. Please dress for the weather and wear suitable clothing and footwear. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Max two children per adult.
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Sunday 6 October
The History of What We Eat and Drink with Susan Flavin
Clandeboye Courtyard 5pm Free – registration required Susan’s research concentrates on the history of trade, consumption and material culture in Early Modern Britain and Ireland. Her current research – food, culture and identity in Ireland c1550-1650, brings together historians, archaeologists, computational and archaeological scientists, from across the UK and Ireland, to explore food consumption and its cultural interpretation during a complex and dynamic period of Irish history.
Sunday 6 October
Shane Connolly discusses Flowers, Food and Drink Clandeboye Courtyard 3.30pm £10 ‘I love seasonality above all things. Snowdrops in January symbolising “hope”; roses for all the different aspects of love in summer; tulips for fascination in spring; lilac in May symbolising “first love” and “memories of love,” and so the list goes on. So I go to the season first and then work out the flowers I’d like to suggest.’ Shane Connolly Having trained with some of London’s leading flower designers, Northern Ireland native Shane Connolly set up his own company in 1989. Since then he has built an impressive reputation as a floral designer, with a small gifted team of florists, artists and craftsmen working in North Kensington. He designed the wedding flowers for both TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and proudly holds Royal Warrants for both HM The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales. He lectures internationally and has published widely on flowers and flower arranging, most recently with Discovering the Meaning of Flowers: Love Found, Love Lost, Love Restored.
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Sunday 6 October
Women Aloud NI does Food for Thought Clandeboye Courtyard 6.30pm Free event Women Aloud NI invite you to join them for some poetry inspired by food! Enjoy this showcase by local poets celebrating our love of good food! Women Aloud NI is an initiative which aims to raise the profile of the women’s writing scene in Northern Ireland.
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Sunday 6 October
Festival Finale The Darkling Air Album Launch
Clandeboye Courtyard 8pm £12 The Darkling Air are Rachel McCarthy and Michael Keeney joined by their long time collaborators Arco String Quartet. Following the release of their acclaimed debut album Untamed & Beloved in 2016, the group performed extensively on radio and television, receiving widespread airplay (BBC Radio Ulster, RTE, BBC 6 Music) while performing at a host of arts festivals. Filmic folk-noir coupled with poetic lyrics, piano, guitar and strings produce a richly emotive and melancholic sound world accompanied by bespoke projected visuals. This will be the first performance of The Darkling Air’s new album Ancestor. They will perform new songs alongside earlier material. 'The purity of voice, the measured intensity of instrumentation and the depth of lyrical portrait ... I can’t recommend The Darkling Air’s Untamed & Beloved highly enough.' Stephen McCauley – Soundscapes, BBC Radio Ulster 'Powerful vocals combined with circular piano motions and thematic reiteration in strings, a harmonious melancholic scene is certainly set.' CultureHUB magazine
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Young
A weekend of family-friendly creative events to inspire young imaginations
© Balázs Kétyi. Unsplash
Friday 20 September
Friday 20 September
Friday 20 September
Friday 20 September
Toddler Storytime with Make and Take mini books
Illustration Workshop with Barry Falls
Book Inspired Yoga
Tablets and Text
Boom! Studios £7
Boom! Studios 8 years+ 6.30pm – 8.30pm £8
Bangor Carnegie Library 10am – 11am 1 years+ Free event (Booking required) Enjoy a special morning with your little one at our read-aloud story time in Bangor’s Carnegie Library. After hearing some favourite stories together, you'll be using toddler friendly colours and stickers to make your own mini story book to take home!
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Bangor Carnegie Library 3.30pm – 4.45pm 7–12 year olds £7 Illustrator Barry Falls will take the children through activities exploring character, story and how words and pictures can work together to bring a narrative to life. He will use his new book It’s Your World Now and the exhibition to inspire.
Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreas and Guy Parker Bees. 4–7 year olds 4pm – 5pm Breathe and Be by Kate Coombs 7–12 year olds 5pm – 6pm Both sessions will be inspired by the books, bringing them to life through Yoga and Art.
Join digital artist Graham Ginty to create a unique studio visual story 'mash-up'. Using books, words, digital film, sound recording and drawing which will culminate in a short video piece filmed, recorded and edited by the participants. No experience is required and the equipment is provided. All you need is a handful of words and your creative brain!
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Young
A weekend of family-friendly creative events to inspire young imaginations
Saturday 21 September
Saturday 21 September
Saturday 21 September
Saturday 21 September
Creative Natives Sensory Story – The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Comic Book Creations with Jim Laverty
Poetry Collage Making
Cosy Bedtime Stories
Boom! Studios 10am – 4pm All ages Free event
North Down Museum 6pm – 7pm 4 years+ £3 (includes cookie and drink)
Call in to Boom! Studios and contribute to a visual collage – a Myrioyama – originally a set of 19th century visual cards that could be re-arranged to tell a story. Using the words from poet Michael Longley and his poem Starlings, a visual expression of the poem will be built throughout the day. Drop in to contribute to the collage and see it take on a new life.
Get your jammies on and bring a blanket, it’s time to cosy up amongst the fairy lights! You'll be hearing some stories from new books along with some old favourites. See you there with your teddy!
Bangor Carnegie Library 10.30am – 11.30am and 12noon – 1pm 1–5 years £8 The colourful, crazy and very greedy caterpillars feast will be in Bangor! Come and listen to the famous story and then get stuck into exploring all the sensory stations inspired by the tale of a growing butterfly. There’s arty making and painting spots too, so dress for mess and lots of fun!
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Bangor Carnegie Library 2pm – 4pm 7 years+ £8 Learn all you need to know from an experienced and popular comic drawing genius, Jim. You’ll be creating your own comic in this workshop and go home with skills to continue the story!
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Booking Information Book online at aspectsfestival.com Or in person at North Down Museum 028 9127 1200 Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4.30pm Sunday 12noon – 4.30pm Mondays in August: 10am – 4.30pm Ards Arts Centre 028 9181 0803 Monday - Thursday 9am – 5pm Friday 9am – 4.30pm Saturday 10am – 4pm Tickets can be purchased from all Ards and North Down Visitor Information Centres. Refund Policy Tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded, so please check them as soon as you receive them. Access for Disabled Patrons We welcome disabled patrons, but would appreciate knowing your requirements in advance. Please contact North Down Museum.
All events correct at the time of going to print. Aspects Festival reserves the right to make alterations if necessary. No photography/recording of events.
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