On love and loss:Why is the theme of love so closely linked to that of death? Is passionate love a source of pleasure or pain?
How far would one go for love? Is first love always the best? Must love end? These are the big themes that will be at the heart of this year’s Franco-Irish Literary Festival from April 3rd to 5th in Dublin.
“10 Years Already! 10 Ans déjà,” proclaims the festival, which is delighted to be celebrating a decade of its existence. Organised by the Alliance Française Dublin and the Cultural Service of the French embassy it takes place at the alliance headquarters on Kildare Street and in the Coach House of Dublin Castle. Writers participating include Assia Djebar; elected to the Académie française (France’s grandest cultural institution) in 2005, Djebar was the first writer from the Maghreb countries to sit under the académie’s famous 17th-century gold dome on the Left Bank in Paris.
Other partcipants include the novelist Colette Fellous, author of Guerlain, a history of fashion and perfume from the Guerlain family perspective, and Lucy Vincent. Vincent, born in England, began her French life in 1980 at the age of 22 by marrying the owner of the St Emilion chateau where she'd gone to work on the grape harvest. Her biology studies led her to an interest in the mechanisms of love in the brain. A science writer, her first novel La Formule du Désiris published this year and during the festival she 'll take part in a panel discussion on first love, with writers Olga Flor, Deirdre Madden and Dairena Ní Chinnéide. Others taking part over the weekend include Claire Keegan, Dennis O'Driscoll, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Joseph O'Connor. For details see francoirishliteraryfestival.com
Paulin for Waterford
Poet Tom Paulin, above, is among the line-up for the Seán Dunne Writers’ Festival from March 19th to 21st. The festival, which is run by Waterford City Council with support from the Arts Council, is now in its 13th year and commemorates the Waterford-born poet Seán Dunne, who died in 1995 aged 39.
Paul Carson, Peter Cunningham and Macdara Woods are among the other writers taking part. Events include a sports-writing debate in the Tower Hotel on Friday, March 20th featuring Eamon Carr, Ulick O’Connor, Conor O’Callaghan and Declan Lynch, which will be chaired by WLR FM’s Matt Keane. The evening will round off with a “stand-up reading” session from comic and writer AL Kennedy.
A celebration of Seán Dunne’s work; writing workshops given by Conor OCallaghan and AL Kennedy and readings from young Waterford writers are also on the agenda – as well as Anthony Healy on “the changes in journalism as we know it.’’
Tickets are available from Central Library, Lady Lane, Waterford. Tel: 051 849975. For details see seandunne.ie.
Down memory lane
A free writing workshop called Memories into Memoir will take place in the National Library next month. Applications for the 15 places must be in by Monday. To be tutored by Irene Graham, founder of the Creative Writer's Workshop and author of The Memoir Writing Workbook,it's for new and established writers, and is specifically aimed at people who are interested in forming a memoir writing club in their local area. During the three-day event participants will be shown how to draw upon the incidents that make up a life story; how to explore theme and its associated meaning and how to focus on narrative structure, including character development, setting, plot and conflict.
Applicants should send a submission (no longer than 300 words) on why they should be offered a place, by email, to: memoir@nli.ie or to: Memories into Memoir, National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
The workshop will take place from 11am to 4pm on April 27th and 28th, and from 10am to 1pm on April 29th in the library’s seminar room.