Benedict Kiely Weekend

The 14th

BENEDICT KIELY, one of the most distinguished figures in twentieth century Irish literature, was born near Dromore, Co Tyrone in January 1919 and spent his formative years in Omagh, the county town. He moved to Dublin in the late 1930s to study at the National University and while still an undergraduate was engaged as a journalist on The Standard, a now defunct Dublin newspaper. He was later to join the staff of the Irish Independent and later still to write for the Irish Press. His first novel Land Without Stars (1946) was the first of ten novels. He was also a prolific writer of short stories, several of which first appeared in periodicals such as The New Yorker. The Collected Short Stories, 49 in all, appeared in 2001. His works of criticism have included The Poor Scholar, his study of fellow Tyrone writer, William Carleton, Modern Irish Fiction, a review of the novel in mid 20th century Ireland and Raids into Dark Corners. Travel books include Ireland from the Air and All the Way to Bantry Bay. Benedict Kiely was familiar as a broadcaster, largely through RTE’s Sunday Miscellany radio feature, on which he was a stalwart for a quarter of a century from the 1970s to the 1990s.

He made his home in Dublin from 1940 on but he frequently came back to his native Omagh and immortalized it in his fiction. The author died in Dublin in February 2007 and is buried in Omagh’s Dublin Road cemetery not far from the centre of town.

Stephen McKenna

Official website : www.benedictkiely.info

FRIDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER - STRULE ARTS CENTRE Brian Friel Theatre Day (for schools only)

5.00 pm

Registration

6.30 pm

Welcome by the Chairman of Fermanagh and

Omagh's Literary Festival

Brian Friel Theatre Day

Omagh District Council Opening and Launch of

Weekend and

Exhibition 8.00 pm

Friday 11 September 10.00am - 3.00pm For Year 13 & 14 students of English Literature and Performing Arts

Panel discussion with Dervla Murphy and Mohammed Samaana: 'Palestine and the One

This Drama Day represents a unique opportunity to work with

State Solution'

David Grant, Lecturer in Drama, Queen's University, Belfast.

Chaired by Yaser Alashqar

His theatrical workshops will enhance understanding of plays

by Brian Friel, Ireland's finest contemporary playwright.

SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER - STRULE ARTS CENTRE 10.30am

Martina Devlin

A Raid into Dark Corners

11.30am

Tea/Coffee

DERVLA MURPHY

12.00pm

Colette Bryce

Dervla Murphy is an Irish touring cyclist and author of adventure

1.00pm

Lunch

travel books for over 40 years. She has won worldwide acclaim

2.00pm

Conor McCloskey - Raids Into Dark Corners:

for her writing which includes twenty six books.

Proxopera in the context of political Irish

Murphy is best known for her 1965 book Full Tilt: Ireland to

literature of the 1970s

India With a Bicycle, about an overland cycling trip through

Bus Tour (meet at Box Office in Strule Arts

Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. She followed this

Centre)

with volunteer work helping Tibetan refugees in India and

Drinks Reception in Strule Arts Centre

Nepal and trekking with a mule through Ethiopia. Murphy took

Hosted by Chairman of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council

a break from travel writing following the birth of her daughter,

EXHIBITION: A Raid into Dark Corners Omagh Arts Committee is delighted that Omagh native, wood engraver Susan Mannion has agreed to have her first solo exhibition at the Strule Arts Centre in conjunction with the Benedict Kiely Weekend, Omagh's Literary Festival. She received her early education at Loreto Convent Grammar School in Omagh before going on to study archaeology at Queen’s University, Belfast. In recent years she has devoted her time and energy into studying printmaking and specifically wood engraving. Susan is a member of the Graphic Studio, Dublin and one of a very few and diminishing number of wood engravers working in Ireland and Britain today. Susan's work is featured in this year’s Royal Academy of Arts Summer Show in London, the Society of Wood Engravers Annual Exhibition throughout the U.K. and the Wood Engravers Network Triennial Exhibition throughout the U.S.A. Her work has also featured in the Royal Hibernian Academy and Royal Ulster Academy annual exhibitions.

Wood engraving has long been associated with the world of literature and Susan Mannion has created a special solo exhibition of new work which has been inspired by the writing of Benedict Kiely who in turn drew his inspiration from the landscape, people, culture and history of Omagh and its hinterland. The exhibition will largely consist of wood engravings with a number of enamelled copper pieces.

The exhibition runs from Fri 11th Sept to Sat 14th Nov 2015.

Benedict Kiely Weekend

10.00am

3.30pm

8.00pm

8.30pm

Dinner

in

Strule

Café

followed

and then wrote about her travels with Rachel in India, Pakistan, by

entertainment with songs from the catalogue of Jimmy Kennedy

South America, Madagascar and Cameroon. She later wrote about her solo trips through Romania, Africa, Laos, the states of the former Yugoslavia, and Siberia and the Middle East. In 2005 she visited Cuba with her daughter and three

SUNDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER STRULE ARTS CENTRE

granddaughters. Her latest book published in 2015 is entitled,

11.00am

Mark Graham

"Between River and Sea - Encounters in Israel and Palestine".

11.45am

Tea/Coffee

Dervla has normally travelled alone and unaided and has

12.15pm

Michael Harding

encountered many dangerous situations. She lives in Lismore,

1.00pm

Farewell

County Waterford.

MOHAMMED SAMAANA Mohammed Samaana is a freelance writer based in Belfast. His writing has been about the Arab-Israeli conflict and politics in the Arab world in general. He has also written about racism, immigration, Islam, gender equality and social and political issues in Britain and Ireland. His first article was published in Fortnight magazine but his articles are mainly published in Metro Eireann and Belfast Telegraph. He also published a number of articles in Arabic in different media outlets.

Mohammed was born in Palestine where he witnessed the first intifada. After a short nursing career in Jerusalem, He had to leave in order to further his education as studying in Palestine was difficult due to the Israeli restrictions on movement. He received City & Guilds diploma in journalism in 2007 and a master degree in nursing from Queen's University of Belfast in 2011.

YASER ALASHQAR Yaser Alashqar was born in Gaza and now lives in Dublin. He holds a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in Civil Society and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also has a Master’s Degree in International Conflict Resolution studies from the University of Coventry. He lectures at Trinity College on comparative peace processes, Gaza and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and IsraelPalestine in history and international relations.

MARTINA DEVLIN, Born in Omagh, is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist. To date she has eight books published including her number one best-seller Banksters, a co-written account of the Irish banking collapse with RTÉ's David Murphy. Her latest book, The House Where It Happened is a fascinating novel inspired by a true story about the last conviction for witchcraft in Ireland. Martina, who has an MPhil in Anglo-Irish Literature from Trinity College Dublin, started writing fiction after winning a Hennessy Literary Award for her first short story in 1996. She has been shortlisted twice for the Irish Book of the Year Awards and in 2012 won the Royal Society of Literature's VS Pritchett short story award. Her awards are not restricted to fiction alone having been awarded the title National Newspapers of Ireland columnist award in 2011. Now living in Dublin, Martina writes weekly columns for the Irish Independent and is a regular contributor to the Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio 1. This will be Martina's second appearance at the Benedict Kiely Literary Weekend and we are delighted to welcome her back.

The 14th Benedict Kiely Weekend

THE VENUE The venue is Strule Arts Centre, Omagh. Access is via Bridge Street or High Street. Parking at town centre car parks only.

Benedict Kiely Weekend

Omagh's Literary Festival

Omagh's Literary Festival A Raid into Dark Corners

A Raid into Dark Corners COLETTE BRYCE Born in 1970, Colette Bryce is an award winning poet who has published four poetry collections with Picador, including The Full

Indian Rope Trick (2004) and Self-Portrait in the Dark (2008). 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. Her first collection, The Heel of Bernadette, in 2000 was awarded the Aldeburgh Prize for best first collection and the inaugural Eithne Strong Award in Ireland. She won the National Poetry Competition in 2003 with The Full Indian Rope Trick which became the title poem of her second collection. She received the Cholmondeley Award for her poetry in 2010. Colette currently lives in the North of England where she works as a freelance writer and editor. She has been the Poetry Editor of 'Poetry

MARK GRAHAM Mark Graham discovered his love for festivals while hanging around with various ne'er-do-wells, attending festivals, and playing music at many of them, a habit he hasn't managed to kick just yet. As well as publishing the tale of his quest to attend three festivals in Ireland every week for a year, he has written a weekly festival column in The Irish Times and has been a regular contributor to the John Murray Show on RTE Radio 1.

Mark currently contributes to The Anton Savage Show on Today FM. A Year of Festivals in Ireland won Travel Book of the Year at this year's Travel Journalist of the Year Awards, but more importantly, during his Year of Festivals he won both the All Ireland Bucket Singing Championship and The All Ireland Conker Championship. It's quite likely that he's addicted to festivals, Buckfast and crisps.

London'.

CONOR McCLOSKEY Conor McCloskey is a highly regarded teacher of English Literature who has contributed to the event on a number of occasions. This year he will be discussing Kiely’s 1977 novella ‘Proxopera’ in the context of its being a response to on-going violence in Ireland in the period, alongside the work of a range of other Irish writers such as Seamus Heaney and Brian Friel, who were simultaneously referencing the contemporary political situation in their work.

JAMES DOYLE James Doyle, chief executive of Turnpike Books, who recently published a new edition of Proxopera will also be in attendance to briefly outline the publishing history of the company.

The 14th

MICHAEL HARDING Born in Cavan in 1953, Michael Harding is an Irish short-story writer, novelist, and playwright. He has published three novels: Priest (1986), The Trouble With Sarah Gullion (1988) and Bird in the Snow (2008). Michael has received a number of prestigious awards for both acting and writing including Best Actor, Dublin Theatre Fringe Festival (2003) for his performance in Gare St Lazare's production of Swallow and was nominated for Best New Play at the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards (2007) for The Tinker's Curse. Staring at Lakes won Non-Fiction Book of the Year, 2013 Irish Book Awards and his new memoir Hanging with the Elephant is considered to be a worthy successor. He is a member of Aosdána. Now living in Westmeath, Michael writes a weekly column in The Irish Times. He has recently played the part of Bull McCabe in The Field at the Gaiety Theatre to rave reviews

ACCOMMODATION Special rates are available for a limited number of rooms in the Silverbirch Hotel and can be booked through their booking line 028 8224 2520. The hotel is situated just outside the Town Centre on the Gortin Road (B48) and has ample car parking.

The Visitor Information Centre can arrange accommodation in other venues in the area if required.

The telephone number for the Visitor Information Centre is 028 8224 7831 or 048 8224 7831 from the Republic of Ireland.

COST Full Weekend Ticket: £85 or Euro equivalent This includes attendance at all sessions, light refreshments throughout, buffet supper on Friday, lunch and dinner on Saturday and the bus tour. It does not include the cost of accommodation.

Individual sessions: £8.00 or Euro equivalent Concession: £5.00 or Euro equivalent.

Cheques in sterling/euros payable to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.

Sunday Special (2 consecutive sessions): £10.00 or Euro equivalent BOOKING To book contact Strule Arts Centre Box Office on 028 8224 7831 or 048 8224 7831 from the Republic of Ireland, or e-mail using info@struleartscentre.co.uk To buy tickets online: go to www.struleartscentre.co.uk See www.facebook.com/KielyWeekendOmagh

Friday 11th – Sunday 13th September 2015 Strule Arts Centre, Omagh

This event is organised by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and Omagh Arts Committee

A festival of reading, discussion and workshops from leading and emerging writers.

Grahams Printers 028 8224 9222