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Talking Books:
A quartet of conversations about the business of writing
As part of my residency for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council ‘Place & Identity Per Cert for Art Programme’, I am conducting a series of intimate public conversations with leading Irish writers about the art of writing and the everyday practices, routines and difficulties involved with creating a sustained piece of literature.
Broadening out to include questions and comments from the audience, these evenings are intended to be enjoyed by emerging writers and by anyone interested in contemporary Irish writing.
It seems to me that the conversation format is a very relaxed and informal medium where any question or query is neither too small or too big to be asked, where the public – and most especially emerging writers who are in the process of completing a sustained work – can compare experiences with other writers who have gone through the same process.
All writing starts in that same place, with that idea that comes almost unbeknownst and refuses to go away. The initial enthusiasm is huge, but as with any journey where it is impossible to read the signposts and where, by its nature, the destination has to remain unclear until we turn the corner and find it, there are huge pitfalls and invariably those moments that marathon runners call “The Wall.”
Hopefully the Talking Books conversations will explore how different people run on through the wall and push on towards those word loved and dreaded phrase in the business of writing – “the end.”
These conversations are presented by the ‘Place & Identity Per Cent’ for Art Programme in association with the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Library Service.
Deansgrange Library @ 7:00 p.m.
Thursday April 16th
Dermot Bolger in conversation with Gerard Donovan, author of Schopenhauer’s Telescope and Julius Winsome.
Thursday May 14th
Dermot Bolger in conversation with Brian Keenan, author of An Evil Cradling and Four Quarters of Light: An Alaskan Journey.
Thursday June 11th
Dermot Bolger in conversation with Deirdre Purcell, author of Falling for a Dancer & Diamonds and Holes in My Shoes.
Thursday July 9th
Dermot Bolger in a final conversation with Claire Kilroy, author of Tenderwire, & John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
Admission to these conversations are free, but advance booking is essential. Deansgrange Library at T:01-285 0860 to reserve tickets.
Other forthcoming events:
May
The Consequences of Lightning by Dermot Bolger has its second run in the Axis Art Centre from May 19th to May 30th.
Details: As Sam – the first tenant to move into the old tower blocks – lies dying, those touched by his life find themselves summoned to his bedside. Frank, his successful son who turned his back on him to forge a new identity; Katie, the unmarried mother whose life had seemed destined to intertwine with Frank; Anne, her young daughter whom Jeepers adores; Martin, a Jesuit in a torn jumper who has lived through every change in Ballymun. Book by phoning 01-883 2100 or see www.axis-ballymun.ie
May 14th: Dermot Bolger in conversation with Brian keenan (see Talking Books page)
May 21st: Dermot Bolger will be making a speech at the annual award ceremony for the DCU Library Creative Writing Competition.
June:
June 6th:
THE FROST IS ALL OVER
9PM Project Art Centre as part of the Dublin Writers Festival 2009
Tickets €15 / 12.50
A traditional Irish music performance set to the poetry of Dermot Bolger.
The Frost is all Over is an evocative live music / theatre performance that brings together two of Ireland's foremost solo traditional musicians with the poetry of one of Dublin's best-loved writers.
Award-winning novelist, playwright and poet Dermot Bolger (Temptation, The Family on Paradise Pier, The Lament for Arthur Cleary) was moved by the music of accordion player Tony MacMahon and multi-instrumentalist David Power to create a suite of 13 poems that explores 'the ever deepening relationship between musicians and the music they play throughout their lives.'
Narrated, against a backdrop of archive imagery, by IFTA nominated actor Eamon Hunt (The Running Mate), Bolger’s verse is interwoven with the music of MacMahon and Power to create a performance of traditional and contemporary resonance. Music and words are connected by themes and suggestions. Poetry and imagery fuse effortlessly with the tunes that inspired them. The result is a captivating mixed-media event, steeped in the past, yet vigorous, thoughtful and pulsing with life.
Note: These poems are read by the actor Eamonn Hunt and Dermot Bolger does not appear in person in this show.
June 11th: Dermot Bolger in conversation with Deirdre Purcell (see talking Books)