Hay festival kells opens tomorrow
The third Hay Festival Kells which starts on Thursday 25th June was officially launched in The Long Room, Trinity College Dublin, by Professor Linda Hogan, Vice-Provost / Chief Academic Officer of the College.
The Meath festival is a celebration of great writing for all, with over seventy events from Irish and international names who are celebrated the world over for successes in their fields.
Established writers from home and abroad like Anne Enright, Roddy Doyle, Marian Keyes, Lynda La Plante and Ben Okri will be appearing alongside exciting newer Irish voices such as Sara Baume, Paul Murray and Colin Barratt, who was winner of the 2014 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.
The festival’s focus on film will feature Irish talent like IFTA winners Lenny Abrahamson and Ed Guiney, Oscar nominees Cartoon Saloon and a screening of a winner from Sundance, How to Change the World. Highlights from the line-up for young people will include the chance to hear best-selling children’s author Derek Landy, one time winner of the UK’s Red House Children's Book Award - besides being wildly popular with the readership of his Skulduggery Pleasant series.
The festival is also offering audiences a major and diverse strand with music and musicians - musician, visual artist, political activist and writer Brian Eno; iconic musician Terry Woods (The Pogues, Steeleye Span); Celtic Tenor Matthew Gilsenan, and - last but not least - Newstalk presenter and Something Happens front man Tom Dunne talking about touring with the legendary but often bizarre rock star, the late Warren Zevon.
A focus on the environment will see Mark Skipworth, Seamus Sheridan and Brian Eno talk freeganism and food supply. Sheridan’s Cheesemongers will be host to a mouth-watering event entitled “The Story of Cheese” with Catherine Cleary and Kevin Sheridan discussing and sampling some of Ireland’s favourite cheeses. The festival is also offering a “Boyne Valley Feast”, showcasing some of Meath’s ever-increasing range of award-winning artisan producers and the best local seasonal produce.
Eddie Shanahan, Chair of the Irish Fashion Council, will talk with Sharon Wauchob, Paris-based Irish fashion designer, about the Irish fashion industry at home and in the international arena, while former Miss World Rosanna Davison will be talking about her own diet and lifestyle. Popular local comedian Fred Cooke will also perform a gig in the Headfort Arms Hotel on Friday June 26th.
There will be a strong North-South 'reconciliation' strand with contributions from Mitchel McLaughlin, Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Jeffrey Donaldson, DUP MP, and Eamon Rafter, who has just published a history of forty years of the Glencree Reconciliation Centre in Wicklow will also be discussing his work. And marking the 150th anniversary of the end of the cataclysmic American Civil War - in which up to 200,000 Irish-born soldiers participated - there will be a day of 45-minute lectures on Thursday June 25th.
Hay Festival Kells also offers a wonderful opportunity to enjoy and explore the heritage town of Kells in the Boyne Valley of Ireland’s Ancient East as it celebrates the world of books.
Lyndy Cooke of Hay Festival says, “We are delighted to be back - after two thrilling years – and we are looking forward to another wonderful opportunity to celebrate language, share stories and ideas with authors, poets, playwrights and journalists in the historic town of Kells. We are ready to debate and discuss. Join us for chapter three of many chapters of Hay Festival Kells.”
Hay produces festivals across five continents celebrating great writing around the world from Wales to Bangladesh, Ireland to the Lebanon, Kenya to Mexico and India to Colombia. For more information, please visit www.hayfestival.com
The festival is delighted to acknowledge the generous support of Meath County Council and Fáilte Ireland.
PROGRAMME DETAILS & TICKETS for Hay Festival Kells are available as follows:
W: www.hayfestival.com/kells
E: kells@hayfestival.org
Tel: 046 924 0081 (9.30am -5pm Monday-Friday)
Kells: Kells Chamber Office, Carrick Street, Kells, Co Meath
Tel: 046 924 0055
9.30am to 5pm Monday-Friday
Trim: Antonia's Bookstore, Navan Gate, Trim, County Meath
Tel: 046 943 7532.