Bealtaine
Nationwide

Bealtaine is a chance for people to make new and challenging work, a chance to communicate traditions between the generations. It is a chance for the novice to discover a talent until then unseen and a chance for a long-dormant skill to find a new outlet. Each year, Age & Opportunity invites local authorities, arts centres, libraries, Active Retirement groups, care settings, community groups and clubs, associations from every part of the country to run Bealtaine events that celebrate creativity in older age.

For more details go to http://www.bealtaine.com

May at the National Library of Ireland
Dublin 2

Tuesday, 8 May between 2.00pm to 3.30pm (registration at 1.45 pm)

Bealtaine Festival 2012

‘Memories into Memoir’

An interactive lecture and discussion on Memoir Writing with Irene Graham, Founder and Director of the Memoir Writing Club and The Creative Writer’s Workshop. Bring your ideas and experience to this afternoon session with Irene and discover how to creatively translate life experience into memoir.

Free but booking required. To book a place contact us at learning@nli.ie or 01 603 0259.

Monday, 14 May at 11am

Bealtaine Festival 2012

Learn how to use the NLI

Have you thought about using the NLI? Join us for this introduction where we will show you how to get a reader’s ticket, how to search the library catalogues, how to order materials and much more. Free, no booking required.

Wednesday, 16 May at 7.00pm

History Ireland Hedge School

‘Irish army deserters and the morality of neutrality’

Panel discussion with Professor Brian Girvin (University of Glasgow), Dr Michael Kennedy (Executive Editor of the Royal Irish Academy's Documents on Irish Foreign Policy), Professor Geoffrey Roberts (UCC) and Professor Euan O’Halpin (TCD). Free no booking required.

Thursday, 17 May between 11.00 am and 12.30 pm

Bealtaine Festival 2012

Taking care of Your Collection

Join a member of the Library’s Conservation staff for this workshop where you will learn how we care for our collections, and pick up some tips on looking after your own family papers.

Free but booking required. To book a place contact us at learning@nli.ie or 01 603 0259.

Monday, 21 May at 1.10pm

Bealtaine Festival 2012

Poetry Reading with Paul Hetherington and Petra White

Australian Poetry Ltd., Bealtaine Festival and NLI invite you to a reading by poets Paul Hetherington and Petra White. Paul Hetherington is Assistant Professor of Writing at the University of Canberra. Petra White was the joint winner of the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry (2010).

Free no booking required.

Wednesday, 23 May at 7.00pm

Bealtaine Festival 2012

‘Sweet Memories from Irish Childhood’

Join Damian Corless, author of 'You'll Ruin Your Dinner: Sweet Memories from Irish Childhood’ as he  transports us back to the days when sweet shop windows across the country boasted tempting confectionery displays and when Grafton Street was the sweet shop capital of Ireland.

Free no booking required.

Friday, 25 May (9.30 am – 6.00 pm) to Saturday 26 May (10 am – 1.15 pm)

The third Home Rule crisis: centenary perspectives

The NLI presents this two day conference to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Home Rule crisis of 1912.  Key note speakers include Professor Roy Foster (Hertford College, Oxford) and Professor Ronan Fanning (UCD). View the full programme at www.nli.ie.

Free but booking essential as places will be limited. To book a place contact us at 01 603 0200 or www.nli.ie

Wednesday, 30 May at 8 pm

‘As I roved out’: A performance of new traditional songs

Bealtaine Festival 2012, supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

A concert of new songs on the theme of travelling and emigration performed by a group of traditional singers who have been working on a research project facilitated by artists Michael Fortune and Aileen Lambert in the NLI and the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA).

Free but booking required. To book a place contact us at learning@nli.ie or 01 603 0259.

Thursday, 7 June (9.15 am - 5.30pm)

Joyce for the non-Joycean: Introducing James Joyce

Want to prepare for Bloomsday 2012? This one-day immersion course in the library where Joyce loved to learn will introduce you to the man and his work. The course will be delivered by Dr Gerard Dineen.

Cost €30. Places are limited so booking is essential. To book a place call 01 603 0259 or e-mail learning@nli.ie

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Words On The Street - Literature Night 2012
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The first evening of its kind in Ireland as readings from European Contemporary Fiction are held in 12 venues around the Temple Bar/Christ Church area of the city. Readings of 15 minute duration by well known Irish personalities will be held every half hour from 6:30pm to 9:00pm.

For full details on the writers, readers and venues go to http://www.dublincityofliterature.ie/literature-night-2012.html

The followin cultural institues will take part in Literature Night 2012

Alliance Francaise

Austrian Embassy

Belgian Embassy

British Council

Dutch Embassy

Goethe-Institut Ireland

Italian Institute of Culture

Instituto Cervantes

Maltese Embassy

Polish Embassy

Romanian Embassy/Romanian Cultural Institute

Bealtaine Events at the Central Library
Central Library, Ilac Centre, Dublin 1

Central Library Ilac Centre in association with the Irish Writers Exchange presents the following events during the Bealtaine Festival.

Thurs 17th May 1pm - Authors Ifedinma Dimbo and Ros Fuller will read from the collection of short stories -Dublin: Ten Journeys, One Destination (Workshop 1 of 2)

Thurs 24th May 1pm Jeanette Rehnstrom and Ros Ruller will read from the collection of short stories -Dublin: Ten Journeys, One Destination (Second and final workshop)

Thurs 23rd May 1pm - Australian poets Paul Hetherington and Petra White will reading their work in an event organised by Australian Poetry with the support of the Australia Council.

Admission Free. Booking Essential. Tel: 01 8734333 or email: centrallibrary@dublincity.ie

2012 International John McGahern Seminar
Co. Leitrim

The annual International John McGahern Seminar held in Leitrim moves this year to the earlier dates of Thursday 24^th to Saturday 26^th May.

The seminar is organised by NUI Galway and Leitrim County Council to commemorate the work and literary achievements of John McGahern, one of Ireland’s best known and respected modern writers.

Contributors over the three days will include eminent writers, critics and academics including renowned US based author and recipient of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, Yiyun Li.  The keynote address - McGahern and the Historian - will be delivered by Prof. Diarmaid Ferriter. 

For full programme details go to www.leitrimarts.ie

To book contact Christine at ckelly@leitrimcoco.ie or 071 9621694

Stinging Fly on Tour
Co. Louth

The Stinging Fly is in Drogheda on May 26 and May 30 for two events in association with Droichead Arts Centre, as part of The Stinging Fly on Tour 2012.

Saturday, May 26: Fiction workshop with Sean O'Reilly

Short-story writer and novelist, Sean O'Reilly, will lead a fiction workshop focusing on work in progress. Each participant will be expected to submit their work in advance, and all writing submitted will be shared prior to the workshop. In-depth discussion of participants' work will form the basis of the workshop.

Tickets for the workshop can be booked at the Droichead Arts Centre website

Early booking is encouraged and participants should submit work in progress (a short story or 10-15 pages from a longer piece) as soon as possible. Work in progress should be sent to stingingfly@gmail.com.

Time: 10am-5pm

Cost: €50

Wednesday, May 30: Stinging Fly Showcase Event

Join The Stinging Fly for an evening of literature and music. With readings by the novelist, Emer Martin, short-story writer, Mary Costello, and poets, Alan Jude Moore and Leeanne Quinn. Plus music from special guest, Briana Corrigan (The Beautiful South), who has recently released her second solo album, Redbird.

Time: 7:30pm

Free entry, tickets can be booked at http://droicheadartscentre.ticketsolve.com/shows/873481474/events 

If you have any questions about either of these events, please email Declan Meade (stingingfly@gmail.com)

George Bernard Shaw Conference
UCD, Belfield

G. B. SHAW: BACK IN TOWN will take place from 29th May to 1st June at University College Dublin. This event is co-sponsored by UCD Humanities Institute and The International Shaw Society. This conference is focused on Shaw's return to Dublin. For full details of the conference and to register go to http://bernardshawindublin.yolasite.com/

Listowel Writers' Week
Co. Kerry

Since it's inception in 1970 Listowel Writers' Week has been recognised as a major cultural event in Ireland's literature festival calendar. North Kerry is the birthplace of many of Ireland's most prominent writers past and present including Dr. John B Keane, Dr Bryan Mac Mahon, Professor Brendan Kennelly, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, George Fitzmaurice, Maurice Walsh and Robert Leslie Boland. Writers' Week Festival was established to celebrate those writers and to provide an opportunity for emerging Irish writers to develop their talents and meet new audiences.

Dublin Writers Festival
Dublin

The Dublin Writers Festival returns Monday 4^th to Sunday 10^th of June 2012.  The festival has been spreading the word about great contemporary writing and ideas for the last 13 years and promises to deliver yet again an inspiring, thought-provoking and enjoyable programme.  Experience unique insights into the work of Irish and International writers through our mix of intimate single-author spotlight events, thematic panel discussions, new commissions and workshops. Meet some of your favourite authors and be surprised by someone new. Get inspired for some new reading!

Full 2012 Festival Programme details will be launched on 2nd May. In the meantime, the festival is delighted to announce that some of its signature events are going on sale early. These events include Richard Dawkins in conversation, songwriters turned novelists Josh Ritter and James Fearnley, best-selling fantasy author of the Inheritance series Christoper Paolini and in a great honour for the festival, Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.

For full festival details and booking information go to www.dublinwritersfestival.com

The Borris House Hay Festival
Co. Carlow

Heralding in a new arrival to Ireland’s burgeoning spoken word scene, this June sees the inaugural Borris House Hay Festival in County Carlow. A collaboration with the world-renowned Hay Festival, this two-day feast of spoken word boasts a magnificent line up.

It takes the best of our Irish authors – Colm Toibin, John Banville, Anne Enright, Marina Carr and brilliant local poet Kerry Hardie – and brings in some big-hitters from the UK such as journalists Craig Brown, Ben Anderson and Lionel Shriver, film-maker Stephen Frears, best-selling author Katie Hickman, pulpit-philosopher AC Grayling, former ex-poet Blake Morrisson, and a couple of real treats: The Waterboys’ Mike Scott reading from his memoir, and North Indian singer Vidya Shah accompanying historical novelist William Dalrymple; and to cap it all, the genius behind Spitting Image, Blackadder, Not the Nine O’Clock News and QI, John Lloyd, will chat to comedy writer and good friend Sean Hardie about laughter.

Curated by Vivienne Guinness, this weekend will bring debate, verse, performance, conversation, reading in the wonderful surroundings of the seats of the High Kings of Leinster. Click here for the full programme 

300th Anniversary of the Old Library, Trinity College
Trinity College Dublin

In 2012 Trinity College Library will mark the tercentenary of the laying of the foundation stone of the Old Library, one of the great libraries of the Western world. To commemorate the occasion a one-day conference will be held on Monday 25th June 2012 in The Thomas Davis Theatre, at Trinity College Dublin, followed by a celebratory reception in the Long Room. The fee for the conference is €75 standard fee and €50 for students. For full details go to http://bit.ly/HJj9zU

Bram Stoker Centenary Conference
Trinity College Dublin

The main aim of the conference will be to try to read Stoker in the round, expanding the critical focus away from an exclusive obsession with Dracula and taking account of the full extent of Stoker’s writing, from his other Gothic novels, The Lair of the White Worm and The Snake’s Pass, to his short stories and journalism. It will also consider Stoker’s relationship to late nineteenth-century Ireland and especially Dublin, and address his status as an ‘Irish’ writer of substance. The conference will be held in a year of activities to mark the centenary of Stoker’s death.

For more details click on the following link http://www.tcd.ie/English/news-events/Stoker%20Conference%202012.php

Samuel Beckett Summer School
Trinity College Dublin

The Samuel Beckett Summer School celebrates Beckett with a week long series of lectures, seiminars, field trips, exhibits and performances. Visit www.beckettsummerschool.com for registration details

Cork International Short Story Festival
Cork City

In 2000, the Munster Literature Centre organised the first Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival, an event dedicated to the celebration of the short story and named for one of Cork's most beloved authors. The festival showcases readings, literary forums and workshops. Following continued growth and additional funding, the Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award was introduced in 2005, coinciding with Cork's designation as that year's European Capital of Culture. The award is now recognised as the single biggest prize for a short story collection in the world and is presented at the end of the festival.

In 2002, the Munster Literature Centre introduced the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize, an annual short story competition dedicated to one of Ireland's most accomplished story writers and theorists. This too is presented during the short story festival.

For full programme details and booking information please go to www.corkshortstory.net