www.artsoverborders.com
In the northern literary lands
Booking and further information www.artsoverborders.com Fermanagh Box Office Ardhowen Theatre 97 Dublin Road Enniskillen BT74 6FZ Tel: 028 6632 5440
Donegal Box Office An Grianan Theatre Port Road Letterkenny Tel: + 353 (0) 74 9120777
Derry~Londonderry Box Office Nerve Centre 5-6 Magazine Street Derry~Londonderry BT48 6HJ Tel: 028 7126 0562
Events may be subject to change so please check our website for latest information.
Welcome We’re delighted to be bringing back our Happy
We’re also very conscious that the writers listed
Frielfest to Derry~Londonderry and Donegal.
circumstance rather than choice and we see this
Days Beckett Festival to Enniskillen and our
However, this year these festivals are put into a new constellation - the northern literary lands. The northern literary lands consist of eleven
border counties, each of which has a powerful
landscape connection to either a giant of
literature or a great literary text: Armagh
(Jonathan Swift), Derry (Seamus Heaney & Brian Friel), Down (St Patrick and C. S. Lewis),
Early booking is advised to avoid disappointment.
Fermanagh (Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde),
and Tyrone (Flann O’Brien & John Montague) in
above are all men. This is a matter of historical
as an important issue going forward. Our belief
is that the creation of the northern literary lands offers an opportunity to inform audiences and
visitors about writers, both male and female, of whom they may be unaware, and we believe these writers have a much better chance of
finally receiving due recognition through the
collectivity of the northern literary lands rather than through occasional, isolated events.
Arts Over Borders will present year-round
Northern Ireland and Cavan (Dermot Healy),
activity in the northern literary lands with
Louth (the Tain), Monaghan (Patrick Kavanagh)
that there are already a number of festivals and
Donegal (Brian Friel), Leitrim (John McGahern), and Sligo (W. B. Yeats) in the Republic of Ireland. The border becomes a spine that holds these
counties and their literary commonality together
from Ireland’s Ancient East (The Tain, St Patrick and mythical Narnia) to the north west’s Wild
Atlantic Way and its landscape associations with two of our late contemporary literary giants,
Brian Friel and Seamus Heaney.
festivals operating as its peaks. We’re very aware summer schools taking place, plus the recent
opening of the Seamus Heaney HomePlace in
Bellaghy. So the challenge is to build on this and demonstrate to local and visitor alike a coherent vision that illuminates the border counties’ extraordinary literary associations and the
beautiful landscapes that inspired many of these great writers.
The writers listed are all of the past but are in no
With Brexit not far off, it feels even more
(though a list that includes three Nobel laureates)
bond between our counties. Arts Over Borders
way definitive. They are our subjective choice
that we are using as a foundational layer upon
which to feature many other writers, past and
current, who are already being celebrated or who
deserve to be. However, we shouldn’t underplay
the fact that to have so many world-class writers
important to celebrate the social and cultural
seeks to overcome borders of all kinds – cultural, educational and societal.
Sean Doran and Liam Browne Artistic Directors, Arts Over Borders
in such a small geographical area is astonishing.
The focus will always be fluid and we see it
changing from year to year as different writers
take centre-stage either through our own activity
or the activity of others - we don’t in any way
own the northern literary lands, we are merely a
part of its development.
Principal funders
In association with
Other partners
Arts Over Borders Team
Honorary Patrons
Artistic Directors: Seán Doran / Liam Browne
Kevin Barry
Paul Muldoon
Production Manager: Barry McKinney
Adrian Dunbar
Fiona Shaw
Public Relations (ROI): Conway Communications
Roy Foster
Volunteers Manager: Sally Rees
Eimear McBride
Festival Manager: Karen Friel, Nerve Centre
John Banville
Public Relations (UK): Bolton Quinn
Lisa Dwan
Programme Design: Tonic Design
Nick Laird
Supporting Staff: Heather White, John Graham
Lisa McInerney
Sinéad Morrissey
Media partners
Glenn Patterson Colm Tóibín For an updated list of Irish and international patrons please refer to the website.