Successful Dromineer Literary Festival
Series of events by the lake and in Nenagh
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Journalist and Broadcaster Edel Coffey with Moneygall native, novelist Eimear Ryan and writer Louise Nealon, ahead of the DNLF Contemporary Voices event at the Nenagh Arts Centre. Odhran DucieImage 2 of 6
Declan Murphy and Lucy with Dr Allan Mee at Lough Derg Yacht Club for the DNLF ‘Spirit of the River’ event. Odhran DucieImage 3 of 6
Mary Flynn working in the box office at Nenagh Arts Centre for the DNLF events. Odhran DucieImage 4 of 6
Catriona Crowe, Mary Wilson and Professor Diarmuid Ferriter backstage at the DNLF ‘Keepers of Stories’ event at Nenagh Arts Centre. Odhran DucieImage 5 of 6
Arthur McGuinness and Fran O’Brien attending the DNLF Keepers of Stories event at Nenagh Arts Centre. PHOTO: ODHRAN DUCIE Odhran DucieImage 6 of 6
DNLF Schools Poetry Competition, Third and Fourth Class winners. Back row: Margaret Folan (DNLF Competition Coordinator), Melanie Scott (Tipperary Arts Officer), Cllr Michael O’ Meara (Cathaoirleach, Nenagh MD), Eileen Sheehan (Poet and Judge). Front row: Iseult Ní Dhonnacha (third, Gaelscoil Aonach Urmhumhan), Orla Gaynor (first, Kilruane NS), Caoimhe Kennedy (second, Kilruane NS). PHOTOS: ODHRAN DUCIE Odhran DucieThe Dromineer Nenagh Literary Festival got off to a great start on Friday night with a special pre-publication event with ‘Aisling’ authors Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght.
Interviewed at Nenagh Arts Centre by author and Irish Times columnist Roisin Ingle, the two writers spoke hilariously about their writing routine; how they write together and the concept for the series. Emer also spoke very candidly about her mental health and they both spoke about their great friendship, without which the books could never have existed.
Saturday started off at the Lough Derg Yacht Club in Dromineer with the schools poetry prize, presented by Cathaoirleach of Nenagh Municipal District Michael O'Meara and judged by poet Eileen Sheehan. The festival stayed in Dromineer to welcome Kerri Ní Dochartaigh and Madeleine D’Arcy, who discussed their books ‘Thin Places’ and ‘Liberty Terrace’. Introduced by Professor Sarah Moore FitzGerald, who described the books as her recent favourites, the two authors spoke about how inspiration, trauma and recovery are central to their work.
Back in Nenagh for the afternoon, the Nenagh Arts Centre saw events about history and politics for the afternoon and evening. The creators of the Bad Bridgets Podcast Leanne McCormick and Elaine Farrell were in conversation with Catriona Crowe and brilliantly described their research into the tragic stories of the less successful Irish women who went to the USA in the nineteenth century.
Susan McKay, author of ‘Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground’ made two key points (of many) during her interview with Moneygall-born novelist Eimear Ryan. Namely that ‘People’s unionism has been shaken by Brexit’ and that ‘both the Catholic and Protestant Churches imposed huge restriction in both jurisdictions in Ireland’. It was a fascinating, informative and important discussion. Saturday night saw a full house in listening to Diarmaid Ferriter, author of ‘Between Two Hells’ with Catriona Crowe interviewed by RTÉ’s Mary Wilson about the Irish Civil War and how we need to examine and carefully reflect on events that led to the foundation of the Irish State.
Sunday began with a return to Lough Derg Yacht Club to hear Declan Murphy discuss his book about his birdwatching, ‘The Spirit of the River’ with Allan Mee, Project Manager, Irish White-tailed Sea Eagle reintroduction. The event had beautiful readings and fascinating conversation about nature and the environment. The afternoon event was with debut novelists Eimear Ryan and Louise Nealon. Interviewed by journalist and author Edel Coffey, both authors spoke about how they wrote their novels inspired partly by their own lives but that the novels were not autobiographical.
The closing event of the festival was an enthralling mix of music and words with Hothouse Flower and multi-instrumentalist Peter O’Toole accompanying very moving readings by Aifric McGlinchey from her poetry and memoir.