WHEN Mayor Stephen Keary launches the 18th Éigse Michael Hartnett festival in Newcastle West Library on Thursday, April 12, he will highlight the poet’s strong links with the community that inspired much of his writing.
And those links will be further enhanced when the poet’s son, Niall will deliver the keynote address at this year’s gathering.
The Michael Hartnett Poetry Award worth €4,000 which commemorates Michael Hartnett’s contribution to literature in English and Irish will be presented to the winner on opening night.
“As chairperson of the municipal district of Newcastle West, I’m delighted to see Éigse go from strength to strength. Éigse has become the flagship cultural event of the county,” said Cllr Michael Collins.
The annual three day literary and arts festival which was established to honour the work and literary legacy of the Limerick poet following his death in 1999, will take place in Newcastle West from April 12 to 14
Culture and Arts Officer with Limerick City and County Council Sheila Deegan said, “In Hartnett’s poem for Thomas Kinsella ‘The Poet as Mastercraftsman’ the opening line says, ‘Eras do not end when great poets die’. The Éigse Michael Hartnett Literary and Arts Festival honours this idea by celebrating the writing and memory of the Newcastle West native.”
Novelists John Boyne and Mike McCormack; author and academic Declan Kiberd; poets Robyn Rowland, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, Edward O’Dwyer and Patrick Moran are just some of the artists taking part as well as singer songwriter Emma Langford, the Capricio String Quartet and Limerick’s Yukeladies.
‘Pulled Pork and Poetry’ will feature a cookery demonstration by award winning Executive Chef at the Limerick Strand Hotel chef Tom Flavin, with readings from Michael Hartnett’s poetry by Edward O’Dwyer.
There will be a poetry workshop with Robyn Rowland; the Newcastle West Film Society will screen ‘Song of Granite’ and the HearSay Creative Audio Festival in Kilfinane will bring Cluas Eile a four-door installation in the Square, which is a journey into the power and magic of the spoken work.
Full details at www.eigsemichaelhartnett.ie
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