The John Hewitt Society, in association with the Ulster Hall, is delighted to present a reading by Jennifer Johnston on Wednesday 28th March 2012.
Jennifer Johnston - celebrated novelist, playwright and one of Ireland's most admired writers - gives a reading from her new novel, Shadowstory, and discusses her work with the audience.
Jennifer has published over sixteen novels, including The Whitbread Prize-winning The Old Jest, the Booker Prize shortlisted Shadows on our Skin and How Many Miles to Babylon?
Tickets for the reading are priced at £5 and are now on sale at the Ulster Hall's box office T: 9033 4455 or online at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/uhwhatsOn
DIARY DATE
The John Hewitt Society in association with Lisburn City Council
Presents
BERNIE MCGILL & OLIVE BRODERICK
on
Thursday 24th November, 7.30pm
at
ISLAND Arts Centre, Lisburn
Tickets: £5 including glass of wine
Booking: 028 9250 9254 or islandartscentre.com
UPCOMING EVENTS – OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 2011
6th October 2011 - All Ireland Poetry Day reading with Paul Maddern & Maria McManus – JHS & Armagh City Chapter event in association with Poetry Ireland
Paul Maddern is well known to Poetry lovers in Armagh as he introduces many of the poetry events at the Hewitt Summer School in the City. He was born in Bermuda of Irish and Cornish stock and now lives in Co. Down. His poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies throughout Ireland, the UK and abroad, and he won the Templar Poetry award in 2009, leading to the publication of his chap-book, Kelpdings. His recent collection, The Beachcomber’s Report, was shortlisted for the prestigious Rupert & Eithne Strong Award 2011.
Maria McManus is a poet and playwright, based in Strangford, Co. Down. Reading the Dog (Lagan Press 2006) her first collection of poetry, was runner up in the 2007 Strong Awards and was also short-listed for the 2007 Glen Dimplex New Writers Award. Her most recent work is The Cello Suites (Lagan Press 2009), which has been recorded with an original score composed and played by cellist Tom Hughes. Her theatre credits include Bruised for Tinderbox Theatre Company, His 'n' Her’s and Nowhere Harder for Replay Theatre Company and The Black-Out Show for Red Lead Arts.
Presented in Association with Poetry Ireland.
Venue: The Irish & Local Studies Library, 39c Abbey Street, Armagh
Time: 7.30pm
Max: 50
Admission: FREE
Enquiries: 028 3752 7851
26th October 2011 - John Hewitt Birthday Reading with Kerry Hardie, Dennis O’Driscoll & Frank Ormsby as part of the Belfast Festival at Queen’s.
Three of Ireland’s most-admired contemporary poets will give readings to mark the birth date of the celebrated Belfast-born poet, John Hewitt, in the pub named after him.
Kerry Hardie is an award-winning poet and novelist who grew up in Co Down and now lives in Co Kilkenny. Her Selected Poems, published earlier this year, covers remarkable work written over two decades and draws on five acclaimed collections.
Dennis O’Driscoll is among the finest Irish poets of his generation. A poet of great wit and humanity, he has published eight collections including New and Selected Poems, which was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation in 2004.
Poet and editor, Frank Ormsby has been a central figure in Northern Ireland’s literary culture since the 1960s. Among his acclaimed poetry collections are A Northern Spring (1986), The Ghost Train (1995) and Fireflies (2009). Presented in Association with Poetry Ireland.
Venue: John Hewitt Bar, Belfast
Time: 8.00pm
Max: 100
Admission: £7 (£6 conc.)
Booking: Tickets in advance from the BFQ Box Office on 028 9097 1197 or at http://www.belfastfestival.com(A limited number of tickets will also be available from the John Hewitt Bar on the night).
27th October 2011 - Banbridge District Council Arts Festival Event with Glenn Patterson & Kerry Hardie
Banbridge District Council in association with The John Hewitt Society presents Readings by Glenn Patterson & Kerry Hardie. For this special literary event, two of Ireland’s finest writers, the celebrated novelist, Glenn Patterson, and award-winning poet and novelist, Kerry Hardie, will give readings from and discuss their work with the audience.
Glenn Patterson is one of the most admired literary figures on the Northern scene. He is the author of seven acclaimed novels, including Burning Your Own which won a Betty Trask Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, Fat Lad and, most recently The Third Party.
Kerry Hardie, one of Ireland’s leading poets, grew up in Co Down and now lives in Co Kilkenny. Kerry has been awarded many literary prizes including the Michael Hartnett Award, the National Poetry Prize (Ireland), and The Lawrence O’Shaughnessey Award.
Venue: F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio
Time: 7.30pm
Max: 50
Admission: £5
Booking: Tickets in advance from the F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio on 028 4062 3322
24th November 2011 - John Hewitt Society/Lisburn City Council: Prose & Poetry with New Writers: Bernie McGill & Olive Broderick
A JHS/ISLAND Arts Centre literary evening with two new writers whose recent publications have created much interest and excitement.
Bernie McGill’s first novel, The Butterfly Cabinet, was published to critical acclaim last year. Her short fiction has won prizes in the Michael McLaverty, the Seán Ó’ Faoláin and the Bridport Short Story Awards. For theatre she co-wrote The Haunting of Helena Blunden for Big Telly Theatre Company in 2010 and she wrote The Weather Watchers, a play for young audiences for Cahoots NI in 2006. She is working on a second novel in association with the Seamus Heaney Centre at QUB.
Originally from Co. Cork, Olive Broderick came to Northern Ireland to undertake the Creative Writing MA at Queen’s University Belfast, she settled in Co. Down in 2003. In 2009, she was one of the Poetry Introduction series readers and won a Hennessy X.O. Literary Award in the Emerging Poetry Category for the same year. In late 2010 she published Darkhaired, a Templar Pamphlet which was nominated for the Michael Marks Award 2011. She works for the Ulster Wildlife Trust and is working on a new collection of poems.
As part of the Arts and Business Invest Fund, Test Drive the Arts NI has partnered with U105, and offered 10 of Test Drive the Arts NI participating arts organisations, the opportunity to benefit from a free of charge radio advertising campaign.
The John Hewitt Society is delighted to have been selected to take part in this initiative and is looking forward to working with U105, Arts & Business NI and Audiences NI.
RARELY-SEEN WRITINGS BY JOHN HEWITT ON SHOW AT CULTURE NIGHT
The Belfast Telegraph, as part of its contribution to the recent Culture Night in Belfast (Friday 22nd September 2011) had on display a collection of little-known writings by the Ulster poet and thinker John Hewitt.
Authors and regular visitors to the John Hewitt International Summer School at the Marketplace Theatre in Armagh read their favourite John Hewitt poems.
Filmed by Culture Northern Ireland.
PEOPLE’S FESTIVAL IN PORTADOWN PARK
THE JOHN HEWITT SOCIETY
in association with CRAIGAVON BOROUGH COUNCIL & C-AIM
presents
an afternoon of Poetry
on
Saturday 6th August 2011
Opportunities for local poets to read their poetry in the Poetry Zone at:
12 noon – 12.45pm and/or 2.00pm – 2.45pm
Creative Writing workshop (FREE):
Diana Decesaris-Champa, an American writer based in NI, will give a Creative Writing Workshop in the Poetry Zone (3.00pm – 4.30pm) and this will give aspiring writers an opportunity to develop their writings and explore ideas in new ways.
Reading by celebrated poet (FREE):
The Poetry Zone will finish with a reading by the celebrated Dublin-based Northern poet, Iggy McGovern, at 5.00pm.
As you may already be aware the John Hewitt Society's website has been offline for just over a week now. This has been due to the fact that the site had been hacked. While the matter is not completely resolved we have, as an interim measure, uploaded an older version of the site and are updating it as quickly as possible with Summer School 2011 information. Please bear with us while we endeavour to get this information to you.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in Armagh next week.
NO ALIBIS BOOKSTORE - Upcoming Events
No Alibis Bookstore, Belfast has a number of events taking place in November & December -
Annual Poetry Reading - Wednesday 27 October @ 7.30pm
The John Hewitt Society regrets that, due to family circumstances, Theo Dorgan will not now be available for this Festival Reading.
Another Dublin-based poet, Iggy McGovern, has kindly agreed to read with Medbh McGuckian and Joan Newmann.
We apologise for this necessary change in programme but look forward to another memorable Poetry Reading with Iggy, Medbh and Joan.
BOOK NOW - LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS LEFT!
Annual Poetry Reading - Wednesday 27 October @ 7.30pm
THE JOHN HEWITT SOCIETY in association with POETRY IRELAND & the ULSTER BANK BELFAST FESTIVAL AT QUEEN’S 2010
Presents
The Annual Poetry Reading
to mark the birth day of the late John Hewitt (1907-1987)
by
Iggy McGovern, Medbh McGuckian and Joan Newmann
Wednesday 27th October at 7.30pm, The John Hewitt Bar in Donegall Street, Belfast
There is a very strong literary element in this year’s programme for the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s and we are delighted that our annual Poetry Reading in the John Hewitt Bar with three acclaimed Irish poets, which marks the birth day of the late John Hewitt, has been included in that programme as the only poetry event! This special reading, which is supported by Poetry Ireland, is proving popular, and with almost 70 tickets sold to date there is only a limited number of tickets left!
Tickets at: £7.00 and £6.00 (Concession), are on sale at Festival Box Office, Drama and Film Centre (QFT) or by phone on 028 9097 1197 (Festival Box Office) or online at www.belfastfestival.com
16th - 31st Oct 2010
BANBRIDGE DISTRICT ARTS FESTIVAL 2010
The John Hewitt Society is delighted to be working in association with Banbridge District Council to provide a day of literary activities on Thursday 21 October as part of the Banbridge Arts Festival 2010.
Lunchtime Poetry Reading by Ciaran Carson and Kate Newmann
One of Ireland’s best-known and critically acclaimed poets, Ciaran Carson has won several awards including the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize, the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Prize for Best Poetry Collection for "Breaking News" in 2003.
Donegal-based poet, Kate Newmann, is co-founder of The Summer Palace Press. Her first collection of poetry, "The Blind Woman in the Blue House", was published in 2001 and a joint collection with Joan Newmann, "Belongings", was published in 2007.
Venue: The Music Room at The Outlet
Time: 1.00pm – 2.00pm
Admission: Free with no prior booking required
Creative Writing Workshop with Kate Newmann
Kate Newmann, a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, has been a writer in residence for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and has directed successful workshops at Festivals throughout Ireland including the John Hewitt International Summer School and the Wild Geese Festival in Strangford.
Venue: The Music Room at The Outlet, Banbridge
Time: 2.30pm – 4.00pm
Admission: Free (Limited to 15 places which can be booked in advance at Banbridge District Council on 028 4066 0605).
An Evening with Jennifer Johnston
For this special literary event, the celebrated novelist and playwright, Jennifer Johnston, one of Ireland's most admired writers, will give a reading from and discuss her work with the audience. Jennifer has published over fifteen novels including The Whitbread Prize-winning “The Old Jest”, ‘Shadows on our Skin’, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize, and ‘How Many Miles to Babylon?’, set in World War I, and later adapted for stage. Jennifer’s most recent novels were ‘Foolish Mortals (2007) and “Truth and Fiction” (2009).
Venue: F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Banbridge
Time: 8.00pm – 9.30pm
Admission: Free – advanced booking advised
Contact: F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio on 028 4062 3322
While there is FREE admission to these events anyone interested in either the workshop or the evening reading is strongly advised to book in advance.
All of the above events are sponsored by Banbridge District Council in association with The Outlet & the Ulster Tatler/Literary Miscellany.
STOP PRESS!
The John Hewitt Society & Armagh City Chapter
In Association with Poetry Ireland
presents
The Co. Armagh All-Ireland Poetry Day Reading 2010
with
IGGY McGOVERN & GRÁINNE TOBIN
at Armagh City Library, Market Street, Armagh
Thursday 7 October at 7.30pm
Admission: FREE (Donations to City Chapter welcome)
Gráinne Tobin was born and brought up in Armagh and now lives in Newcastle, Co Down. She taught English for many years and left teaching in June 2010 to spend more time with poetry. Gráinne is a member of the Word of Mouth Poetry Collective and was a contributor to the Word of Mouth anthology (Blackstaff Press, 1992) which was later translated into Russian. She is the author of two poetry collections from Summer Palace Press: Banjaxed, published in 2001 and The Nervous Flyer’s Companion, which was launched in Belfast last May.
Iggy McGovern was born in Coleraine and now lives in Dublin, where he is Associate Professor of Physics at Trinity College. His poems have appeared widely in both journal and anthology formats, as well as in the “Poetry In Motion” series on DART trains in Dublin! A regular contributor to “Sunday Miscellany” on RTE radio, Iggy’s awards include the Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary and the Hennessy Literary Award for Poetry. A first collection, The King of Suburbia, published by Dedalus Press in 2005, received the inaugural Glen Dimplex New Writers Award for Poetry. A second collection, Safe House, is to be published in October by Dedalus Press.
STOP PRESS!
The John Hewitt Society in association with Lisburn City Council
Presents
GLENN PATTERSON & SINEAD MORRISSEY
on
Thursday 23rd September, 8.00pm
at
ISLAND Arts Centre, Lisburn
Tickets: £7 including glass of wine
Booking: 028 9250 9254 or islandartscentre.com
STOP PRESS!
The John Hewitt Society in association with Craigavon Borough Council
Presents
as part of
Country Comes to Town 2010
a special literary event
with the highly successful satirical writer
IAN SANSOM
on
Thursday 16th September 2010
at
The Millennium Court Arts Centre, William St, Portadown
Starting Time: 7.30pm Admission: Free
STOP PRESS!
The John Hewitt Society in association with Féile an Phobail
present
New Voices: Poetry Reading
with
MIRIAM GAMBLE & ELIZABETH CAMPBELL
On
Tuesday 3rd August 2010
at
Belfast Central Library, Royal Avenue, Belfast
Starting Time: 7.00pm Suggested Donation: £5
OFFICIAL OPENING OF
THE 23rd JOHN HEWITT INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL
Tony Kennedy, OBE, Director of the Summer School, in introducing and thanking Nelson McCausland, MLA, Minister of Culture Arts and Leisure for performing the opening ceremony expressed the John Hewitt Society’s thanks and appreciation to all those who had provided funding and support in these difficult economic times.
“The John Hewitt International Summer School is only possible with the support of our many sponsors and friends. As always we are grateful for the support received from the Arts Council, Armagh City and District Council and the Community Relations Council, and the many Councils and groups which support bursary attendance at the School. This year we have also received support from private firms and trusts, most notably Ulster Garden Villages, the Ulster Arts Club, and Armatile. We would like to thank them and all the other advertisers and event sponsors named in our programme.”
The Minister, Nelson McCausland MLA appreciated that The John Hewitt International Summer School had become one of the leading attractions on the Northern Irish calendar of literary festivals and summer schools and was a "Five-Day Festival of Culture and Creativity".
The theme of this year’s Summer School is “Back to Uncertainty: Considering Other Possibilities”, an idea inspired by the late John Hewitt in his 1967 poem, ‘Hand Over Hand’. Among the high-profile speakers who will address aspects of the 2010 theme and other topics will be the influential literary critic, Professor Terry Eagleton; Conor Brady, former Editor of the Irish Times; art historian, Mike Catto, and Professor John D. Brewer, a sociologist who has written extensively on peace processes.
It is appropriate that the theme invites a presentation on Platform for Change, and an environmental discussion on the Uncertainly of Climate Change, part of the Armagh Planet Earth Festival, with top climatologist, Professor John Sweeney and Dr John Gilliland, as well a discussion on “Changed Certainties?” with Rev. Chris Hudson, Billy Leonard, MLA and Malachi O’Doherty. And Malachi O’Doherty will also feature in a panel discussion on memoir writing about fathers, with Tim Brannigan, Eamon Delaney and Blake Morrison, author of one of the most acclaimed such memoirs, “And When Did You Last See Your Father?”
Among the well-known writers appearing at this year’s Summer School at The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre, Armagh, from 26 – 30 July will be Michael Longley, Louis de Bernières, Eavan Boland, top American poet, Sharon Olds, Terry Eagleton, Joseph O’Connor, Glenn Patterson and Blake Morrison.
Poetry, as always, features strongly in the Hewitt Summer School programme and this year’s programme is no exception with readings by the award-winning American poet, Sharon Olds 9who will also take part in a public interview with Anne-Marie Fyfe) as well as Eavan Boland and Dennis O’Driscoll, two of the major figures in contemporary Irish poetry. The Summer School will also host the Northern Launch of Landing Places, Immigrant Poets in Ireland, which will be introduced by Chris Agee.
A popular feature of recent Summer School programmes is the series of Lunchtime Readings featuring some popular contemporary novelists which this year features award-winning Northern writer, David Park; Star of the Sea best-selling author, Joseph O’Connor; one of the UK’S most talented and versatile writers, Blake Morrison; the highly popular Scottish writer, Louise Welsh, and Jo Baker, an acclaimed English novelist who once lived in Belfast.
The attractive programme of evening entertainment will include a delightful presentation of Words & Music by Louis de Bernières and Ilone Antonius Jones as well as The Heartstring Sessions with top traditional musicians, Arty McGlynn, Nollaig Casey, Máire Ní Cathasaigh and Chris Newman.
As in recent years, the John Hewitt International Summer School has organised the popular creative writing workshops in poetry, prose, drama and memoir writing with Dublin poet, Paul Perry, novelist Heather Richardson, Armagh-born playwright, Daragh Carville, and Nessa O’Mahony. The prose and memoir workshops are being kindly sponsored by the Open University. The exhibitions featured as part of the 2009 programme include a photographic exhibition, Interpretations: John Hewitt’s Poetry, by the Belfast-based photographic collective, Image 10+, and two new exhibitions on WR Rodgers and Sam Hanna Bell from BBC Northern Ireland’s Community Archive.
AWARD-WINNING ONE-ACT PLAY ADDED TO
HEWITT SUMMER SCHOOL ‘FRINGE’
There will be a surprise treat at The Market Place Theatre in Armagh on Tuesday 27 July (7.00 pm) when an exceptional amateur drama production which has just won the top award at the UK’s leading one-act festival will be staged as a ‘Fringe’ event at the John Hewitt International Summer School.
The Lurig Drama Group from Cushendall has just won the UK’s leading amateur one-act play award beating off challengers from England Scotland and Wales, to win the prestigious British Final Festival of One-Act Plays with their production of the Irish play ‘Melody’ in East Kilbride, Glasgow, with Adjudicator, Russell Boyce, highlighting the “superb quality of acting and direction” in the production.
‘Melody’, directed by Nuala Connolly and starring Rosaleen Agnew and Pauric Dunne, is Irish playwright Deirdre Kinahan’s play about a prim widow and a clumsy bachelor who meet regularly on a park bench.
The John Hewitt Society has had a long association with the Glens of Antrim, with earlier Summer Schools held at Garron Tower and recent Spring Festivals in Carnlough. So, the Society is pleased to be able to add a performance of this hugely successful production to the JHISS programme as a ‘Fringe’ event so that people in these parts can share in the joy of Lurig’s recent success.
‘Melody’, which will be staged in The Market Place Studio Theatre on Tuesday 27 July at 7.00pm, lasts for 50 minutes and the performance will be over in good time for those intending to see the Louis de Bernieres’ show in the Main Auditorium at 8.00pm. All those attending the Hewitt Summer School as well as local drama lovers are encouraged to come along for this extra ‘Fringe’ event. Admission to “Melody” will be £5.00, payable at the door on Tuesday evening. Enquiries to 07835 073 616.
LAUNCH OF THE 23rd JOHN HEWITT INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL
AT ARMAGH’S MARKET PLACE THEATRE
Over forty people gathered at The Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre on Tuesday 1 June at 4.00pm for the launch of the programme for the 23rd John Hewitt International Summer School. and was attended by many of those who had attended the Summer School in recent years as well as representatives of some of our sources of support and sponsorship – Pat Donaghy and Bill Nolan, the North South Ministerial Council, Helen Gibson of the Mooney Hotel Group and Armagh City Hotel, Jill McEneaney, Director, and Vincent McCann, Operations Manager, of the Market Place and officers of Armagh City & District Council, including John Briggs, Chief Executive, and Sharon O’Gorman, Strategic Director of Regeneration & Development.
Speaking at the Armagh Launch, Tony Kennedy, Director of the Summer School, was very upbeat about the variety of what the 2010 programme had to offer, and expressed the John Hewitt Society’s thanks and appreciation to all those who had provided funding and support in these difficult economic times. He paid particular tribute to officers of Armagh City & District Council and staff of The Market Place for their support and guidance on many matters relating to the progress of the Summer School.
“The John Hewitt International Summer School is only possible with the support of our many sponsors and friends. As always we are grateful for the support received from the Arts Council, Armagh City and District Council and the Community Relations Council, and the many Councils and groups which support bursary attendance at the School. This year we have also received support from private firms and trusts, most notably Ulster Garden Villages, the Ulster Arts Club, and Armatile. We would like to thank them and all the other advertisers and event sponsors named in our attractive programme.”
Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon, Mayor of Armagh City and District Council, expressed his own delight at Armagh’s hosting of the 23rd John Hewitt International Summer School. He acknowledged the huge steps the John Hewitt Society had taken not only to attract visitors from all over to Armagh but to also involve and reach out to the Armagh community in so many ways in recent years. He was pleased that the Hewitt Summer School was associated with the Council’s own Armagh Planet Earth Festival and that its programme included a guided tour of the Earth from the Air exhibition and a high-profile panel discussion on the environment.
Belfast-based poets, Frank Ormsby and Eilish Martin, were the guests at a special poetry event organised on Sunday 7 February to celebrate the Society’s successful association with one of Northern Ireland’s best-loved venues, The John Hewitt, which has been celebrating its 10th Anniversary. The ever-popular John Hewitt Bar in Belfast’s Donegall Street opened its doors to the public just over ten years ago and has evolved as one of the most popular hostelries and live entertainment venues in the city. In recent years it has been the venue for an annual John Hewitt Society’s annual Poetry Reading, held on the date of the late John Hewitt’s birthday on 28 October, a popular event which is now part of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s.
On this occasion the reading was included in the programme for another popular Belfast festival, Féile an Earraigh and Sean Paul Ó’Hare, Director of Féile an Phobail, introduced the event and welcomed the Féile’s new association with JHS. Paul Maddern of the JHS committee introduced the poets.
JHS was delighted that two such highly regarded local poets featured in the John Hewitt Bar celebratory reading, Frank Ormsby and Eilish Martin. Frank had previously read at the Bar in November 2007 at the launch of The Selected Poems of John Hewitt, which he co-edited with Michael Longley. His most recent collection of poetry, “Fireflies”, was published to critical acclaim last Autumn. Eilish Martin’s most recent collection, “Ups Bounce Dash”, was published by the Summer Palace Press and was also well received.
The Society is grateful to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, to the management of the John Hewitt Bar and to Féile an Phobail for their support for this special anniversary reading
THE JOHN HEWITT SOCIETY - PROGRAMME OF EVENTS 2010
The Society is delighted to announce its Programme of Events for the New Year which is now available to download – Programme of Events 2010
Dates for both the Spring Festival, Carnlough and the 23rd John Hewitt International Summer School, Armagh have been confirmed and, in addition to these main events we have several NEW events planned for 2010.
Do keep checking the website for further updates on forthcoming events and confirmation of dates/venues as applicable.THE JOHN HEWITT SOCIETY IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BELFAST FESTIVAL AT QUEEN’S AND POETRY IRELAND
The annual Poetry Reading to mark the birth day of John Hewitt took place on Wednesday 28th October in The John Hewitt Bar, Belfast. We were pleased that, once again, this year’s special reading, featuring three acclaimed poets, has been included in the programme for the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s which was launched on 26 August.
Jean Bleakney is a Belfast-based poet whose collections, The Ripple Tank Experiment and The Poet’s Ivy, shot through with humour, tenderness and approachability, established her as an original Northern poetic voice. A third collection entitled Ions will be published next year.
German-born Eva Bourke has lived in the West of Ireland for many years and has made a significant impact on the Irish literary landscape, with five highly regarded collections of her own poems and skilled translations of poems into German and English.
Award-winning poet, Colette Bryce, was born in Derry but now lives and works in Newcastle upon Tyne. The most recent of her three highly regarded collections from Picador is Self Portrait in the Dark. Her poems have won the UK National Poetry Competition and the Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition 2007.
16th - 31st Oct 2009
ALL IRELAND POETRY DAY READING
Armagh City Chapter and The John Hewitt Society joined this year again with Poetry Ireland to celebrate the 2009 All-Ireland Poetry Day and present the County Armagh Reading, on Thursday 1st October, at the Cardinal Ó Fiaich Library, Armagh. The City Chapter and JHS were delighted that an audience of almost 60 people attended to hear the acclaimed poets Kate Newmann, Martin Mooney and Maureen Boyle on this special occasion.
Kate Newmann was born in Co Down, now lives in Donegal and is co-founder of The Summer Palace Press. She won the Allingham Poetry Prize, the James Prize the Swansea Roundyhouse Poetry Competition and the Listowel Poetry Prize. In 2009 she was commended in the National Poetry Competition. Her first collection of poetry, The Blind Woman in the Blue House, was published in 2001 and a joint collection with Joan Newmann, Belongings, was published by Arlen Press 2007.
Martin Mooney’s first collection of poetry, Grub (1993), won the Brendan Behan Memorial Award, was made a Poetry Book Society Choice and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. His other collections were Rasputin and his Children (2000) and Blue Lamp Disco (2003). He was born in Belfast, grew up in Newtownards, and has worked as a civil servant, creative writing teacher, arts administrator and bartender.
Maureen Boyle was runner-up in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Prize in 2004 for an unpublished collection and in 2007 she was awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry Prize and the Strokestown International Poetry Prize. In the same year she received an Arts Council Travel Award to travel to Leuven in Belgium to research a long historical poem. Last year Maureen, who was associated with the Summer School Reading workshop in recent years, completed a commission for the BBC for a poem to run through a documentary on the Crown Bar which was screened in October 2008.
PAMELA HUNTER
All who attended the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh or Hewitt Spring Festival in the Antrim Glens over recent years will be shocked and saddened by the sudden death (on Sunday August 23rd) of bookseller Pamela Hunter, a significant supporter, with her husband John Brown, of the John Hewitt Society and its annual events. The society was represented at Pamela’s funeral on 27th August by Director, Tony Kennedy, and committee members Maureen Boyle and Paul Maddern.
Pamela and John created Books Upstairs—their delightfully eclectic bookstore in Limavady, with its strong emphasis on literature coming from their shared knowledge of, and love of, Irish writing and writing from the North in particular—just around the time the Hewitt Society was branching out to Armagh while creating a one-day Festival in Carnlough. They immediately offered to support both events: a long early morning trek each spring with a carload of books to provide a magnet for Glens book-lovers between readings and talks, and the magnificent and much-photographed week-long bookstall in Armagh’s Market Place Theatre foyer, focus of numerous literary conversations between guests and attendees, local, regional and international, and especially with John and Pamela themselves, on what was past, or passing, or to come in the world of books.
Always up-to-the-moment on who’d written what—every guest, whatever their field, however obscure their publisher or publishing history, arrived to find their books on display—Pamela combined bibliophile enthusiasm with freelance projects in the music and film worlds and will be much missed by the Hewitt Committee members with whom she was in touch regularly, and by all who came into contact with her deep and wide-ranging, lightly-worn, literary knowledge and her outgoing, energetic, ever-helpful personality.
REACHING A WIDER AUDIENCE - THE JOHN HEWITT SOCIETY ON YOUTUBE
With special thanks to Bluebird Media, the John Hewitt Society has now extended its reach on a global basis with the first clip from The John Hewitt International Summer School 2008 now available to view at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfZIxKy1_Eo
LAUNCH OF THE 22nd JOHN HEWITT INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL AT
THE JOHN HEWITT PUB, BELFAST
On Monday 8th June at 11.00am The John Hewitt Pub in Donegall St., Belfast was alive with the sound of camera shutters and bright with Photoflash as the new Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Naomi Long launched the countdown to the 22nd John Hewitt International Summer School to be held in Armagh 27th July –31st July 09.
Tony Kennedy OBE, JHS Director, introduced The Lord Mayor on what for her marked an historic occasion for the City. Naomi Long was only the second female Mayor or Lord Mayor of Belfast since1842 and it was been some 28 years (1981) since the previous one.
In fact John Hewitt, poet, socialist and Freeman of Belfast would at that time would have been living in the city and it was he who in 1983 opened the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre who own the John Hewitt Pub.
In her own carefully researched remarks The Lord Mayor, Councillor Naomi Long was extremely knowledgeable about Hewitt’s poetry and his part in promoting the Arts, confessing that her own favourite John Hewitt poem was The Coasters. The director and committee of the John Hewitt Society were also very warmly congratulated on their role in promoting the Summer School.
The Lord Mayor asked to meet all the Society’s guests at the launch and the event very quickly turned into a really festive occasion.
LAUNCH OF THE 22nd JOHN HEWITT INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL AT ARMAGH’S MARKET PLACE THEATRE
The Armagh Launch of the programme for the 22nd John Hewitt International Summer School took place in The Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre on Thursday 4 June and was attended by many of those who had attended the Summer School in recent years as well as representatives of some of our sources of support and sponsorship – Colm O’Hare, the North South Ministerial Council, Helen Gibson of the Mooney Hotel Group and Armagh City Hotel, Vincent McCann, Acting Director of the Market Place and Jill McEneaney, Strategic Director of Regeneration & Development (Acting) at Armagh City & District Council.
Speaking at the Armagh launch of the Summer School Programme, Director Tony Kennedy expressed the John Hewitt Society’s thanks and appreciation to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for its continuing support for the John Hewitt International Summer School. The Society, he said, was also grateful to Armagh City and District Council for its ongoing support and cooperation, and to other major supporters of the Summer School, the Community Relations Council, Poetry Ireland, Arm
The John Hewitt Society, in association with the Ulster Hall, is delighted to present a reading by Jennifer Johnston on Wednesday 28th March 2012.
Tony Kennedy, OBE, Director of the Summer School, in introducing and thanking Nelson McCausland, MLA, Minister of Culture Arts and Leisure for performing the opening ceremony expressed the John Hewitt Society’s thanks and appreciation to all those who had provided funding and support in these difficult economic times.
The Lurig Drama Group from Cushendall has just won the UK’s leading amateur one-act play award beating off challengers from England Scotland and Wales, to win the prestigious British Final Festival of One-Act Plays with their production of the Irish play ‘Melody’ in East Kilbride, Glasgow, with Adjudicator, Russell Boyce, highlighting the “superb quality of acting and direction” in the production. 
Over forty people gathered at The Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre on Tuesday 1 June at 4.00pm for the launch of the programme for the 23rd John Hewitt International Summer School. and was attended by many of those who had attended the Summer School in recent years as well as representatives of some of our sources of support and sponsorship – Pat Donaghy and Bill Nolan, the North South Ministerial Council, Helen Gibson of the Mooney Hotel Group and Armagh City Hotel, Jill McEneaney, Director, and Vincent McCann, Operations Manager, of the Market Place and officers of Armagh City & District Council, including John Briggs, Chief Executive, and Sharon O’Gorman, Strategic Director of Regeneration & Development. 
Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon, Mayor of Armagh City and District Council, expressed his own delight at Armagh’s hosting of the 23rd John Hewitt International Summer School. He acknowledged the huge steps the John Hewitt Society had taken not only to attract visitors from all over to Armagh but to also involve and reach out to the Armagh community in so many ways in recent years. He was pleased that the Hewitt Summer School was associated with the Council’s own Armagh Planet Earth Festival and that its programme included a guided tour of the Earth from the Air exhibition and a high-profile panel discussion on the environment. 
Jean Bleakney is a Belfast-based poet whose collections, The Ripple Tank Experiment and The Poet’s Ivy, shot through with humour, tenderness and approachability, established her as an original Northern poetic voice. A third collection entitled Ions will be published next year. 
German-born Eva Bourke has lived in the West of Ireland for many years and has made a significant impact on the Irish literary landscape, with five highly regarded collections of her own poems and skilled translations of poems into German and English. 
Award-winning poet, Colette Bryce, was born in Derry but now lives and works in Newcastle upon Tyne. The most recent of her three highly regarded collections from Picador is Self Portrait in the Dark. Her poems have won the UK National Poetry Competition and the Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition 2007.
Kate Newmann was born in Co Down, now lives in Donegal and is co-founder of The Summer Palace Press. She won the Allingham Poetry Prize, the James Prize the Swansea Roundyhouse Poetry Competition and the Listowel Poetry Prize. In 2009 she was commended in the National Poetry Competition. Her first collection of poetry, The Blind Woman in the Blue House, was published in 2001 and a joint collection with Joan Newmann, Belongings, was published by Arlen Press 2007. 
Martin Mooney’s first collection of poetry, Grub (1993), won the Brendan Behan Memorial Award, was made a Poetry Book Society Choice and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. His other collections were Rasputin and his Children (2000) and Blue Lamp Disco (2003). He was born in Belfast, grew up in Newtownards, and has worked as a civil servant, creative writing teacher, arts administrator and bartender.
Maureen Boyle was runner-up in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Prize in 2004 for an unpublished collection and in 2007 she was awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry Prize and the Strokestown International Poetry Prize. In the same year she received an Arts Council Travel Award to travel to Leuven in Belgium to research a long historical poem. Last year Maureen, who was associated with the Summer School Reading workshop in recent years, completed a commission for the BBC for a poem to run through a documentary on the Crown Bar which was screened in October 2008. 
Tony Kennedy OBE, JHS Director, introduced The Lord Mayor on what for her marked an historic occasion for the City. Naomi Long was only the second female Mayor or Lord Mayor of Belfast since1842 and it was been some 28 years (1981) since the previous one. 
