‘THE FORGE AT GORT’ LITERARY FESTIVAL RINGS TRUE!
In association with Poetry Ireland and sponsored by Quinn’s Pharmacy, Gort, Co. Galway, The Arts Council and Galway County Council, ‘The Forge at Gort - Writers’ Gathering,’ the little town’s first ever literary festival produced readings, workshops, music, and a re-telling of the famous Ralahine Commune experiment of 1831, scripted by playwrights Margaretta D’Arcy and John Arden, which played to a packed house at The Lady Gregory Hotel last Saturday evening. Our special thanks to Shay Leon, of Shay Studios, Loughrea, who recorded the entire festival; to the friendly management and staff at Sullivan’s Royal Hotel and The Lady Gregory Hotel; the staff and management of the Alcasar Pizzeria, O’Grady’s Bar and the Blackthorn Bar and Restaurant; and to Arts Council-Deis recipient, musician Sylvia Crawford, who played wire-strung harp, piano and fiddle with other musicians during the Ralahine performance. Special nods too to the media, print and broadcast, who enabled the festival to find its audience and to everyone who participated. Garnered good will augurs well for the next festival, next year!
- drive time: Poet Nessa O’Mahony at Gort
- hurler’s pitch: sports writer Christy O’Connor outside The Blackthorn Restaurant, Gort.
- tale-spin: Eddie Lenihan at Gort Public Library
- the harp that once: Deis recipient Sylvia Crawford playing at The Lady Gregory Hotel
- spotlight on Ralahine: gearing up for the Ralahine remembering at The Lady Gregory Hotel
- Brazilian poetry recalled: Cleber Maia Andrade Gomas lectured, with music, on the poet Raoul Seixas.
- in O’Grady’s restaurant: (l-r) Mark Whelan, poet; Dominic Taylor (Whitehouse/Revival Press) and poet and visual artist Frank Golden
- Mary O’Sullivan (vocals, accordeon, guitar) with Clare Sawtell (cello) playing at the Knute Skinner reading at the Lady Gregory Hotel, Gort, Co. Galway, for The Forge literature festival. ‘Lord Galway’s Lamentation,’ arranged (c) and played by Sylvia Crawford on Early Irish Harp (wire-strung), made by Paul Dooley, Co. Clare.
{All photos here are (c) LitPix - The Western Writers’ Centre 2008}
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