Entertainment
Portumna gearing up for Shorelines festival
The seventh Shorelines Portumna Arts Festival will take place from September 18-21, offering locals and visitors a broad programme of literature, theatre, music, performance and visual arts.
Galway’s We Banjo 3 kick off the concerts at 8.30pm on Friday, September 19, with their electrifying music, ranging from bluegrass to trad. On September 20 singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy will perform at The Church of Ireland and on September 21 at 5pm, classical pianist, Finghin Collins will perform Chopin at Portumna Castle. Finghin will also facilitate masterclasses for piano students on Sunday morning. Admission to concerts is €15/€12.
Meanwhile, Nóirín Ní Riain, famed for performing the Gregorian Chant, will sing at the Shorelines Mass on Sunday, September 21.
Drama will include Synge’s The Shadow of the Glen by local group, Half-Day Thursday, under director Jim Hynes. This staging, against Portumna Castle, is a Culture Night event on September 19 and admission is free. On September 20, Emigration Road, devised, written and directed by Eamon Grennan, will be performed by Curlew Theatre Company in the Workhouse
Literary events will include writing and poetry workshops, and the annual Literary Brunch as well as the Nicholas Treacy Memorial Recitation competition. Guests include award-winning writers Julian Gough and Niamh Boyce, poet, songwriter and dramatist Pete Mullineaux, and poet James Harpur.
Portumna Workhouse will host an exhibition of art, photography and sculpture until September 28. An additional attraction on September 21 will be the Portumna Vintage Club display at The Irish Workhouse Centre, along with a demonstration from blacksmith and coppersmith Mark Wilson.
On September 20 a family day, with street theatre and spectacle, will include Sorcaluba’s aerial performances, story-telling, adream-catcher workshop, games and face painting.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
An Slipéar Gloine, a retelling in Irish of the age-old classic Cinderella, written by Fearghas Mac Lochlainn from An Spidéal, and illustrated by Paddy Donnelly, won the Judges’ Special Award at the KPMG, Children’s Books Ireland Awards. The book, published by An Spidéal-based Futa Fata, was named winner at an event held in Dublin as part of the International Literary Festival.
While Fearghas has previously translated stories for Futa Fata (An Rás Chuig an Mol Thuaidh and Eachtra Dlúthchara) this is the first book he has written himself. Luaithrín the heroine of An Slipéar Gloine, and her evil sisters Straoisín and Smaoisín have enthralled young readers since the book, written in humorous rhyme, was published in 2022. It won the Gradam Réics Carló in 2022.
Fearghas is well-known for his award-winning agallaimh bheirte and lúibíní and was a guest storytime reader in Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop as part of the Cúirt Festival of Literature in April, when he read An Slipéar Gloine.
Galway’s Patricia Forde, whose books include the award-winning Wordsmith, is Ireland’s new Laureate na nÓg, or Laureate for Children’s Literature. She will hold the title until 2026, having taken over the role from outgoing Laureate, Áine Ní Ghlinn.
City-woman Patricia, a former Artistic Director of Galway Arts Festival and of Baboró Children’s Arts Festival, who began her working life as a primary teacher, was named laureate on Monday at a special event at the Arts Council.
Laureate na nÓg champions and celebrates literature for children and young people, inspiring future writers, illustrators and readers. This Arts Council initiative which honours “an artist of exceptional talent and commitment”, is administered by Children’s Books Ireland supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
Patricia, who has published more than 20 books, including 2014’s The Wordsmith, writes for young people of all ages, in Irish and in English. The Wordsmith won a White Raven Award from the International Youth Library, it’s an American Library Association Notable Book for Children in the US and it was shortlisted for the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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The work of 72 students from the art, design, film, and documentary undergraduate programmes of Atlantic Technological University will be officially unveiled this Friday, June 2, at 2pm, in the Galway City Campus building on the Wellpark Road
Film and theatre director Lelia Doolan will open the annual Graduate Show which runs until next Friday, June 11, from 10am to 5pm and is open to the public. Featuring work across a range of media, the show from the ATU’s School of Design and Creative Arts provides students with an opportunity to display their creativity and innovation.
Work on display will include paintings, sculptures, installations, graphic design and illustration, digital art, film and documentary screenings, animations, video game designs, product designs, textiles and fashion designs.
Several hundred guests are expected to attend the exhibition, a popular fixture on Galway’s arts calendar.
“We are immensely proud of the hard work and dedication demonstrated by our students throughout the year,” said the Head of the ATU Dept of Creative Arts & Media Celine Curtin. “The exhibition is a celebration of their achievements and their remarkable talent.”
Students will act as invigilators throughout the week, giving visitors to the show a chance to chat with them.
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