Díospóireacht uachtaránachta á reáchtáil ag Cló Cholmcille

Tá Colmcille Press tar éis scríobh chuig na trí pháirtí is mó sa Deisceart agus chuig an neamhspleách Catherine Connolly, ag tabhairt cuireadh dóibh páirt a ghlacadh insan gcéad Toghchán Uachtaránachta an Tuaiscirt an mhí seo chugainn.

Tá an ócáid ​​sceidealaithe do Halla Naomh Colm Cille ar an 8 Deireadh Fómhair, agus tabharfar cuireadh freisin d’aon iarrthóir neamhspleách a ainmneofar ina dhiaidh sin roimh dhúnadh na tréimhse ar an 24 Meán Fómhair.

Cuirfidh painéal saineolaithe ón Iarthuaisceart - Mary Durkan, Amie Gallagher, an tOllamh Colin Harvey, Pat McArt, Catherine Pollock agus Terry Wright - ceisteanna ar na hiarrthóirí, agus beidh cathaoirleach Colmcille Press, Joe Martin, i gceannas ar an ócáid.

Roghnaíodh an painéal d’aon ghnó chun éagsúlacht phobal an iarthuaiscirt a léiriú, agus áirítear leis baill ó Dhoire agus ó Dhún na nGall araon, agus iad siúd nach mbeadh sé de nós acu tacú le hathaontú. Is é an aidhm plé leathan, oscailte agus dírithe ar an todhchaí a chinntiú.

Bíonn Halla Naomh Colm ar cheann de na hionaid díospóireachta is sine sa chathair, agus roimhe seo bhí ceannairí sufraigéidí ar nós Emmeline Pankhurst, ceannairí polaitiúla ar nós Éamon de Valera, ceannairí ceardchumann ar nós Eleanor Marx agus seaimpíní chearta sibhialta ar nós John Hume i láthair ann. Is breogán í, agus is fada í, le haghaidh plé agus athraithe.

Tagann an díospóireacht i ndiaidh foilsiú leabhar Paul Gosling 'A New Ireland: A Five Year Review' ag Colmcille Press i samhradh na bliana 2025, ina ndéantar scrúdú ar na hullmhúcháin do reifreann aontachta.

Tuilleadh eolais: Irish News, 14 Meán Fómhair 2025

McCall short story anthology to launch on November 15

Photograph by Stephen Latimer

What We Did on Our Holidays, the new short story anthology from writer-broadcaster Felicity McCall is to be launched at Derry's Central Library on November 15.

The collection - which the Royal Literary Fellow has described as 'part-memoir' - features themes such as intergenerational PTSD, alcoholism and parental dementia.

Early readers of the book have been very praising of McCall's new book. Irish Times Northern editor Freya McClements commends its 'Insightful reflections on living with the legacy of conflict...suffused with warmth, empathy and the joy of acceptance.'

Award-winning writer Bernie McGill states: 'The characters in Felicity McCall’s acutely observed stories walk the earth haunted by the ghosts of the past. Stark and unflinching,

empathic, humane, this collection is a celebration of "the vital pulse of existence", conveyed in a hand that has the lightest, the most sensitive of touches.'

McCall will be discussing her work at the Allingham Festival (November 7-8) and will also host launches at the Reading Round Group (November 17), and at Foyle U3A (November 18).

What We Did on Our Holidays will be available from bookshops from next month - and also from Colmcille Press - for £10.

Colmcille Press to host Presidential Debate –Díospóireacht uachtaránachta á reáchtáil ag Cló Cholmcille

Colmcille Press has written to the three largest parties in the South and to the independent Catherine Connolly, inviting them to take part in the North's first ever Presidential Hustings next month.

The event is scheduled for St Columb's Hall on October 8, and any independent candidate subsequently nominated before the window closes on September 24 will also be invited.

A panel of experts from the North West - Mary Durkan, Amie Gallagher, Professor Colin Harvey, Pat McArt , Catherine Pollock and Terry Wright - will ask questions of the candidates, and the event will be moderated by Colmcille Press chair Joe Martin.

The panel has been deliberately chosen to reflect the diversity of the northwestern community, and includes members from both Derry and Donegal, and also those whose tradition would not be to support reunification. The aim is to ensure broad, open and future-focused discussion.

St Columb’s Hall is one of the city’s oldest centres of debate, previously playing 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.

The debate follows Colmcille Press's summer 2025 publication of Paul Gosling's book 'A New Ireland: A Five Year Review', which examines the preparations for a unity referendum.

More details: Irish News, September 14 2025