Press Release
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This year's Goldsmith International Literary Festival, now in its 23 rd year and the third oldest event of its type in Ireland , takes place this weekend.
The 2007 renewal is addressing one of the biggest unspoken issues which affects modern Ireland: to wit, the rapid transformation of Ireland from a relatively homogenous Ireland to a multi cultural and multi national country.
This is an issue which is one of the hidden issues in the recent General Election campaign and is probably of greater interest to more of the electorate than the contents of Bertie Ahern's suitcase some decades ago.
However in keeping with the ethos of the Goldsmith festival and the ‘good-natured' man whom it honours the issue will be handled in a sensitive and generous hearted way.
Having been re-branded from The Goldsmith Summer School last year, the event has recently undergone something of a transformation in a bid to become more cutting edge and address some of the most topical and controversial issues facing 21 st century Ireland. In its previous 22 years, it has established itself as one of the foremost and most highly respected schools of its type in Ireland . Taking place in various venues all over “Goldsmith Country” over the years all aspects of Goldsmith's life, society, and writings have been explored. A huge variety of renowned critics, politicians, poets, commentators and academics have stimulated audiences over that time.
The theme chosen this year is ‘From Deserted Village to Global Village; Goldsmith's Relevance to the New Ireland” and in many different ways the contributors to this year's festival will examine the impact of the global village on modern Ireland and parse the great writers' works, in particular his work Citizen Of the World, to discover his views on race, foreigners, foreign travel and home grown prejudice.
In recent years there has been, paralleling the improved relations between the islands, a huge diminution and dilution of the Anglophobia, and indeed Hibernophobia, which bedevilled relations between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland . We are particularly delighted in the light of these happy developments to welcome His Excellency David Reddaway, UK Ambassador to Ireland , to Abbeyshrule on June 1 st next to launch this year's lively festival. It is particularly appropriate that Mr Reddaway should be opening this year's festival as he is himself a true citizen of the world with a wealth of postings which have ranged from Iran to Argentina to Afghanistan and to his native Canada .
As a trained historian with a specialist knowledge of Argentina affairs he will, along with the general audience in the Rustic Inn , Abbeyshrule, take a particular interest in Friday's lecture which will be a wide ranging, witty but also highly provocative lecture by Irish journalist and historian Declan McCormack.
Mr McCormack will draw on a wealth of research to compare Goldsmith's relatively enlightened attitude to other races and out groups with that of William Bulfin, a pioneer Sinn Fein journalist who was part of the huge Irish Midland Diaspora to Argentina in the 19C. The lecture will focus on Goldsmith's Citizen of the World and Bulfin's influential book Rambles in Eirinn which was published one hundred years ago. Mr McCormack states that his lecture will be ‘hardcore, unapologetic revisionism as all historic truth is revisionistic'. Mr Kevin Kidney, Bord Failte executive and brother of rugby-meister Declan Kidney, will chair and attempt to quell the riots and put out the fires!
Continuing on Saturday, the annual Goldsmith debate often causes quite a few sparks to fly and this year will undoubtedly be no exception. Especially as the motion is a potentially explosive one _ ‘Multi Cultural Ireland – is there a limit to tolerance'.
Taking place in the intimate surroundings of the Bog Lane Theatre in Ballymahon, the is indeed an exceptionally strong line- up which includes Anna Lo, MLA N Ireland, who caused a media sensation recently when the Alliance politician became the first Chinese born person elected to any parliament on these islands.
She will be joined on the panel by Brian Lenihan TD, Minister for Children, who is regarded as being one of the stars of the outgoing government and a politician with a big future which could include eventual leadership of Fianna Fail and indeed of the Republic.
He will be joined by Ruth Dudley Edwards _ one of Ireland 's leading historians and also one of Ireland 's most controversial and contrarian journalists. Ms Edwards will be speaking in the immediate wake of the launch of her latest novel which deals with Muslims in American and is provocatively entitled Murdering Americans.
The panel , presided over by star broadcaster Dave O'Connell, also includes Paddy O'Gorman whose brilliant broadcasts involving ‘ordinary' Irish people and ‘ordinary' immigrants have been among the finest radio broadcasts on the national network.
Saturday afternoon brings the festival to Athlone town , to the award winning Town Council building, to the Aidan Heavey Library where a unique collection of Goldsmith first issues will be unveiled and explicated by historian and librarian Gearoid O'Brien. This will be followed by a superb lecture on Goldsmith's cosmopolitanism by leading Goldsmith academic Professor John Lucas.
As a unique living acknowledgement of the changing nature of modern Ireland a group of extremely talented multi ethnic children from St Mary's Primary school, Athlone, will perform poems in their own language _ which will include Russian, Chinese, Czech, Polish _ and Irish!
The festival celebrates Goldsmith in words and song but also honours Goldsmith by encouraging fresh creative endeavour and thus on Sunday 3 rd the Festival culminates at Goldsmith's birthplace, Pallas, with the results of the children's and adults' poetry competitions organised under the aegis of the festival and adjudicated upon by poets Breda Sullivan and Jean O'Brien respectively.
The social aspect is also strengthened with music and entertainment on both Friday and Saturday night. The Three Jolly Pigeons in Tang promises to be the place to be on Saturday evening when following the formal events a session of Ceol and Craic will take place.
The Goldsmith International Literary Festival has a very full and exciting programme of events and the hard working committee are looking forward to big attendances and a great weekend .
Speakers
Kevin Kidney
Kevin Kidney is the Failte Ireland General Manager for the East & Midlands region comprising Louth, Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Longford, Westmeath, Laois and North Offaly. This body is responsible for the marketing, development and servicing of tourism in the region. Kevin has a background in managing companies at board level, mostly in the private sector.
David Reddaway
David Reddaway took up his appointment as Ambassador to Ireland on 25 August 2006.
He was born in Ottawa , Canada , in 1953. He was educated at Oundle School and at Cambridge University , where he obtained his BA and MA in History and rowed in the University Lightweight Crew. Before going up to Cambridge , he worked as a volunteer teacher in Ethiopia . David Reddaway joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1975.
In 1988, David Reddaway was posted to New Delhi , dealing with India 's external relations. He left at short notice in 1990 to reopen the British Embassy in Tehran on the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and spent three years in Tehran as Chargé d'Affaires. In 2002, David Reddaway served as the United Kingdom 's Special Representative for Afghanistan , with the personal rank of Ambassador. From 2003-6, David Reddaway was British High Commissioner to Canada .
David Reddaway's interests include skiing; tennis; trekking; watching international rugby; and Persian carpets and art.
Declan McCormack
Born and schooled in Athlone Declan McCormack is an English and History graduate of University College Cork. He has written extensively on literary, historical, media, travel and sporting mattters (as well as the Eurovision Song Contest!) for a wide variety of publications including the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, Sunday Tribune, Evening Herald, Westmeath Independent , New York Daily News. He has co-penned a number of TV documentaries and has had a number of short stories and two comic playlets published in national newspapers. History is however one of his abiding passions and he has a specialist knowledge of the history of racism and of terrorism in Ireland and worldwide. Some years ago he wrote a satirical history of Ireland which was serialised in the Athlone Voice.
He is currently working on a number of histories as well as a self-styled 'big sprawling ambitious novel'. Declan was asked last year to become Director of the Goldsmith Festival and accepted with alacrity because of his personal attachement to the Midlands, his admiration for Goldsmith's literary achievements (which he considers undervalued) but more so because of Goldsmith's 'good-natured' reputation. Declan is married to his UCC sweetheart Helen and they have two children one of whom is an English and History graduate of Goldsmith's alma mater, Trinity College .
Declan lives in Dublin where he supports Midland causes and roots for Athlone Town FC and Westmeath from afar.
Anna Manwah Lo
Anna Manwah Lo, MBE, MSc, Dip.S.W. was born in Hong Kong and came to live in Northern Ireland in 1974. She has over 20 years' involvement with the Chinese community in Northern Ireland and is currently the Chief Executive of the Chinese Welfare Association. A trained social worker, her previous experience included working in a health and social services trust and Barnardos. She was a founder member of the NI Council for Ethnic Minorities, a commissioner for the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland , the first chair of the South Belfast Partnership Board and the South Belfast Racism Roundtable. She currently sits on various equality committees including the OFMDFM Race Forum and Belfast City Council Good Relations Panel. Anna was awarded an MBE in 1999 for services for ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland .
Brian Lenihan
Brian Lenihan was appointed Minister of State with responsibility for Children at the Departments of Health and Children; Justice, Equality and Law Reform; and Education and Science in June 2002.
He was first elected to the Dáil in April 1996 in the by-election caused by the death of his father, Brian who had been a deputy in Dublin West since 1977. During the 28th Dáil, Brian Lenihan was Chairperson of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution which considered changes in the abortion laws. He was also a member of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
He is a son of Brian Lenihan, former Tanaiste and a Minister in various portfolios who was a Dáil deputy for Roscommon-Leitrim 1961-73 and for Dublin West 1977-95. He is a brother of Conor Lenihan, Dáil deputy for Dublin South-West and a nephew of Mary O´Rourke who was a Dáil deputy 1982-2002 and who held various ministerial posts. He is a grandson of Patrick Lenihan, Dáil deputy 1965-70.
Ruth Dudley Edwards
Sometime academic, teacher, marketing executive and civil servant, Ruth Dudley Edwards has been a freelance writer since 1979.
Ruth was born and brought up in Dublin , was a student at University College Dublin, a post- graduate at Cambridge University and now lives in London . A historian and prize-winning biographer (the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Victor Gollancz: a biography ), her recent non-fiction books include True Brits: inside the Foreign Office , The Pursuit of Reason: The Economist 1843-1993 and The Faithful Tribe: an intimate portrait of the loyal institutions (shortlisted for the Channel 4 political book prize) and Newspapermen: Hugh Cudlipp, Cecil Harmsworth King and the glory days of Fleet Street . In the mid 1970s Ruth wrote Patrick Pearse: the triumph of failure , which won the National University of Ireland Prize for Historical Research in 1978 and has just been reissued with a new foreword.
PADDY O'GORMAN
PADDY O'GORMAN was born in London in 1957. His father was from Cork and moved his family back to Cobh when O'Gorman was seven.
Having graduated from University College Cork, he travelled to Dublin and became a teacher. Then he worked under Charles Haughey at the health department.
In 1980, he joined RTE as a radio producer. O'Gorman is best known for his programme Queuing for a Living for which he would interview people in dole or welfare queues. He has used the same programme-making technique in television in recent years. O'Gorman's People won the first Irish Film and Television Award for best feature/current affairs programme in 1999.
He recently starred in RTE's Celebrity Farm and has started a new series of Paddy's People on Saturday mornings on Radio One.
Gearoid O'Brien
Gearoid O'Brien is a native of Athlone. He is a Senior Executive Librarian with Westmeath County Library Service and Librarian of the Aidan Heavey Collection. He is widely published in the areas of local history and genealogy his most recent publications are Athlone in old photographs (Gill and MacMillan) and Lough Ree and its Islands which he co-wrote with Sean Cahill and Jimmy Casey. He is married to writer and theologian Angela Hanley and has two adult children.
Jean O'Brien
Jean O'Brien was born and lives in Dublin . She has published widely in Magazines, including; The Irish Times, Poetry Ireland Review, Fortnight Magazine, Gown, the Steeple, Trinity Workshop Poets, Tandem, Chapman, Agenda, Irish Studies Review (UK), Interim and Visions (USA). Her work has featured on RTE Radio I "The Poets Chair",The Arts Show, "The Darkness Echoing", "The Enchanted Way", Lyric FM, Anna Livia and various local radio stations. She was the administrator for the National Poetry Competition and a founding member of Dublin Writers Workshop and was involved with it for many years. She has published collections of poetry: Working the Flow (Lapwing 1992), and The Shadow Keeper (Salmon 1997). REACH (Lapwing) and Dangerous Dresse (Bradshaw Books) 2005.
Breda Sullivan
Breda Sullivan was born in Athlone in 1945. She has published two poetry collections, A Smell of Camphor (Galway, Salmon Poetry, 1992); and After the Ball (The Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 1998). She has won numerous awards for her poety, including that of the Kerry International Summer School (1995); Boyle Arts Festival (1996); The Edgeworth Prize; and the National Women's Poetry Competition (1998). She lives in Streete, Co. Westmeath.