Ireland

literary tourism northern ireland

An Overview of Literary Heritage Tourism in Northern Ireland

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Northern Ireland is home to a rich literary tradition; in this article we take a look at the literary heritage of Northern Ireland and its legacy of writers who have helped place Northern Ireland firmly on the map as a literary tourism destination.*

Northern Ireland’s literary culture and heritage is strong, offering many locations which inspired a multitude of writers. Home to literary giants including; Heaney, Beckett, Lewis and Friel, each of these writers are memorialised through a series of different literary tourism experiences available across the state.

Northern Ireland’s Literary Heritage

literary tourism seamus heaney

The Rostrevor Inn. Image Credit: Tourism Ireland

In the eyes of the world, Northern Ireland’s association with literature would probably focus on the life and work of the Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney.  Heaney was born in the village of Bellaghy in County Derry and his poetry is suffused with place names and landscape of its environs, – Mossbawn, Magherafelt, Castledawson, Broagh, Anahorish, Church Island, Lough Beg.

Heaney’s intimate knowledge of place was profound.  As he wrote, ‘The landscape is image.  It’s almost an element to work with, as much as it is an object of admiration.’  In 2016 a brand-new, purpose-built literature centre, Seamus Heaney Homeplace, the first of its kind in Ireland, was built on the site of the old police-station in Bellaghy, celebrating Heaney’s life and work and attracting visitors from around the world.

But Seamus Heaney is only part of an extraordinary literary cluster of writers and texts within the six counties of Northern Ireland; wherever you travel there are unexpected and rewarding associations.  Take for example Enniskillen in county Fermanagh, Ireland’s only ‘island town.’  Set in the beautiful watery landscape of Lough Erne, Enniskillen is linked to another Nobel Laureate, Samuel Beckett, who was educated at Portora Royal School in the town, excelling at rugby, cricket and boxing.  The school grounds still retain much of the feel of Beckett’s time, the land sloping down towards the lough on which Beckett would often go out rowing.

seamus heaney centre

Seamus Heaney Home Place. Photo Courtesy of Mid-Ulster District Council

Beckett first arrived at Portora in 1920 and fifty years before him Oscar Wilde attended the same school.  Two more different personalities it would be hard to imagine, the intense, introspective, gnomic Beckett, the outrageous, loquacious Wilde.  It was at Portora that Wilde’s great love of Greek and Latin was nurtured over the seven years he studied there and his beloved children’s story, The Happy Prince, emulates the topography of Enniskillen in its descriptions.

The landscape itself can offer surprising juxtapositions.  In County Down, the Mountains of Mourne (known world-wide because of the Percy French song of the same name) allows you the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of  Ireland’s national saint, Patrick, who as a boy worked as a shepherd on the sides of  these mountains.  Whilst St Patrick has become a world-wide brand, very few are aware that he is the author of Ireland’s first written literature, his Confessio.  Move forward fifteen hundred years and The Mournes and the adjacent Carlingford Lough were the inspiration for the mythic world of C S Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.  As Lewis wrote ‘That part of Restrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia…it made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise its head over the next ridge’.

Next door is the historic city of Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, and the county has close associations with the great satirist, Jonathan Swift.

The Robinson Library in Armagh, built in the 18th century, hosts some wonderful treasures from Swift’s time in the city. These include a very early edition of Gulliver’s Travels, with amendments in Swift’s handwriting in the margins. These were corrections angrily made by the author after his publisher had made changes to avoid legal action.  Swift stayed with friends in the county and begrudgingly acknowledged in letters that he was a rude and difficult guest.  His masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels, was written while residing as a guest at Loughry Manor in Cookstown (Co. Tyrone) in the 1720s.  In Armagh each summer, a high profile summer school is held in the name of another great Northern Irish poet, John Hewitt.

In Strabane, (just north of Cookstown where Swift wrote the majority of Gulliver’s Travels), was born another comic genius, Flann O’Brien, author of masterpieces such as At Swim Two Birds and The Third Policeman.  It’s little known that O’Brien lived for the first twelve years of his life in Strabane; in the family home his father insisted that they speak only Irish. Tyrone also has strong connections with the writers John Montague and Benedict Kiely.

The potential of literary heritage in Northern Ireland and the borders region has over the last ten years been significantly developed by the festival event organization, Arts Over Borders, of which many of Ireland’s great writers and artists associated with the border counties are Patrons, including novelists Eimear McBride and Glenn Patterson, poets Paul Muldoon and Nick Laird, actors Adrian Dunbar, Fiona Shaw and Roma Downey, historian Roy Foster.

Arts Over Borders produces an annual multi-arts festival celebrating the life and work of Samuel Beckett that was instigated in Enniskillen in 2012 (Happy Days: Enniskillen International Beckett Festival) followed in 2015 by A Wilde Weekend, also held in Enniskillen.  Both festivals have focused on curating events that where possible eschew traditional venues and instead utilise new or found spaces (caves, abandoned houses, islands, police stations, churches, etc.), creating events that are truly experiential for audiences.

In 2015 this multi-arts model was taken further by Arts Over Borders with the creation of Ireland’s first cross-border festival in Derry-Londonderry and County Donegal (Lughnasa FrielFest) celebrating the playwright Brian Friel who had strong associations with three border counties, Derry, Donegal and Tyrone.   Since 2012, all three festivals curated by Arts Over Borders have been part of their long term vision to develop a cross border region of literary activity,  the northern literary lands, an inland literary destination equivalent to the Wild Atlantic Way.   Derry-Londonderry has an established venue, the Verbal Arts Centre, dedicated to writing and literacy developmental work in the city.

Most of Northern Ireland’s counties sit on the Irish border, a border that is often seen as divisive, yet is actually a means of connecting eleven counties (five in Northern Ireland and six in the Republic) into a region that boasts a literary heritage unmatched anywhere else in the world.  As well as the counties already mentioned above, the northern literary lands also includes County Louth where Ireland’s great epic poem and Europe’s oldest vernacular text, the Tain Bo Cuailnge, is situated; Monaghan, home of the poet Patrick Kavanagh and where there is a dedicated literary centre celebrating the poet in Inniskeen; Leitrim, where much of John McGahern’s fiction is set; and Cavan, where the writer Dermot Healy grew up.  And of course there’s Sligo, the inspiration behind so much of Nobel laureate W B Yeats’ poetry.

The Irish landscape is composed of places steeped in association with the older Gaelic culture, whether through the world of the ancient epics or through the sacredness of certain sites, and as we travel across the distinctive landscapes of each county our experience and perspective today is heightened and enriched by the new layers of meaning our writers continue to lay down.

Northern Ireland’s Contemporary Literary Landscape

In more modern times the literature of Northern Ireland has taken on a distinct identity related to place and the historical significance of the region being born in 1922 with the partition of Ireland. The tensions surrounding this partition provided a theme for many authors and this theme lives on in current literary development.

There are many modern prolific writers from Northern Ireland. While this article focuses on Northern Ireland’s literary heritage, it is worth noting that there are many modern writers include Man Booker Prize winner Anna Burns and her contemporaries Wendy Erskine, Brian Moore, Robert McLiam Wilson, Frances Molloy and Eoin McNamee, Jan Carson, Wendy Erskine, David Park, Richard O’Rawe, Glenn Patterson and Lucy Caldwell who now represent Northern Ireland on a global literary stage.

This incredibly rich literary heritage and strong contemporary generation of writers make Northern Ireland a must-visit literary tourism destination.

USEFUL LINKS

CREDITS:

  • Article by Liam Browne and Sean Doran, Arts Over Borders
  • Intro paragraph by cultural consultant Karan Thompson
  • Seamus Heaney Photo Credits: Ireland’s Content Pool
NOTES:

*Belfast is not included in this article as it is not included in the NPA region.

 

Spotlight on Literary Tourism Product Innovation Programme in Northern Ireland & Cavan and Monaghan.

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Lead Partner on the Spot-lit Project, ICBAN, has recently selected seven projects to participate in the PIP programme and receive innovation supports in the programme territory of Northern Ireland and counties Cavan and Monaghan.

Iniskeen Enterprise Development Group – Patrick Kavanagh Literature Project

The Patrick Kavanagh Centre is a visitor experience and performance space dedicated to the life and work of poet Patrick Kavanagh.  It is newly refurbished and will open to the public in July 2020.  The visitor experience includes a series of six memory boxes augmented by touch-screen terminals, each dealing with a period or aspect of Kavanagh’s life and work. The centrepiece of the experience is a stunningly evocative 15-minute film featuring readings of Kavanagh’s poetry.

With support from the Spot-lit project, a cluster of authentic experiences will be created, using literature as a theme – for visitors to enjoy over a day/ two days in this rural area. There has been substantial investment in the new Visitor Experience in the Kavanagh Centre recently but the Group’s view is that the key to the success of the Centre will be to link and further integrate it with the Kavanagh Trail and Kavanagh Country more widely, as a pivotal element of a rural tourism cluster, better combined with other priority segments of the market to give wider appeal, including heritage, food and drink, walking and cycling.

It is envisaged that the Kavanagh Centre – which tells the story of the poet himself – his life, work and the influences that shaped his writing – will be the central ‘experience’ in this cluster and that sites/activities/attractions/businesses will be promoted to visitors who will choose which ‘experience’ best suits them, so that it is tailor-made to their own needs.

Patrick Kavanagh Centre

Droimnín Destinations

Droimnín Destinations is a new business established with the intention of providing specialised tourism initiatives working with a range of stakeholders throughout County Cavan – from the Chamber of Commerce, adventure centres, genealogy, museums, heritage, accommodation sector, theatres, and all artists.

The Spot-lit project will assist in developing bespoke literary tours to the domestic, European, and International ‘culturally curious’ tourist. These tours will explore Cavan’s rich literary heritage through a culturally packed experience of art, music, drama, the virtual and the adventurous reality.

The trails will follow writers of the past and their ties to Cavan; Dean Jonathan Swift, Brinsley Sheridan, Charlotte Brook and the more contemporary names of Tom MacIntyre, Dermot Healy and Michael Harding. Events will also offer avant garde exhibitions from young award-winning artists and a chance to take part in workshops on sculpture, ceramics, contemporary crafts as well as participating in literary performances that combine music with the spoken word.  Droimnín Destinations will offer workshops that combine poetry, art and place in unique Irish traditional settings that explore Cavan in its richest literary and artistic sense. Input from the community and local businesses sector will realise a totally distinctive experience for the intelligent traveller.

The Light Theatre Company – Bloomsday Festival

The Light Theatre Company was conceived by Director, Alistair Livingstone and Writer, Csilla Toldy as a vehicle to develop and perform high quality theatre in small alternative venues. To date it has produced Bananas, a one-woman piece based on mental ill health, homelessness and recovery for the East Belfast Festival and subsequently toured it and The Emigrant Woman’s Story, to various venues in the North and South of Ireland.

The Spot-lit project will help the development and delivery of a new Bloomsday Festival in Rostrevor, County Down. It will also help to expand local links associated with CS Lewis, Charles Dickens and Seamus Heaney. The Light Theatre Company view the Spot-lit project as an opportunity to capitalise on the literary and creative heritage and potential of Rostrevor and County Down as a tourism generator.

Todd’s Leap Activity Centre –Farrell’s Lanavoye

Established 30 years ago, Todd’s Leap Activity Centre was the brainchild of Benny O’Hanlon. When Benny acquired the two neighbouring farmlands, beside his family home, his inspiration for Todd’s Leap, came from a verse of a poem that he had been taught in school.  The poem ‘Lanavoye’ by the local writer Patrick Farrell (1856 – 1938) laments of the ‘happy colony’ that once resided on the beautiful glens of Lanavoye but through time had emigrated away. Patrick writes ‘oh would kind fate where brave men lived, let joy once more prevail. With the children’s merry laughter, ringing on the evening gale’. Coincidently, the glens of Lanavoye make up the 100 acres of rugged picturesque countryside, where Todd’s Leap is based.  Patrick’s vision was adopted by Ben as the vision for Todd’s Leap and along with his wife & four children, Ben would set about creating an outdoor attraction, that would welcome people back to ‘Lanavoye’ and joy would once more prevail with merry laughter ringing through the glen.

With the assistance of the Spot-lit project, Todd’s Leap will host a seven-day, free admission poetry festival with guest speakers, readings, activities, old traditions, music, food stalls, story-telling, trails workshops, and poetry competitions. An outdoor literacy schools’ programmes will be developed, which combine creativity and literacy in an instructor-led outdoor environment. The programmes will include outdoor trails, storytelling, poetry reading, reading and writing activities, outdoor adventure activities and drama workshops. A Writers’ retreats will also be developed, hosted by writers Shirley Rocks and Eddie McClenaghan, that will offer sanctuary in peaceful log cabins to allow writers to create their own work and come together with like-minded writers. They will also be given the opportunity to explore the works of Patrick Farrell and other local writers.

Todds Leap

Lurgan & North Armagh George Russell Festival Society (GRFS)

The Society runs an Annual Festival in Lurgan, County Armagh centred around the heritage of George Russell – better known as ‘A.E.’. The Festival includes various talks and a historic walking tour as well as poetry readings and ‘open mic’ nights. As Russell was a fantastic artist as well as poet, author, editor and publisher, the Festival includes exhibitions of his art.

The Spot-lit project will help to build the AE Annual Festival in Lurgan as a successful and sustainable literary tourism offering. The first step is to establish a strong online presence. Spot-lit will also help to create a literary hub based on AE’s myriad literary connections within a 20-30 mile radius of Lurgan, and working with the support of the John Hewitt Society.

Lurgan George Russell Festival Society organisers Cathy McGibbon and Michael McKernan

 

Armagh Rhymers – Digital Guidebook

The Armagh Rhymers are one of the most celebrated traditional music and theatre ensembles on the island of Ireland. Since we were founded in 1970’s, we have delighted audiences in schools, festivals throughout Ireland and around the world. Through music, storytelling and drama, we provide an experience that is both entertaining and educational. Our colourful costumes evoke a sense of tradition and history and encapsulate the spirit of the Wren boys and the ancient house visiting traditions of Ireland, where the kitchen floor became the stage. The Rhyming tradition is a celebration of the ‘theatre of the people’ and has inspired many poets such as Seamus Heaney, Brendan Kennelly, John Montague and John Hewitt. Cualinge is set at Emain Mhacha, just outside the city.

Armagh is the ancient primatial and ecclessiastical capital of Ireland. It’s poem and song traditions are many and linked to the beautiful landscape which helped to inspire artists across centuries. Today Armagh retains these traditions, the music and liteary scene is very vibrant and the Armagh Rhymers uphold ancient traditions springing from the landscape and its people.

Our project is a digital guidebook launching in early 2021, using The Armagh Rhymers stories,  poems, music and art to take people on a virtual journey of our area, to help them learn more and encourage them to visit and experience our rich culture for themselves. Our guidebook wants to highlight the hidden stories and how they interweave from ancient times to modern poets.

Navan Fort: Image Credit Charles Freger

 

Strabane Business Improvement District – Flann O’Brien Literary Programme

Strabane BID Company was set up in 2016 to increase the prosperity of Strabane town by delivering a programme of events and supports to encourage people to live, shop and visit the town. This is delivered via three strands – supporting local businesses, accessing finance and delivering an arts and culture calendar of events for the town. In addition to supporting local musicians and artists through our annual festivals and events, it was recognised that further development was needed on the literary tourism offering. Strabane has a rich culture of poets and literary greats, including the greatly talented and globally celebrated Flann O’Brien and the Strabane BID wanted to celebrate his work and showcase his heritage.

With support from the Spot-lit project, a programme of events will be developed to celebrate Flann O’Brien and his work. This project has the potential to become a very significant cultural tourism product for Strabane as Brian O’Nolan / Flann O’Brien / Myles Na Gcopaleen is a literary figure of international renown and his birth place originates within the Bowling Green Square of Strabane Town.  It is envisaged that the project programme will be launched in October as this is the month of Brian O’Nolans birth and will be hosted in various venues across Strabane Town. These connections will be explored and exploited through music, drama, heritage and discussion.  A programme of literary initiatives will be developed to celebrate the life of Flann O’Brien (Myles Na Gcopaleen) and his world-renowned works. These will build on the grass roots appreciation of the author, as well as developing school and community group workshops, and completing a hiking trail.

In tandem with the SME Product Incubation Programme, a new Literary Tourism Model known as ‘Wilde Things’ will be developed by fellow Northern Ireland Spot-lit partner, Arts over Borders. Wilde Things is based around the schooldays of Oscar Wilde in Enniskillen and is another opportunity for local businesses to develop new literary tourism products and services through the project.

Cairde Sligo Arts Festival: Introducing Cairde Connected

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Our Spot-lit colleagues Cairde Sligo Arts Festival have put together an exciting programme of events which will be shared online from July 8th to July 11th.  Join the conversation:  @cairdefestival  #CairdeConnected

View Full Programme of Events HERE

Cairde’s literary programme has been growing year by year and now, more than ever, it is vital to remain open to divergent voices and viewpoints, and to allow ourselves to be curious, inspired and moved.

 

 

Spotlight on Spot-lit: Five Irish Projects Chosen to Participate in Spot-lit Literary Tourism Product Innovation Programme

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We are moving ahead with the Spot-lit programme, working with partners across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Finland and Iceland. 

Following a call-out for proposals, the Spot-lit teams across the partner regions selected in excess of twenty literary tourism related businesses & organisations to be supported through our Literary Tourism Product Innovation Programme. To read more about this programme, click here. 

This programme will also include a Literary Tourism Business Exchange Programme where participating organisations in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Finland and Scotland will form a literary tourism-related cluster giving businesses the opportunity to network, transfer knowledge and support each other in the development of Literary Tourism and jointly and individually promote literary products through the Digital App being developed by our Finnish project partners.

Today, we are showcasing the five selected Irish organisations. In the West of Ireland, successful projects were selected from across a range of bookshops, festivals, literary organisations and publishing. 

Tertulia Bookshop, Co. Mayo 

Tertulia a bookshop like no other

“Tertulia, a bookshop Like no other” is more than just a bookshop, it is a space for people to engage in and experience literature and philosophy in Co. Mayo. The Spot-Lit supported project is to develop the bookshop in Westport as a hub for literary and philosophy events. 

Tourists and locals are encouraged to visit the actual shop and participate in events being held, they can then continue that connection by becoming members and participating in our on-line membership/community forums.

Through Spot-lit, a new experiential product offering is being developed for visitors to Westport; half and full-day “Literature and Philosophy” events throughout the year. These events will involve speakers, workshops and debates based on the model of a mini Citizen’s Assembly, using experts and informed debates. Right now events are taking place online via the innovative Tertulia TV  YouTube show is being being beamed into book lover’s homes throughout Mayo, the west and beyond, see Tertulia TV for more. We will also leverage our unique position on the ocean and the Wild Atlantic Way for example with Wild Atlantic Writing events.

Mayo Celtic Holidays Ltd./Kiltimagh Tourism Association


The voluntary-run Kiltimagh Tourism Association promotes and develops tourism in this rural area in Co. Mayo, as well as organising a number of festivals. The Spot-lit supported project here is focused on “Aintoine Raifteirí”, a wandering musician with a fiddle and like so many vagrant musicians of the time he was taught to play an instrument so that they would be able to earn a living.

The Spot-lit supported programme will highlight several events throughout the year culminating in RAFTERY RETURNS’ in October 2021 and annually after this time. Included in the programme of events are creative writing and performance skills with children in the area, readings and workshops as well a literary tour through Cill Aodain and a programme to reach out to the visually impaired community.

”Spot-lit affords us the opportunity to deliver on our aims, to make Kiltimagh into a ‘Raftery’ town, put Cill Aodain on the literary map, nurture future generations of young writers and establish ourselves both national and internationally”

Cairde Sligo Arts Festival 

An eight-day cultural festival set in Co. Sligo, Cairde has developed a reputation for presenting an exceptional and thought-provoking arts festival programme which sees a great coming together of regional, national and international artists, thinkers, communities and audiences.

With the support from the Spot-Lit project, Cairde Sligo Arts Festival aim to develop two special strands of the arts festival programme. Strand one, Cairde Word a series of high-quality literary performances and a literary trail incorporating poetry, readings and performance art. Strand two will be an annual site-specific spectacle performance linking current Irish literary works with well known scenic sites along the Wild Atlantic Way.

In July 2020 Cairde Sligo are hosting Cairde Word and Vagabond Voices online –  details HERE

Sligo town and county are synonymous with art and literature. Endowed with recognition by the Yeats family and its connections to Sligo, as well as a wealth of distinguished contemporary writers who call (or have called) Sligo their home including Kevin Barry, Sally Rooney, Dermot Healy, Una Mannion and many more.

Cairde Sligo Arts Festival’s aim is to complement the existing and celebrated literary scene and provide a platform for contemporary voices both from the region and beyond set amongst the stunning backdrop of the Wild Atlantic Way.

Yeats Thoor Ballylee Development CLG

Thoor Ballylee

Rooted in the fourteenth-century hiberno tower just outside Gort, Co. Galway, Thoor Ballylee Development CLG is a literary and cultural organisation with a track record of over 25 years delivering educational and artistic infrastructure, attracting visitors seeking literary and cultural tourism experiences in South Galway.

Originally the home of poet WB Yeats, today the tower is developing as a visitor centre.. 

Through Spot-Lit, the group proposes to develop a new network connecting local people and visitors to locations and sites of international literary and artistic importance in our region. 

The project will connect the region by creating a newly branded network in geographical space, in coordinated media profile, and through renewed online presence, integrating activities, places, and online visibility, and enhancing collaboration with major partners, such as Cúirt International Festival of Literature, the Druid Theatre, National University of Ireland Galway, the Abbey Theatre, and especially the Wild Atlantic Way and Fáilte Ireland.

View Thoor Ballylee Video HERE

Artisan House, Connemara, Co. Galway 

In the heart of Connemara, this independent publishing company specialises in beautifully illustrated high-quality books and bespoke publications on a richly diverse range of subjects. Artisan House is currently extending its operation to include a bookshop/cafe on the ground floor of their premises and to become a destination location. 

Connemara has an abundance of literary and artistic associations extending over many decades and even centuries. Through the Spot-lit programme, the publishing company plans to develop a series of literary tourism guided tours in Connemara including package holidays, printed materials and maps. 

An Overview of Literary Tourism along the Wild Atlantic Way

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It has long been recognised across the world as a nation of great writers, poets and playwrights with no fewer than four Nobel Laureates for Literature in George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney and WB Yeats. Its capital city, Dublin is a UNESCO City of Literature, home to Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and many more. 

Literary tourism is a core element of Ireland’s tourism brand spanning festivals, immersive experiences, attractions, landmarks, tours, summer schools and workshops. Together, these provide the visitor with a year-round choice of authentic literary experiences.

We invited Susan O’Keeffe, journalist and Director, Yeats Society Sligo, to give an insight into the literary heritage that spans the length of the Wild Atlantic Way, and that continues to inspire contemporary writers and visitors alike. 

The light in the western sky, the roar of the Atlantic waves, the birds soaring and wheeling above the rugged coastline, coupled with its great Celtic myths and legends, have long provided ‘soul food’ for so many of Ireland’s greatest poets and writers.

Ireland’s Atlantic seaboard continues to nourish and challenge the creative spirit of those who make their home here, visitors from across the world seek out this magical coastline, drawn to its inspirational energy and the beauty of its surrounding landscape.

In the West of Ireland in the area which forms part of the NPA region, both Sligo and Galway deliver a significant sense of place associated with the poet WB Yeats. They offer specific literary experiences for the culturally motivated and for visitors interested in ‘all things Irish.’

Yeats Statue Sligo Town

No surprise that Yeats, described Sligo, at the heart of the north-west, as his spiritual home and chose to be brought back to this county to be buried ‘under bare Ben Bulben’s head; its majesty and mystery an enduring draw for Yeats who wrote about his childhood memory of climbing the famous mountain in the summertime to go fishing.

The world’s longest literary school, Yeats International Summer School, celebrated its 60th birthday in 2019. It offers students of all ages a ten-day opportunity to delve more deeply into Yeats’ work while immersing themselves in the mountains, the lakes and the history of Sligo itself.

The School has been instrumental in creating the idea of a visitor experience which is immersive, authentic and rooted in a sense of place – long before these concepts were part of the tourism landscape. It has also enhanced the name of Sligo around the world and ensured Ireland’s national poet and Nobel Prize winner remains as relevant today as when his work was first published in the late 19th century.

Arguably too, Yeats has helped to create a specific subset within the culturally curious market. These are the cultural pilgrims who choose Ireland because of its rich literary heritage and want to visit the spaces and places that writers and poets, familiar to them, have evoked and presented in their works.

They visit Tuamgraney Co Clare, the backdrop to that great 1960s work Country Girls by Edna O’Brien. They find in Leitrim the influences which created in John McGahern one of the great 20th century Irish novelists. Lady Augusta Gregory, a great friend of WB Yeats was a playwright, biographer and poet and her great estate Coole Park in Co Galway, was a melting pot for the Irish Literary Revival, a touchstone for all literary visitors to this country.

Co Cork’s famous sons, Seán O’Faoláin, William Trevor and Frank O’Connor were extraordinary story writers whose works will endure, along with those of Brendan Kennelly and John B Keane in neighbouring Co Kerry. The extraordinary dramatist Brian Friel spent much of his life in Greencastle, Co Donegal. His many plays evoked the changing Ireland of the 20th and he came to be called Ireland’s Chekhov.

Our literary giants have inspired a great new generation of writers born and/or living on or close to the wild western seaboard; poets Elaine Feeney, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Rita Ann Higgins, Martin Dyar, Doireann Ní Ghriofa and writers Kevin Barry, Eoin McNamee, Sally Rooney, Mike McCormack, Alice Lyons, Una Mannion, Louise Kennedy, Frank McGuinness  – to name but a few.

These and many others are creating a new literary Ireland, as is evidenced by the many successful and varied literary festivals that take place annually from Donegal to Dingle.  Together, these festivals and workshops provide rich and varied opportunities for locals and visitors alike to meet with writers, hear them speak about their life and work, attend workshops on drama, poetry, fiction and non-fiction writing and be inspired by their love of place and the writers who inspired them. Together, these form the public face of the very private experience of writing.

Literary Festivals, Schools & Events

Galway International Arts Festival

Here are the key festivals and schools across the Wild Atlantic Way

Literary Destinations

This ocean coastline is rich in authentic stories, rooted in the ancient tales and legends of love and loss, conquest and battle, life and death. The fusion of history, landscape and the wild ocean energy continues to inspire modern writers and poets and it will never fail to inspire visitors from all corners of Ireland – and the globe.

The list below showcases just a number of literary destinations along the Atlantic Seaboard of Ireland’s west coast for visitors to immerse themselves in;

  • Sligo: the Yeats Building in Sligo and the poet’s grave in Drumcliffe;
  • Streedagh beach in North Sligo was the backdrop for one of the scenes in the television series of Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People’
  • Mayo: German writer Heinrich Boll’s famous cottage on Achill Island;
  • Kiltimagh, where Antoine Ó Raifteirí the Irish language poet was born and where stands a memorial produced by artist Sally Mc Kenna.
  • Leitrim: Ballinamore, Co Leitrim is home of John McGahern;
  • Galway: the tower – Thoor Ballylee Gort, Co Galway, was occasional home to WB Yeats;  a sculpture of poet Antoine Ó Raifteirí is in the Village Green of Craughwell Co Galway
  • Limerick: the laneways of writer Frank McCourt’s childhood,
  • Galway: the Aran Islands that inspired the mould-breaking playwright JM Synge;
  • Cork city, beloved of Frank O’Connor
  • Kerry: The Blasket Islands of Co Kerry were home to Peig Sayers who wrote, in Irish, her autobiography of life on the Great Blasket.

Susan O’Keeffe is Director, Yeats Society Sligo

 

Useful Links:

https://www.yeatssociety.com/

Thoor Ballylee

Tourism Ireland’s webpage on ‘Normal People’ and Sligo

 

 

Images Courtesy of Ireland’s Content Pool 

Unlocking books on Tertulia TV

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Heres our lovely Spot-lit.eu colleagues Brid Conroy and Neil Paul from ‘Tertulia a bookshop like no other‘ being interviewed by Aine Ryan from The Mayo News about their innovative Tertulia TV YouTube show being beamed into book lover’s homes throughout Mayo, the west and beyond.

‘Tertulia a bookshop like no other’ based in Westport is one of five businesses developing new literary products and services through the Spot-lit.eu Programme led by The Western Development Commission in Ireland and funded under The Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme.

AR: Tell me a little more about the genesis of  Louisburgh Community TV and the various programmes it is hosting?
BC: Local man Des Grealis is the brainchild and was developing the idea of community television showcasing all things Louisburgh before the pandemic struck. Then Covid happened and it was the perfect stage. Des very quickly gathered enthusiastic responses from many people within the community, and it was a lovely distraction from the madness of the first few weeks of lockdown. There have been Tia’s cooking lessons; ‘Informed Information’ from John Staunton, our local chemist; as well as craft and gardening videos.

AR: How many episodes have there been of Tertulia TV and what is the format?
BC: We have just posted our ninth programme. We usually introduce at least two authors to our viewers for each programme. We have hosted children’s authors, biographers as well as poetry and fiction writers.
They usually talk for circa seven minutes about their inspiration and their latest books. Some read from their books and others, for example, novelist Eithne Shortall gave us a tour of her writing space at home and told us about her favourite books. We also review books we have read.
With our big Harry Potter interest we dedicated a show and a competition on International Harry Potter Day. We’ve interviewed a couple of philosophers too, asking them to explain why philosophy matters, among other things.

AR: Expand on who you have you interviewed and why you chose these writers
BC :Well, Eithne Shortall has local connections and is a big fan of our bookshop. She is The Sunday Times Culture Editor and author of three novels, ‘Love In Row 27’, ‘Grace After Henry’ and ‘Three Little Truths’. Then there is Jane Suiter, who is Associate Professor in the School of Communications, DCU. Jane talked about her work helping to set up the Citizen’s Assembly and her book ‘Reimagining Democracy’. Of course, we have lots of local talent, and Marian Kilcoyne is a poet who is from the area and still lives here. She was shortlisted for the 2017 Dermot Healy International Prize and longlisted for the Fish Poetry 2019. Marian read from her collection just being published ‘The Heart Uncut’.

Read Full Interview HERE

Credit: Áine Ryan and The Mayo News 

Useful Links:‘Tertulia a bookshop like no other‘, Tertulia TV

 

Wild Atlantic Words Short Story Competition

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Founded in 2016, the Wild Atlantic Words literary festival takes place in Castlebar, Co Mayo, every October. The festival aims to celebrate the literary heritage of our rugged coastline over a weekend of readings, recitals, debates and reflection, while also acknowledging our new and emerging writers.

As part of the 2020 Wild Atlantic Words festival, there will be a short story competition, with a reading and prize-giving ceremony on 10th October in the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, County Mayo.

DETAILS AND HOW TO ENTER HERE 

Credit: https://www.wildatlanticwords.ie/

Join us and celebrate the poet’s Picnic on June 13th

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The Poet’s Picnic is an annual celebration of WB Yeats’ birthday on June 13th https://www.facebook.com/yeatsthoorballylee/

Lovers of Yeats’ poetry have gathered and feasted on the grounds of the Norman tower house that was his summer home, and the inspiration for some of his most beautiful work.

The tower, Thoor Ballylee, (which had been neglected for years after Yeats’ death 1939) was given by the children of the poet, to Board Failte, who opened it as a tourist information office, while offering tours showing  its extraordinary literary relevance.

Yeats who bought the tower in 1916 had it renovated by the well known architect at the time, William A Scott (with whom Yeats had a lively relationship, describing him on one occasion as a ‘drunkered’), into a comfortable home, and where his wife George and two children, Michael and Anne, came for 12 successive summers.

Living there inspired Yeats to write some of his best poetry, published in two volumes: The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair (1933) containing such poems as Sailing to Byzantium, Meditations in Time of Civil War, Coole Park 1929, Blood and the Moon, and many others.

Read More HERE

Spot-lit SME Support Programme Update

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Welcome to the Spot-Lit Literary Tourism Product Incubation Programme (LT-PIP) and to our new way of working (for the time being).

Following the delivery of thematic workshops to inform and guide SME’s on the potential for product development in Literary Tourism, the project partners have recruited in excess of 20 SME/Businesses representing all four partner regions to take part in the SME development Programme (called the Literary Tourism Product Innovation Programme LT-PIP).

The LT-PIP is now delivering a comprehensive SME support programme incorporating soft supports; mentoring advice; product/service development sessions; IPR Support and up to €10,000 product development support that will  deliver 20 new innovative, literary tourism focused products and services. The new ‘products’ will range in size and approach depending on the particular partner area.

The LT-PIP will also deliver an SME exchange/cluster giving the SME’s opportunity to network, transfer knowledge and support each other in the development of LT focused products.

A Literary Tourism Network will also be developed, the network will represent the partner areas involved in the project as well as Iceland and Norway and it will be comprised of tourism stakeholders, SME’s and policy/decision makers in each of the respective countries. The aim of the network will be strategic development of Literary Tourism in the NPA (beyond the lifespan of the project), collaboration, joint planning and shared learning to ensure SME’s can achieve greater market reach.

This morning we held our first online Zoom meeting with the 5 businesses in Ireland.

We have set out and agreed our intended programme outputs, timelines, schedules and how we will work collaboratively and transnationally to engage with the Literary Tourism sector and develop  Literary Products and Services across the partner regions. Planned are a series of monthly engagement workshops, learning journeys, business advice clinics and individual mentoring supports as well as up to €10,000 innovation support.

A very productive first meeting!

Spot-lit Programme Vision is:“ To grow entrepreneurship and SME reach beyond local markets by developing and marketing literary tourism products”

Spot-Lit Project Update COVID-19

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With the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation developing quickly, we believe it’s important to keep stakeholders informed about how Spot-Lit.eu is responding to the outbreak. Our philosophy is to approach this situation with empathy and safety; Spot-Lit top priority is the health and safety of our team, our stakeholders and project  partners.

Like many organisations we have taken precautions and we are now all working from home with all face to face meetings now replaced by electronic meetings.

At Spot-Lit.eu we are fortunate in that we’ve been able to move our team to social distancing/working from home and there should be minimal disruption to workflow. The project partners continue to work to deliver The Spot-Lit programme, meet project deliverables and engage productively with our funders, partners and stakeholders.

If you wish to contact any of the Spot-Lit partners – our contact details can be found at this link.

As one, the partners are also keen to express their belief that the continued support for our remote SMEs, especially those in the hard-hit tourism industry, now has greater importance than ever for our regions’ economies. Projects such as Spot-Lit make a vital contribution in this regard.

Partners: