Clifden Arts Festival has always been focused on live events. Sitting down to listen to a concert or hearing the voice of the poet. Last year was our first foray into digital events and this year we have developed that further with a new series of pre-recorded Digital events. Conversations with writers, actors, poets, musicians, artists and filmmakers.
This year we’re operating on a pay what you want/can model. Any and all support for our digital programme is greatly appreciated. It is with the help of the community that makes the whole Festival is possible every year.
Gabriel Byrne
Award-winning actor Gabriel Byrne joined Des Lally to speak about his new book, Walking With Ghosts, and to read selected extracts from this highly acclaimed memoir and to have a conversation.
Sponsored by: Pat Molloy
Doireann Ni Griofa
in conversation with Thomas McCarthy
Doireann Ní Ghríofa is a poet and essayist. ‘A Ghost in the Throat’ was awarded Irish Book of the Year and described as “powerful” (New York Times), and “sumptuous” (The Sunday Times). She is also the author of six critically acclaimed books of poetry, each a deepening exploration of birth, death, desire, and domesticity. Awards for her writing include a Lannan Literary Fellowship (USA), the Ostana Prize (Italy), and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Her most recent book of poems is ‘To Star the Dark.’
https://doireannnighriofa.com/
photo: Clare Keogh
The Clifden Arts Festival Bursary Award winners
in conversation with the Students of Clifden Community School
The Clifden Arts Festival Bursary for Artists and Performers. This award is made annually to performers and artists who wish to further their careers or studies in the performing arts.
So far the three recipients of the Bursary Award are:
2018 – Séamus Uí Fhlatharta – Traditional Musician and Dancer
2019 – Lisa O’Donnell – Visual Artist
2020 – Tristan Heanue – Film Maker and Actor
Join the three winners as they speak to the students of the school and share their experiences of how the arts impacted their lives growing up in the local area and how they make living as artists in their adulthood.
Sponsored by: The Community Foundation of Ireland
Melatu Uche Okorie
in Conversation with Johanne Webb
Melatu Uche Okorie is a writer and scholar. Born in Nigeria, she moved to Ireland
in 2006. It was during her eight and a half years living in the direct provision system that she began to write. She has an M. Phil. in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin, and has had works published in numerous anthologies. In 2009, she won the Metro Éireann Writing Award for her story ‘Gathering Thoughts’.
Melatu has a strong interest in the rights of asylum seekers and migrant education
in Ireland and is currently studying for a PhD in Education at Trinity College, Dublin. This Hostel Life is her first book.
Sponsored by: The Community Foundation of Ireland
Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín was born in Enniscorthy in 1955. He is the author of nine novels including The Master, Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary and Nora Webster and, most recently, House of Names. His work has been shortlisted for the Booker three times, won the Costa Novel Award and the Impac Award. He has also published two collections of stories and many works of nonfiction.
Colm’s newest book, The Magician, tells the story of Thomas Mann, whose life was filled with great acclaim and contradiction. He would find himself on the wrong side of history in the First World War, cheerleading the German army, but have a clear vision of the future in the second, anticipating the horrors of Nazism.
Join Des Lally as he talks to Colm and Colm reads some select passages from his new book.
Sponsored by: Clifden Bookshop
