Category: Literary Product Innovation Programme

Connecting the Literary Landscape in South Galway.

Anna O’Donnell the chairperson Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society.

The Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society work with the Western Development Commission through the Spot-li.eu project has allowed us to develop not only a strong profile for our site but to begin to build awareness of the significance literature has had in the region since the sixth century.

Our site houses a 14th century Norman Tower House that became the home of Nobel Laureate for literature WB Yeats. This tower was where he and his family lived in the 1920s. Here, he conceived and wrote such major works as The Tower and The Winding Stair. By highlighting the other important literary locations close by we could encourage slow tourism, where a visitor can immerse themselves in the literary landscape that inspired so many over the centuries. The visitor would not just visit Thoor Ballylee, but gain an understanding of how the written word played such an important part of the culture. We have produced five videos:

By bringing Literary tourism in a connected approach through the Spot-lit.eu project, we are able to strengthen the economy of our businesses, via hotel stays, restaurant and cafés and other sites of interest for tourists. We hope you enjoy the videos and would love to welcome you in person to our amazing and inspiring landscape.

Supported by The Western Development Commission through the Spot-liot.eu Project funded by Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme.

First Storytelling Bootcamp in Hossa National Park, Finland.

Spot-lit project, aiming to grow the literary tourism sector in the Northern Periphery and Arctic region, opened a call for literature tourism product incubation ideas end of January 2020. Suomussalmi munisipality in the Kainuu region in the North of Finland was one of the successful applicants. Suomussalmi munisipality had an idea to arrange Hossa Storytelling Bootcamps in the surroundings of Hossa national park by the Russian border. Although not directly linked to tourism, it was estimated to have great potential in raising awareness not merely about the region, but also about literature and storytelling, thereby creating many opportunities. The aim is to develop the Hossa area as a location for literature related events.

The original plan was to pilot an international event, bringing together a variety talents from different fields and backgrounds thus was enabling new partnerships and ideas to emerge. The idea was also to combine traditional residency with interaction with the community, especially with the local amateur writers of different fields. However, before the event planning had even been properly started, the COVID19 pandemic hit the world, meaning no international aspect could be included to the plan. However, the organisers were able to gather together an interesting and articulate bunch of Finnish writers in November 2021 to the first ever Hossa Storytelling Bootcamp for one weekend.

The first Hossa Storytelling Bootcamp in November 2021 gathered together professional writers of different fields to the magical surroundings of Hossa National Park in Northern Finland. A small live audience, and a larger one online, enjoyed intriguing discussions on stories and writing. The event was a great success with strong interest shown in arranging a new, international event when restrictions allow.

The first night of the event offered the participants a chance of getting to know each other and to prepare for the main event to follow in an informal atmosphere. At the main event on Saturday, two facilitated discussion were organised in front of a small live audience, and live streamed online for a bigger audience. Feedback was also received via online channels during the event. Six writers participated the joint sessions, facilitated by Jan Erola and Marko Karvonen. The discussions touched on many interesting topics and the audience heard stories about how each of the participants had become writers, how they build good characters for their stories, and what do they think are dangerous grounds in writing a story. There also was discussion on transferring a book into a film or a play; what factors does one have to consider , and how is the process built?.

Image courtesy of: Tiia Mustonen.

Hossa village is full of history. The oldest dwellings found in the national park are almost 10,000 years old and the famous rock paintings at Värikallio Cliffs are at least 3,500 years old. Participants discussed the stories of Hossa, how to build a story of Hossa for an audience and in particular the story of the first inhabitants arriving and settling to the area in ancient times. What language did they speak? Who’s behind the rock paintings and what kind of stories are there about those people and their life?

After the live sessions, during a campfire evening the discussions continued, some some short videos were shot and participants enjoyed dinner and bathe in a traditional smoke sauna. On Sunday morning breakfast, participants gave feedback on the event before spending time on a small hike and see some of the national park and enjoy the peace of nature.

Hossa Enchanted the Participants

The purpose of the pilot event was to see if a concept like this works, to measure the resources needed, and to find out how the participants see it all from their perspective. The experiences from this first ever Hossa Storytelling Boot Camp were indeed encouraging: the participants found the environment pleasant and the discussions intriguing.

Hossa national park was an idyllic location for such events, the autumn darkness, together with the thin layer of snow that fell on the evening, created an experience the participants described as unique. The timing right between autumn and winter, between two tourism seasons was found a suitable one for arranging such events also for practical reasons. At the event, filmmakers, authors, and theatre makers got to meet each other in a more informal environment. The group saw it as a real advantage to bring together people from different fields of writing.

It was seen important to keep the Hossa national park in the centre of also the future events, arranging also the possible public events in the same, engaging environment. Of course, the logistics of a remote and sparsely populated region like this create their own challenge, affecting both the schedule and the costs. In the future, joint transportation may be a feasible option for both the writers and the audience, coming by train and by plane. As Hossa is such an interesting place, the organisers should reserve enough time in the schedule, for getting to know the environment and to enjoy the Northern nature.

According to the original plans, Hossa Storytelling Boot Camp was going to include a public event, but this was cancelled due to the pandemic. The writers attending this pilot event also wished for the future events to include interactive sessions with a live audience. We all sure hope to be able to arrange events like that soon!

Discussions on the Future are Going on

Arranging a regular writer event in Hossa has been the goal for the Suomussalmi municipality right from the beginning. Joni Kinnunen, who drafted and sent the application to the project incubation programme, says that now that the concept has been tested and a significant interest has been found among the target group, it is the time to sit down and start visioning the future of Hossa Storytelling Bootcamp.

The recordings of The Bootcamp with Finnish and English subtitles will soon be available online” – Watch This Space and stay tuned for some new stories!

The Philosopher’s Hat Club

The Philosopher’s Hat Club invites participants to put their philosopher’s hat on, and once a month to engage in a meaningful and facilitated conversation, about the world we live in, with other participants. The Club is a joint venture between Creative Together and Tertulia, a bookshop Like no other, and the initiative is supported by Spot-lit.eu in association with the Western Development Commission.

The meetings are facilitated by Lukasz Krzywon from Creative Together (in Cong, Co. Mayo) and Brid Conroy from Tertulia bookshop (Westport, Co. Mayo). Find Out More HERE.

Download the 2022 Schedule of Philosophers Hat Club Events HERE.

Spot-lit Business Support Programme.

The heart of the Spot-Lit project is its engagement and support of small businesses in the Literary Tourism Sector. Originally envisaged as working with 20 SMEs through the project, Spot-Lit is now working with a total of 27 businesses from across the 4 partner regions of Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Finland and Scotland. The range of enterprises, and the LT products is extremely wide ranging.

(View/Download The Spot-lit Business Support Toolkit and Resources HERE)

Books At One Opens in Letterfrack

Books at One Letterfrack is located in a former Quaker workshop in the village of Letterfrack, on the edge of Connemara National Park. The workshop where Books At One is located shares the space with Spot-lit project partner, Artisan House Publishers. Husband and wife team, Vincent Murphy and Mary Ruddy, have run their award winning publishing business since 2013 and they see the opening of Books At One Letterfrack as a natural evolution: “Having a bookshop now offers us an opportunity to see our books and those of other publishers in the hands of appreciative readers – it is a privilege to be part of the full circle”. Books At One Letterfrack is part of a growing network of local community-based bookshops supported by The One Foundation.

Vincent and Mary from Artisan House.

Courtesy of Books at One and Artisan House Editions.

Literature & Philosophy Events with The Philosopher’s Hat Club & Tertulia.

The Philosopher’s Hat Club invites participants to put their philosopher’s hat on, and once a month to engage in a meaningful and facilitated conversation, about the world we live in, with other participants. And have fun, of course!

Monthly events introduce a different topic each time. The club aims to make those as relevant to the world we live in today as possible. There are many threads in classical philosophy that are still as valid today as they were in the past. And there are many issues and problems facing today’s world that require a deeper reflection in search for new solutions. Each topic will come with a recommended reading list of interesting books. (View The 2021 Philosophers Hat Club Schedule 2021) pdf

The meetings will be facilitated by Lukasz Krzywon from Creative Together (based in Cong, Co. Mayo) and Brid Conroy from Tertulia bookshop (Westport, Co. Mayo). Both share an interest in philosophy and philosophical thinking. Lukasz is a philosopher, author and educator. He is passionate about teaching children how to think well and about introducing important ideas using philosophical enquiry into Irish classrooms. He has trained with the best facilitators in Ireland and UK.

The Philosopher’s Hat Club was launched online on 4^th February 2021, inviting participants to put their philosopher’s hat on, once a month to engage in meaningful and facilitated conversation. The Club is a joint venture between Creative Together and Tertulia, a bookshop Like no other. The initiative is supported by Spot-lit.eu in association with the Western Development Commission.

More about the club here: https://www.creativetogether.ie/philosophers-hat-club.

For any queries email Lukasz at contact@creativetogether.ie.

Beckett & Wilde – Launch of Fermanagh Literary Tourism Project

Beckett & Wilde – Launch of Fermanagh literary tourism project.

A public art installation in Enniskillen will see a live game of chess played across the Fermanagh town throughout the year

The Beckett Enniskillen Chess Set, a permanent public art installation by sculptor Alan Milligan comprising 32 1.5ft tall bronze chess pieces representing characters and motifs from the work of Samuel Beckett, and 64 1ftsq steel cubes as chess squares in bronze mounted on wood is the next phase of a Literary Tourism Project that is already reaping benefits for Enniskillen.

The pieces will be mounted in 64 different indoor locations across Enniskillen within the four ‘corners’ of Enniskillen Royal Grammar School (Portora site), Forthill Cole’s Monument, Enniskillen Castles Museum and National Trust Castle Coole, forming a chess set that will be played throughout the year with performances at three key times.

The installation is the second phase of an Enniskillen Literary Tourism project, the first of which, The Flight of the Little Golden Swallow, saw the installation of 150 little swallows in gold leaf across Enniskillen Island Town during early summer, on the exterior facades of retail stores and community buildings including its schools. Installed in May this year, already that element of the project is meeting the objective of helping to revitalise the town and its surrounds post-lockdown.

Sean Doran Artistic Director of Arts Over Borders, the organisation delivering the project explained: “The Flight of the Little Golden Swallow over the past few months has been wholly welcomed by Enniskillen’s traders and wider community and has fired the imagination of many who understand exactly what the project aims to achieve and how it can be maximised to the town’s advantage.

“Literary Tourism is an emerging niche sector within the wider cultural tourism sector, where places with literary heritage offer author and fiction-related literary tourism opportunities, along with opportunities arising from literary festivals, trails and book shops. Following the installation of the Swallows, Enniskillen BID (Business Improvement District) has commissioned a mural of Wilde’s the Happy Prince, the Council has agreed to gild Cole’s statue which it is believed inspired Wilde’s story and traders are considering incorporating Wilde into their offering from jewelry design to menu items. All of these things help to build the tourism offering in the area.”

Now the second phase of the project builds on another of the town’s adopted sons, Samuel Beckett. Beckett famously attended Portora Royal School in the 1920s. With chess as one of the central themes in the writer’s work, Doran first commissioned sculptor Alan Milligan in 2013 to produce the Beckett Enniskillen Chess Set for the Beckett Festival held in Enniskillen and its surrounds. With this latest project the pieces will be brought out of storage and will become a living artwork with a game of chess performed each year.

“With all of the chess pieces installed it is our intention to play out a game of chess each year,” said Sean Doran. “We will work with chess masters to establish a game online with the pieces in Enniskillen being moved across our living chess board on the ground in Enniskillen in sync with the moves made by the masters online.

“This set up means that at three key times throughout the year, the public can follow the game online and in performance beginning with the Queen’s Gambit Opening Game on Good Friday (Beckett was born of Good Friday of course), the Middle Game will be played during the annual Beckett Festival which is set to return in 2022 and the End Game will be played out over 1-3 days from the 22^nd December, the date of Beckett’s death.”

As he goes on to explain, Doran has curated the location for each square very deliberately, with a particular meaning behind each place chosen.

“Each location chosen for the chess board and the placement of the chess pieces is of significance,” Sean said. “For instance, the Queens (Winnie and Not I) are at The Regal/Fermanagh Unionist Association and in Maguire’s Keep Enniskillen Castle (the oldest room in Enniskillen) while the Kings are in Magee’s Spirit Store (Krapp) and Rebecca’s Cafe The Buttermarket (Hamm). The Knights starting points are in the Sinn Fein office, Blakes of the Hollow, Enniskillen Hotel, Portora School Dining Hall and the Bishops are in St.Macartin’s Cathedral (Gogo from Godot), St. MIchael’s Church (Didi from Godot), Saddlers Restaurant (Pozzo from Godot) and Aisling Centre.

In Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland border counties, the potential for literary tourism is particularly rich and unparalleled worldwide through its literary heritage with Seamus Heaney, C S Lewis, W B Yeats, Brian Friel, Jonathan Swift, Flann O’Brien, Patrick Kavanagh and of course Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde school day associations in Enniskillen.

Bernie Mooney, Project Manager said, “significantly, this project is part of a wider European Initiative, the NPA funded SPOT-LIT programme, supporting economic development through the vehicle of literary tourism and Enniskillen will benefit greatly from the additional visibility and growth this will bring to the area.”

A key issue that the project will address is seasonality for Enniskillen and Fermanagh. Those behind the literary tourism project see the Flight of the little golden Swallow which is installed on external walls as particularly appealing in spring and summer while the board and the pieces of the Beckett Enniskillen Chess Set will be located internally and therefore fitting for autumn and winter viewing. Added to this is the performances that will take place at key points throughout the year.

Sally Rees, Project Support, who has worked with local businesses and organisations on the installation of both The Flight of The Little Golden Swallow and the Beckett Enniskillen Chess set, says,” essentially these two contrasting installations are strategically complementary lending themselves to different seasons. Both provide the opportunity for tourist trails that will take visitors across and around the town to places of interest and into community buildings, public buildings, shops, cafes and places of worship and ultimately have a very wide appeal. Added to this of course, is the live performances of the chess game at key points throughout the year.”

Image Credit: Brian Morrison Photography.

New Mural Celebrates Poet Antoine Ó Raifteirí and the Kiltimagh Diaspora.

What a fantastic work of art….. Kiltimagh towns newest mural has reached completion, celebrating Raftery an file, the famous Irish language poet, also celebrating the famous Kiltimagh diaspora. Wonderful work by Damien Moran sign writer for bringing this to life, a joint project of Kiltimagh Tidy Towns, Kavanagh’s Supervalu Kiltimagh, Kiltimagh Tourism Festivals and Spot-lit.eu.

Raftery Returns Arts Festival Poetry Competition.

A wonderful night of poetry and music hosted by Terry McDonagh was held in The Cill Eadain Court Hotel. The presentation of the the first poetry competition Prize took place as part of The Raftery Returns Arts Festival was held.

Supported by the Spot-Lit, Raftery Returns Arts Festival Poetry Competition Results:

1st Prize: Daragh Byrne – As it is in Heaven.
2nd Prize: John McGrath – Leaving (July 1st 1966).
3rd Prize: Art O’Suilleabhan – No Going back

Our thanks to all entrants and especially to the winners and the competition judge, Ger Reidy.
The winning poem will be unveiled as part of a poetry trail in Kiltimagh on Raftery’s birthday, March 30th 2022.

See Facebook Live HERE.

Spot-lit Business Support Toolkit and Resources.

Spot-lit have developed a transnational Literary Product Innovation Programme using experiential learning and supports to stimulate interest and engagement within the sector as a potential business growth opportunity. 28 new literary products are being delivered across the project partner regions, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Finland and Scotland.

A Business Support Toolkit has been developed together with a suite of useful resources, the toolkit and resources are intended to provide a comprehensive guide to aid development of literary tourism and tourism-related enterprises in the NPA region and beyond.

View/Download The Spot-lit Business Support Toolkit and Resources HERE.