Packed line-up for tenth annual Letterkenny Litfest

ANDREA CARTER, Roy Greenslade, Pat McArt, Paul Charles, Orsolya Szabó-Yélamo, and Deirdre Hines are just some of the big names guesting at the Letterkenny Cathedral Quarter Literary Festival, running from Wednesday October 15 to Sunday October 19.

Letterkenny, long regarded as the vibrant cultural heart of Donegal, is this year celebrating the tenth anniversary of its renowned literary festival, and proceedings will kick off with a special broadcast on Highland Radio on Wednesday October 15th .

Festival organiser, Donnan Harvey explained that over the past decade, the festival had blossomed into one of Ireland’s most anticipated literary events, drawing acclaimed authors, emerging writers, poets, and literature lovers from across the country and beyond.

The tenth anniversary edition welcomes a stellar line-up of guests including the renowned author and journalist, Roy Greenslade who will officially launch this year’s event at the Co, Museum on High Road at 7;30 pm on Friday, October 17th.

A former professor of journalism at London University and a former editor of the Guardian Roy has recently published The Peer, the Priests and the Press to wide acclaim.

During the course of the festival Roy will be joined by a whole host of authors and writers including Kieran Kelly, Pat McArt, Jane Buckley, Andrea Carter, and Paul Charles.

As usual there will also be a number of top class lectures and talks. These include a talk, to mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, by Dr Sophia Hillan. The author of May, Lou and Cass: Jane Austen's Nieces in Ireland, she will be in conversation with Roy Greenslade. That’s on the Saturday.

On Sunday, playwright, screenwriter and director Peter Sheridan will discuss how Brendan Behan has influenced him in his wide-reaching artistic career.

And let’s not forget on Thursday, the famed American writer, John Steinbeck’s connection to Limavady’s Roe Valley will be explored by Douglas Bartlett who will give a short talk on the author which will then be followed by a screening of the film Of Mice and Men.

Whilst the main theme of the festival is literature, there is so much more. There will be a Cultural Evening of music, poetry and prose, with Deirdre Hines, James Simpson, Raphoe Diamond Writers with Celine McGlynn, the Letterkenny Ukulele Orchestra, and the New Land Choir.

Donegal Chamber Orchestra Led by Orsolya Szabó-Yélamo and conducted by Víctor Yélamo will perform music by Ravel, Scarlatti, Kreisler, and Leroy Anderson in what’s described as ‘a celebration of Anniversaries’ at Conwal Parish Church.

For those who like a bit of comedy Macalla Drama Group presents Towpath by Robert IIes This one-act comedy is based on fleeting friendship between strangers, and Mary Ruddy Lane directs the all-female cast.

An open invitation to all who are interested in writing, especially those who find it difficult to begin. This is a wonderful opportunity to gather ideas and suggestions from journalist and author Pat McArt.

And. as usual, one of the main highlights of the festival is the Cathedral Quarter’s Non-Fiction Competition. Everyone is welcome to Dillon’s Hotel on Saturday evening for readings by shortlisted writers, and to celebrate the presentation of prizes. Three ‘New Voices’ will also be introduced.

The Festival is once again accompanied by ‘The Quills and The Quarter’ podcast, hosted by Phil O’Kennedy. In this years, Phil and his co-hosts Denise Blake and Phil Dalton interview those who have been involved in previous festivals including Celine McGlynn, Kieran Kelly, Maura Logue, Frank Galligan and Kathy Donaghy.

Funding for the Festival comes from Donegal County Council’s Development Fund Initiative, Failte Ireland Small Festival Grant and the International Fund for Ireland’s Connecting Communities Programme.

These are just some of the events in what is truly a wide-ranging and packed programme of events crammed into what Donnan Harvey says is now one of Ireland’s up and coming events.

He concluded: “Over the last ten years, the festival has become a cornerstone of Donegal’s cultural calendar, attracting visitors to Letterkenny and supporting local businesses. And it’s important to state that we would like to thank those businesses and institutions which have supported our festival. That support is very important and much appreciated.”

For full details of all events see…..

lkcqlitfest.weebly.com

The debate that didn't happen

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/e71c51_4774793e9e5049dea5d54e376b3c10a4/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

An díospóireacht nár thárla: via Ailbhe Ó Monacháin @nuachtRTE @nuachtTG4 @AilbheOM

Earlier this year, Colmcille Press published Paul Gosling’s A New Ireland: A Five-Year Review, which highlights that - regardless of how you might vote - we, as a society, need to be making practical preparations for the ramifications of a referendum on Irish unity.

In the book, Paul argues three things with which many of us in the North West, the most marginalised region on the island, would agree: 

• The administrations with influence here - London, Dublin and Belfast - have not done nearly enough groundwork;

• This island cannot afford to suffer another Brexit referendum debacle because of a lack of readiness; and 

• Stormont is now verging on fully dysfunctional.

One of the big areas we need to prepare for is elections. For decades, Irish citizens in the North have argued that they should, by right, be included in the selection process for the Irish head of state. 

People in Donegal, of course, already have a vote. But their friends, neighbours and co-workers in Derry - which for centuries has been Donegal’s traditional county town and which, since the border has become fully porous, is the de facto regional capital - are excluded. 

Twenty-seven years on from the Good Friday Agreement, which consolidated our right to citizenship, Irish passport holders and Irish speakers, living on this island, are refused a role in electing their leader.

So, to raise this and other issues, we invited the three presidential candidates to Derry.

In part, were asserting our right to hear from them directly how they propose to lead and represent us.

And in part, were asserting our right to hear from them how they will oversee the constitutional changes that will emerge over the duration of their presidential term and which will directly impact on our lives. 

But most of all, we wanted them to come to acknowledge – and support – our right to participate in the process.

To this end, we booked St Columb’s Hall one of the North West’s oldest and renowned civic forums, which has previously played host to suffragette leaders such as Emmeline Pankhurst, political leaders such as Éamon de Valera, trade union leaders like Eleanor Marx and civil rights giants such as John Hume. It is, and has long been, a crucible for discussion and for change.

We then engaged an Irish-speaking moderator and a panel of experts - unpaid volunteers from both sides of the border and both sections of the Northern community, who brought expertise in many fields from constitutional law to education and human rights, to ask questions of the candidates on our behalf. We also organised a production team and a sound engineer to allow us to live-broadcast the event.

On September 9, as soon as we had our ducks in a row, we sent invitations to the three candidates asking them to take part in a hustings at the hall on October 8. We gave them a deadline of September 30 to respond, and we waited. 

We followed up again through personal connections. And we waited. 

We followed up on social media, repeatedly. And we waited. 

Local and national media chipped in with news reports and OpEds on the event. And we waited.

Meanwhile, all the candidates appeared on RTÉ explaining how they supported a united Ireland. Surely, we thought, this would be a perfect opportunity to come to Derry and elaborate? So we reminded them of our offer. And we waited.

In fairness, Catherine Connolly’s campaign did get back to apologise that their candidate had a Dáil vote on the Budget the night of the debate and needed to be in Dublin.

But we heard nothing at all from the other two candidates. Not a word, not a line, not an email. It was as if we didn’t exist.

We had decided not to release tickets for the event until October 1, but in the interim hundreds of people from all over the island had got in touch with us to say they wanted to come. This had actually alarmed us a little in that we wanted to make sure that priority would be given to people from Donegal and Derry.

But, the deadline slipped away and, in the end, we couldn’t make it happen.

Until the next time.

Hugh Gallagher: Author, Lensman, Creggan Champion

The late Hugh Gallagher, on left, with Kevin Hippsley, at the launch of A Foyle Tale at Ráth Mór in 2019 .

Our great friend and most-talented colleague Hugh Gallagher has died this morning (September 29), at the age of 76, after a long illness. Ar dheis Dé go raibh sé.

Over the past 40 years, Hugh had worked with virtually every publishing organisation in the North West, starting his media career as a volunteer and later staff photographer with Fingerpost in the mid-80s. A gifted humorist, he published his first book, The Spectator and Other Derry Stories (illustrated by Cormac Downey) in 1990 with his good friend Eamon Deane's Yes Publications.

In his spare time, he became the lensman for Cityview, the official Derry City FC programme, travelling up and down the country with The Candystripes after their re-entry into senior football.

And he also worked for many years with the Derry Journal and the Derry News as both a columnist and freelance cameraman.

With an archive of more than 40000 images, Hugh was, for a generation, a first source of pictures for Guildhall Press, Hive Studio Books and Colmcille Press/Cló Cholmcille. And he was always particularly delighted to cover book launches, loving nothing better than to swap stories with old friends and fellow authors.

Hugh published two books with Guildhall Press: A View of Derry (2008), a superlative collection of local photographs; and A Foyle Tale: The Toucan Venturer in Derry, which recounts the remarkable true story of how he worked as a supervisor on the attempted refit of a grounded ship, to bring supplies to famine-struck Ethiopia, and ended up living on board.

A dyed-in-the-wool Creggan man, Hugh was very proud to contribute to any book, periodical or pamphlet that promoted his home turf. He had lived in the same house in Melmore Gardens for 75 years. His photographs adorn virtually every wall in Ráth Mór - and can also be found in almost all books to emanate from the centre.

In retirement, Hugh kept busy writing short stories for the local newspapers, and magazines such as Ireland's Own. He also loved to publish and exhibit collages from his extensive archive. You were nobody in Derry until you had appeared in a Gallagher picture spread.

His generosity and community spirit was also evident to anyone who ever dealt with him.

Ráth Mór General Manager Kevin Hippsley paid tribute to his friend saying: ‘Hugh was a real talent, but so modest with it. Nothing was too much trouble for him - he loved to help and to see a job done well. He was a warm presence about the office, lifting us with his humour. But there was a great wisdom there too - and he contributed so much to so many books and so many projects.

'He is a real loss to all of us in the publishing sector, to Creggan and to Derry. Suaimhneas síoraí dá anam uasal.'

Former Derry Journal Editor Pat McArt paid this tribute: 'His archive of life in Derry over the past 40-50 years has got to be priceless. He was a chronicler of the everyday, of people going about their daily doings.

'These photos were never meant for newspapers or other media, but simply to record lives. That was what interested Hugh. I doubt if anyone else has anything that comes near.

'Condolences to his family and friends. He was a lovely man.'