Joyce Carol Oates, William Kennedy, Roddy Doyle and Edna O'Brien are among the writers arriving in Galway this week for the second Aran Islands International Poetry and Prose Festival, which opens tomorrow.
Lest you think, however, that the six-day event takes place exclusively on the Aran Islands, not so: as noted on these pages by Sadbh last month, the festival's title is rather disingenuous, as just one day's events occur on Inis Mor.
For the rest of the week, the events will take place in University College, Galway. Readings will be in the O'Flaherty Lecture Theatre, which seats 350 people. The festival was initiated by Daniel Doyle, of the Young Writers Institute at the Kingswood-Oxford School in Connecticut, in collaboration with the English Department at UCG. And so Galway will hardly have recovered from the Film Fleadh, the Arts Festival and the Races, let alone the Cuirt literature festival earlier this year, when the City of the Tribes will be hosting a score of scribes. Among those travelling from abroad will be Robert Pinsky, America's poet laureate; Booker-winner novelist and poet, Michael Ondaatje; and Pulitzer-Prize winners Frank McCourt and Rita Dove. There are also a number of Irish writers giving readings, including Nuala Ni Domhnaill, Ciaran Carson and Hugo Hamilton and Mary O'Malley.
The schedule for the festival entails early starts and late evenings. Each day's events begin between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. with a creative writing workshop, which the public are invited to attend. Over 150 people are travelling from the US for the week's events, so there's bound to be plenty of trans-Atlantic discussion. Many of those travelling from abroad will be staying in the university residences, so the college's bar will be busy. The opening reading of the festival, by poet Eamon Grennan, will be tomorrow, at 7.30 p.m, while among subsequent highlights will be a reading by Frank McCourt at 7 p.m. on Monday, followed an hour later by a Robert Pinsky poetry reading. Tuesday's highlights include a poetry reading by Ciaran Carson at 1 p.m., a prose reading by Michael Ondaatje at 2 p.m., and a reading from William Kennedy at 3 p.m. Xui Di, the Chinese dissident poet, reads at 3 p.m. on Thursday, while Rita Dove reads her poetry at 7 p.m. the same day.
The three papers of the week will be given by UCG lecturers: Dr Patrick Sheeran, Dr Riana O'Dwyer, and Dr Brian Arkins will lecture on Yeats, Synge, and Joyce respectively.
Other events include a special presentation to Ann Porter, Synge's niece, at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by actress Sighle Meehan performing the soliloquy from Synge's Riders to the Sea.
WEDNESDAY is "Aran Islands Day". Organised by Comharchumann Inis Mor, this is bound to be popular, especially if the elements are in any way clement at all. or.Weather permitting, the readings will take place in Dun Eochla on Inis Mor, up near the disused lighthouse and far from the madding crowds that frequent the island's other great fort, Dun Aonghasa.
The visiting readers to Inis Mor will be John Montague, Roddy Doyle, Tim Pat Coogan, Edna O'Brien, Joyce Carol Oates and Cathal O Searcaigh. Three island-based writers will also give readings: Dara O'Conaola from Inis Oirr, Dara Beag from Inis Meain, and Sean Rowntree from Inis Mor, whose poems will be translated into Irish by Michael Gill.
The readings are due to start - approximately - at 1.30 p.m., after lunch, described intriguingly as an "Aran Islands Cook-Out". While you tuck in, you can listen to traditional music. Should the rain spoil the plans, the readings will take place in an alternative venue, which people will be directed to on arrival at the island on the day. Presumably lunch will then be a Cook-In.
The festival starts tomorrow, August 15th, and runs until Friday. A season ticket for the readings costs £50; otherwise all events are £5 each.
Further information from 091-750418. For information on Aran Islands Day, call 099-61354
