John Hewitt International Summer School by The John Hewitt Society

John Hewitt Society International Summer School

Monday 28th July – Friday 1st August 2014

The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre, Armagh

www.johnhewittsociety.org

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the

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Principal Funders

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Summer School Sponsors

BA N B R I D G E

DISTRICT COUNCIL

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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: £7 or otherwise specified Daily ticket: £42 (includes lunch) Weekly ticket: £190 (includes lunch) Three-day creative writing workshop: £35 Stay in touch: www.facebook.com/john.hewitt.3158

@The_JHS

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Region: ‘an area which possesses geographical and economic coherence…some sort of traditional and historical identity and…demonstrates cultural and linguistic individuality.’ – John Hewitt, Regionalism, the last chance This year’s Summer School is themed ‘Regionalism: The Last Chance?’, looking not just at political issues surrounding local identity in a globalised world, but creative and cultural explorations of issues relevant to Northern Ireland’s divided society too. Is Hewitt’s mid-twentieth century view of regionalism still valid in the face of subsequent demographic and political changes? Have decades of migration and globalised entertainment and communications diluted cultural individuality? Or are we seeing, as in the Scottish independence debate, a regeneration of interest in regionalism? Maybe small (and local) really is beautiful? Join us at the 27th John Hewitt International Summer School as we bring together writers, artists, performers and speakers for a feast of arts, culture and literature to explore and debate these themes.

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CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th & Thursday 31st July 2.15pm – 3.45pm | £35 for three-day workshop Hone your writing talents under the direction of one of our seven creative writing tutors, each an established and experienced writer and practitioner. These intensive sessions run over three days, with six genres to choose from. Each session is 1hr 30 mins long. Spaces are limited – advance booking is essential. Supported by the Open University and the University of Baltimore.

Poetry

Paul Batchelor

Poetry

Nessa O’Mahony

Memoir Children’s Fiction Fiction Playwriting Crime Fiction

Maureen Boyle Nicky Harlow Roisin McAuley Kimberley Lynne Brian McGilloway

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ART EXHIBITION New Paintings by Brian Ballard The Gallery, 28th July â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 16th August Whilst his artwork is featured in collections across the world, from Scotland to Saltzberg, Brian Ballard draws most of his inspiration closer to home, dividing his time between Belfast and Inishfree. His work can be a response to ordinary every day household objects or a landscape as rough and wild as the coast of Donegal. We welcome this exhibition of new work to Armagh as part of the John Hewitt International Summer School.

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Monday 28th July OFFICIAL OPENING

FICTION

Lord Mayor of Armagh

Joseph O’Connor

10:45am FREE Join us as the Lord Mayor of Armagh opens this year’s Summer School.

1:05pm £7 Hear the best-selling novelist and award-winning screenwriter read from his new novel The Thrill of It All. Collating interviews and lyrics in the style of memoirs and diaries, whilst touching on the soundtrack to his characters’ lives that are infused with blues, ska, classic showtunes, new wave and punk, this masterfully woven story follows a band and a friendship over 25 years.

OPENING ADDRESS

President Michael D. Higgins 11:15am £8 A passionate political voice, a poet and writer, academic and statesman, promoter of inclusive citizenship and champion of creativity within Irish society, President Michael D. Higgins has previously served at almost every level of public life in Ireland, including as Ireland’s ﬁrst Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. The John Hewitt Society is delighted to welcome President Higgins to Armagh to deliver the opening address at this year’s Summer School. Introduced by Lord Rana.

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 2:15pm Three day course: £35 Hone your writing talents under the direction of one of our seven creative writing tutors, each an established and experienced writer and practitioner.

www.johnhewittsociety.org

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RECEPTION

Hosted by the North South Ministerial Council 5:30pm

EXHIBITION LAUNCH

New Paintings by Brian Ballard LECTURE

Peter Fallon The Heaney O’Driscoll Memorial Lecture 4:15pm £7 2014 marks the inaugural talk of an annual series to take place over the next three years, dedicated to the memories of two of the most inﬂuential poets to have emerged from Ireland, and long-term supporters of the John Hewitt Society, Seamus Heaney and Dennis O’Driscoll. Friend, collaborator, publisher and colleague to both men, Peter Fallon pays tribute to two greats of Irish literature.

7:15pm Free Born in Belfast, Brian Ballard trained

ﬁrstly at the College of Art, Belfast and then at the College of Art, Liverpool. Friend of John Hewitt, the poet once sat for Ballard and the resulting artwork hung for many years in the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in tribute to Hewitt’s long-standing relationship with the theatre. We welcome this exhibition of new work to Armagh.

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Monday 28th July POETRY

Ruth Padel & Tom Paulin 8:30pm £10 Ruth Padel is an award-winning British poet, writer and Teaching Fellow in Poetry at Kings College London. Her poetry collections have been shortlisted for all major UK poetry prizes. Her new collection, Learning to Make an Oud in Nazareth, focuses on conflict, craftsmanship and the Middle East. A zealous and prolific writer, Tom Paulin is perhaps as well-known for his poems, plays and wide-ranging works of criticism as for his often opinionated appearances on BBC2’s The Review Show. His most recent collection of poems is Love’s Bonfire.

MUSIC

Traditional Music in the Footlights Bar 10pm FREE

www.johnhewittsociety.org

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Tuesday 29th July POETRY

TA L K

Margaret Ward

Ciaran Berry & Peter Fallon

9:45am £7 ‘We are all one in the suffrage faith?’ The first of two events marking 100 years since the Ulster suffragette trials. While the campaign for the parliamentary vote shared the same aim, British and Irish women operated in very different political environments. Feminist, historian & former Director of the Women’s Resource & Development Agency Dr Margaret Ward explores some of the complexities of fighting for women's right to citizenship at a time when national allegiances were also in dispute.

11:15am £7

Poets. His publisher Peter Fallon founded The Gallery Press at the age of eighteen and has since published more than four hundred books by Ireland’s ﬁnest established and emerging authors. His own poetry collections have been published worldwide and his ﬁrst collection in seven years, Strong, My Love, was released in May 2014. Supported by Poetry Ireland

FICTION

David Park

Ciaran Berry is an Irish poet who has spent the last decade living, writing, and teaching in the United States. His ﬁrst collection, The Sphere of Birds, was published in 2008 by The Gallery Press and his work has also featured in The Best of Irish Poetry, Best American Poetry, and Best New

1:05pm £7 David Park has written eight previous books including The Big Snow, Swallowing the Sun, The Truth Commissioner and The Light of Amsterdam. In 2014 he was long listed for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. David will be discussing and reading from his most recent novel The Poets’ Wives, which was selected as the One City One Book read for Belfast in May 2014.

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

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Tuesday 29th July CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 2:15pm Three day course: £35 Hone your writing talents under the direction of one of our seven creative writing tutors, each an established and experienced writer and practitioner.

D E B AT E

Regionalism: A Smaller Stage? 4:15pm £7 Broadcaster C.L. Dallat, journalist Peter Geoghegan and former Centre for Cross Border Studies Director Andy Pollak debate the relevance of Hewitt’s view of a regionalism in an increasingly globalised world. Are we seeing a resurgence of interest in local identity, as in the Scottish Independence debate? Or has globalisation diluted regional identity?

T H E AT R E

Shrieking Sisters 7:15pm £10 The second of our events remembering the Ulster Suﬀragette movement, Shrieking Sisters is a thought-provoking, humorous and moving rehearsed reading set against the backdrop of historic events and the national struggle for emancipation. In the early hours of August 1st 1914, a group of suﬀragettes led by Mrs Lilian Metge attempted to blow up Lisburn Cathedral. What made a respectable middle class supporter of women's rights resort to active militancy? Written by Maggie Cronin and Carol Moore Performed by Maggie Cronin, Laura Hughes and Carol Moore

www.johnhewittsociety.org

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Tuesday 29th July FICTION

Bernard MacLaverty 8:30pm £8 An evening with one of our greatest contemporary writers. The awardwinning author of Cal and Grace Notes, MacLaverty’s most recent publication is Collected Stories, ﬁve collections of short stories from a career spanning almost 40 years. He has also written radio plays, for television, screenplays and libretti. ‘MacLaverty manages to capture the hidden feelings of loneliness, failure, and heartache that lie underneath simple and very ordinary lives.’ J.P. O’Malley.

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

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Wednesday 30th July TA L K

POETRY

Peter Geoghegan 9:45am £7 'A New Dalriada? Scotland, Ireland, Ulster and the referendum' The Gaelic kingdom of Dalriada stretched from Lochaber in the Highlands to Ballycastle, County Antrim. A millennium and a half later, on the eve of the Scottish referendum, are we witnessing the emergence of a dynamic regionalism that could unite Scotland, Ireland and Ulster in new ways? Or could independence push identities on these isles further apart? Peter Geoghegan is an Irish writer and journalist based in Scotland. He has written on Scottish independence for various outlets including The Guardian, The Washington Post and Al Jazeera and is currently working on a book about the referendum for Luath Press.

Paul Batchelor & Miriam Gamble 11:15am £7 Miriam Gamble’s ﬁrst collection, The Squirrels Are Dead, was published in 2010 and won her a Somerset Maugham Award in 2011; her second, Pirate Music, is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in September 2014. Paul Batchelor’s ﬁrst full-length collection of poems, The Sinking Road, was published by Bloodaxe in 2008. His work has appeared in anthologies such as The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry, When Love Speaks, and Being Human.

FICTION

Eoin McNamee 1:05pm £7 Eoin McNamee’s latest novel Blue is the Night completes his ‘Blue Trilogy’ of crime thriller novels, based on true murder cases from 1950s Northern Ireland. Attorney General Lance Curran must deal with political corruption obscuring the course of justice as well as the ghosts that haunt his family life. Eoin reads from this latest work and talks about weaving real life cases into ﬁction.

www.johnhewittsociety.org

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Wednesday 30th July V I S U A L A R T S TA L K

Brian Ballard 2:15pm £7 To coincide with his exhibition in The Gallery, Brian Ballard oﬀers an insight into his creative output in this illustrated talk, looking back over his career and aspects of his current work, which has mainly focused on large landscape canvases.

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Reﬂections and Echoes: Plays, Prose and Pictures inspired by Northern Ireland

John Hewitt by Brian Ballard

4:15pm - 6:15PM Free By the end of July seven young American students – aspiring journalists, creative writers and playwrights – will have completed a month-long residency at the AmmA centre in Armagh, using writing to explore the human condition, understand themselves, their relation to others, and their relationships to

society. This Summer School session will give them an opportunity to showcase and talk about their work. A wine reception will follow. Supported by ieiMedia Armagh

FICTION

New Island Short Stories 7pm £8 A showcase of short stories from Irish publishers New Island. The House on Parkgate Street is the ﬁrst collection of short stories from award-winning novelist Christine Dwyer Hickey, set in various eras around the city of Dublin. Michael J. Farrell’s new collection Life Here Below considers the thin veil that separates the world we think we know from the other universe we suspect. Joining Christine and Michael will be Peter Hollywood, whose most recent publication Hawks reﬂects the changing face of Northern Ireland. Supported by New Island

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

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Wednesday 30th July T H E AT R E

POETRY

Fishamble’s Silent by Pat Kinevane

The Lifeboat with Damian Smyth & Erin Lynn

8:30pm £13 Homeless McGoldrig once had splendid things. But he has lost it all including his mind. He now dives into the wonderful wounds of his past through the romantic world of Rudolph Valentino, in this brave, bold, beautiful production. Silent is currently wowing audiences on its extensive Irish touring and internationally in Europe and the USA. Fishamble: The New Play Company is an internationally acclaimed, multiaward winning company dedicated to new work for the theatre. Written and performed by Pat Kinevane Directed by Jim Culleton Composed by Denis Clohessy Produced by Marketa Dowling

10pm FREE The Lifeboat is a monthly reading series hosted by Stephen Connolly and Manuela Moser that pairs an established poet with a new poet. Damian Smyth, born in Downpatrick in 1962, is the author of ﬁve collections of poetry, most recently Mesopotamia, published May 2014. Erin Lynn lives in New York and is an MFA candidate in poetry at Columbia University. In 2011, she received her MA from Queen’s University Belfast. She served as a founding editor of The Open Ear and currently edits a column for Coldfront Magazine.

www.johnhewittsociety.org

The Lifeboat presents:

Damian Smyth & Erin Lynn

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Thursday 31st July POETRY

TA L K

Ross Martin 9.45am £7 A leading public policy professional in Scotland, Ross Martin is currently Chief Executive of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. He previously held the post of Director of the Centre for Scottish Public Policy. In light of the upcoming Scottish independence referendum, Ross will be addressing the key issues facing the Scottish economy and the potential points of policy discontinuity represented by the referendum. Supported by the Centre for Cross Border Studies

W.N. Herbert & Frances Leviston 11.15am £7 W.N. Herbert has published seven volumes of poetry and four pamphlets, and is widely anthologised. His last ﬁve collections with Bloodaxe Books have won numerous accolades. He has been shortlisted twice for the T.S. Eliot Prize and twice for the Saltire. Public Dream, Frances Leviston’s ﬁrst collection, was published in 2007 by Picador and shortlisted for many awards, including the T. S. Eliot Prize. Her poems have appeared in the London Review of Books, the Guardian, The Times and various anthologies.

FICTION

Mary O’Donnell 1.05pm £7 Co. Monaghan-born poet and novelist Mary O’Donnell’s books include six collections of poetry and the bestselling novels, The LightMakers, Virgin and the Boy and The Elysium Testament. Her new novel, Where They Lie, faces the legacy of ‘The Disappeared’ head on, exploring how families cope with tragedy and how history, when ignored, can poison love, family and society. CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 2:15pm Three day course: £35 Hone your writing talents under the direction of one of our seven creative writing tutors, each an established and experienced writer and practitioner.

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

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Thursday 31st July POETRY & FICTION

John Montague & Elizabeth Wassell 4.15pm £8 Friend of John Hewitt and patron of the John Hewitt Society, John Montague is one of Ireland’s leading poets. Born in New York but reared in County Tyrone, John Montague rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s with his collections including Poisoned Lands and the long poem The Rough Field. Now with The Pear Is Ripe, he has conﬁrmed his reputation as a dazzling prose writer and memoirist. John will be joined by his wife Elizabeth Wassell. Elizabeth is the author of The Honey Plain, Sleight of Hand, and The Thing He Loves. In addition, her short stories have appeared in various publications, including the Dublin Review and the Irish Times.

T H E AT R E

Mary Kenny presents Dorothy Parker Made Me a Feminist 7:15pm £9 Broadcaster, journalist and writer Mary Kenny brings her usual wit and flair to this tribute to the provocative New York poet, short story writer, critic and satirist. Kenny portrays the sardonic and sharp Parker whilst bringing to the fore the troubles and vulnerability of a woman fighting for freedom against a patriarchal system, reflecting on her lifechanging discovery of Parker’s work as a schoolgirl in 1950s Dublin.

www.johnhewittsociety.org

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Thursday 31st July MUSIC

The Máirtín O'Connor Band 8.30pm £15 One of the musical forces behind the now legendary Riverdance, accordion player Máirtín O’Connor is also a proliﬁc writer of new material. Joined by former All-Ireland Championship winner Cathal Hayden on ﬁddle and singer and guitarist Seamie O’Dowd, individually they have solid reputations of master musicians with astounding skill and diversity, but collectively they produce a vibrant, brilliantly charged experience. If this musical powerhouse does not get you on your feet, nothing will. ‘These three mean business and achieve art. Bravo!’ – Earle Hitchner, Wall Street Journal & Irish Echo.

Box Office: 028 3752 1821

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Friday 1st August TA L K

POETRY

Frank Ferguson & Kathryn White

Matt Bryden & Vona Groarke

9:45am £7 ‘John Hewitt and the Art of Region’ Frank Ferguson and Kathryn White of the University of Ulster will look at John Hewitt’s centrality to the arts in Ulster during his lifetime. Local artists permeated Hewitt’s poetic and ideological views of self and home. Part of the talk will be based on A North Light, Hewitt’s autobiography on his time living in Northern Ireland, edited by Dr Ferguson and Dr White.

11:15am £7 Matt Bryden’s Night Porter, was a winner of the Templar Poetry and Pamphlet competition in 2010. Matt will be reading from his ﬁrst collection Boxing the Compass, published in 2013, which takes in childhood, teaching, Eastern Europe, relationships, illness and death. Vona Groarke is an Irish poet who has published six collections with The Gallery Press, the latest being X, a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for Spring 2014. She teaches poetry in the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester in the UK. Supported by Poetry Ireland

www.johnhewittsociety.org

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Friday 1st August FICTION

Jennifer Johnston 1:05pm £7 Jennifer Johnston is one of the foremost writers of her generation. She has won the Whitbread Prize, the Evening Standard Best First Novel, and Best Book of the Year twice. She was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize with Shadows on Our Skin. Jennifer will be reading from her latest novel A Sixpenny Song, where death brings a young woman back to Dublin from London, to the house of tyranny she thought she had long escaped. ‘She is a storyteller of truth and its consequences…A Sixpenny Song is a truly moving novel.’ – Irish Examiner.

CREATIVE WRITING SHOWCASE 2.15pm Free Hosted by poet and workshop leader Paul Batchelor, 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

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Friday 1st August D E B AT E

The Idea of Region 4pm ÂŁ7 Journalist and author Malachi O'Doherty invites the panel to reďŹ&#x201A;ect on what the idea of region means to them. The panel comprises of political journalist and commentator Alex Kane, Duncan Morrow, Director of Community Engagement at the University of Ulster, and Carrie Twomey, website manager of the Boston College oral history archives. Supported by Stratagem

CLOSING RECEPTION

Close of Summer School 5:45pm A reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Armagh brings the Summer School to a close.

www.johnhewittsociety.org

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The John Hewitt Society About Us

Upcoming Events

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

Literary Lunchtime with Claire McGowan at the Belfast Book Festival Wednesday 11th June 2014 | 1pm The Ulster Hall | £5

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.

Literary Lunchtime with Órfhlaith Foyle Wednesday 24th September 2014 | 1pm The Ulster Hall | £5

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’.

Poetry Reading with Pat Boran, Theo Dorgan and Anne-Marie Fyfe, Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s Wednesday 29th October 2014 | 8pm The John Hewitt Bar | £8, £7 concession. Literary Lunchtime with Eimear McBride Wednesday 3rd December 2014 | 1pm The Ulster Hall | £5 For further information call 028 9032 4522 or click on www.johnhewittsociety.org Registered address: The John Hewitt Society, 7 North Street, Belfast, BT1 1NH Company No NI 41294 Charity Reg No XR 52617

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PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE Monday 28th

Tuesday 29th

Wednesday 30th

Thursday 31st

Friday 1st

9.45am

10.45am Oﬀicial Opening Lord Mayor of Armagh

Talk Margaret Ward

Talk Peter Geoghegan

Talk Ross Martin

Talk Frank Ferguson & Kathryn White

11.15am

Opening Address President Michael D. Higgins

Poetry Ciaran Berry Peter Fallon

Poetry Paul Batchelor Miriam Gamble

Poetry W.N. Herbert Frances Leviston

Poetry Matt Bryden Vona Groarke

1.05pm

Fiction Joseph O’Connor

Fiction David Park

Fiction Eoin McNamee

Fiction Mary O’Donnell

Fiction Jennifer Johnston

2.15pm

Creative Writing Workshops

Visual Arts Talk Brian Ballard

Creative Writing Workshops

Creative Writing Showcase

4.15pm

Talk The Heaney O’Driscoll Memorial Lecture Peter Fallon

Debate Regionalism: A Smaller Stage?

iei Media Student Showcase

Poetry & Fiction John Montague & Elizabeth Wassell

Debate 4pm The Idea of Region

7.15pm

5.30pm NSMC Reception 7.15pm Exhibition Launch

Theatre Shrieking Sisters

Fiction 7pm New Island Short Stories

Theatre Mary Kenny: Dorothy Parker Made Me a Feminist

Lord Mayor’s Reception Close of Summer School

8.30pm

Poetry Ruth Padel & Tom Paulin

Fiction Bernard MacLaverty

Theatre Fishamble’s Silent by Pat Kinevane

Music The Máirtín O'Connor Band

10pm

Music

Poetry The Lifeboat