Irish Eyes

By Mattie Lennon

In the May issue I was optimistic about this year's Listowel Writers' Week. Well, it surpassed my expectations. This year the festival was presented as a collaboration of Writers’ Week, Kerry Writers’ Museum, Seanachai and St. John’s Theatre & Arts Centre. It was meant to be opened on May28th by Patrick O’ Donovan, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, and Sport & Media. But the Minister couldn’t make it and Listowel’s favourite son, Billy Keane stepped into the breach and without the aid of notes, ropes or pulleys, kept the audience entranced with the wit and wisdom of the Keane gene pool. Chairman Ned O’ Sullivan spoke of, “. . . the great debt Listowel owes to our founding authors, Drs John B. Keane and Bryan MacMahon, and the founding committee and it vis our privilege to continue what they started and develop it as they would have wished.”

DaviWd Browne, Chairperson, Kerry writers’ Museum, said, “. . . it reflects Listowel’s popular image with a proud literary tradition and a commitment to supporting writers and artists at every stage of their journey.”

Programme curator, Maire Logue’s approach to curating the 2025 festival was, “Guided by a desire to reflect the diverse voices and experiences that made contemporary literature so vibrant and to reconnect with writers who down through the years have supported and received support from the festival.”

Cara Trant, Executive Director Seanachai -Kerry Writers’ Museum, said, “I am especially proud to see this festival bring new life to the ancient art of storytelling. The word Seanachai holds deep meaning in Irish culture-it refers to the traditional bearer of stories. The keeper of memory and the voice of the community. This festival continues that legacy, inviting us to share in the timeless power of words that entertain, challenge, inspire and connect us.”

Playwright, novelist and former Kerry footballer, Tony Guerin was a very worthy recipient of the 2025 John B.Keane Lifetime Achievement Award. His latest book Quilt will be coming out soon, watch this space.

The novel of the year award with a prize of €20,000 went to Niall Williams for Time of Child. On Friday 30th May Minister Patrick O’ Donovan arrived at Saint John's Theatre with a promise of a grant of €25,000 for the festival. Another of the outstanding events on May 30th was, “Poetry: Celebrating the Poetry of Paul Durkan-An Evening of Music and Poems to mark Paul’s eightieth birthday and the publication of Paul Durcan 80 at 80.” Unfortunately Paul didn’t live to see it, He died on May 17th

There is a tradition, among the good people of Ringsend, of gathering at a funeral procession to carry the coffin over the hump-backed bridge over the River Dodder just before the village. Needless to say at the funeral of one of our greatest poets the Ringsend people turned out in their droves to help the bereaved to, “carry Paul over the bridge."

Prolific Irish Times journalist Frank McNally treats his readers to a story from some years ago. The volunteers overdid their enthusiasm for the tradition. The stopped a hearse, with three limousines behind it, at the bottom of the bridge and immediately launched into the routine of organising each other to carry the coffin into Ringsend until the driver of the hearse intervened. “Lads, lads stop,” he said, “This funeral is going to F…ing Bray.”

What did Paul think of the afterlife? I think we can glean something from one of his poems.

On the last day of his life as he lay comatose in the hospital bed
I saw that his soul was a hare which was poised In the long grass of his body, ears pricked
It sprang toward me and halted and I wondered if it
Could hear me breathing
Or if it could smell my own fear which was,
Could he but have known it, greater than his
For plainly he was a just and playful man
And just and playful men are as brave as they are rare.
Then his cancer-eroded body appeared to shudder
As if a gust of wind blew through the long grass
And the hare of his soul made a U-turn
And began bounding away from me
Until it disappeared from sight into a dark wood
And I thought - that is the end of that, I will not be seeing him again.
He died in front of me; no one else was in the room.
My eyes teemed with tears; I could not damp them down.
I stood up to walk around his bed
Only to catch sight again of the hare of his soul
Springing out of the wood into a beachy cove of sunlight
And I thought - yes, that's how it is going to be from now on:
The hare of his soul always there, when I least expect it;
Popping up out of nowhere, sitting still.

Jim and Nora, a two-hander which was written by Nora Connolly and directed by Ronan Wilmot was staged in Saint John's Theatre featuring Julie Hale as Nora Barnacle and Rúadhri Conroy as James Joyce was a revelation from start to finish.

Speaking of veteran actor/director of stage and screen Ronan Wilmot, is performing the one-man show, Inisfallen Fare Thee Well, at Cafe du Journal, in Monkstown, County Dublin from Monday 21st July to Saturday 26th July at 7.30pm. Ronan Wilmot's treatment of this masterpiece which was written by Eddie Naughton is not to be missed.

I have just finished Spring Seaweed. This prose work written, in the Irish language, titled Feamainn Bhealtaine, in 1961 by one of our great Irish poets, Máirtin O' Direáin. It has been translated into impeccable English by Mícheál O' hAodha. He captures every nuance of O Direán's in this translation. O Direáin was born and reared on Inis Mor and Spring Seaweed through this series of essays, is a comprehensive record of life on an Irish Island. In common with Patrick Kavanagh, he didn’t necessarily love everything about his native heath . Yet, he could record all aspects of it in detail and without prejudice. These accounts were devoured by the people of Galway city, and much further afield. As Alan Titley put it in his Foreword, the reading public were …” in love with that traditional life, as long as they didn’t have to live it.”

Spring Seaweed is a timeless collection of essays from a master wordsmith and translated by another – one that will fascinate first-time readers and those returning to discover new depths in Ó Direáin's writing. I won't go so far as to quote Jorge Luis Borges, who said of one work, "The original is unfaithful to the translation," but I'm sure the late Máirtin O' Direáin would be very happy with Micheál O hAodha' translation. A great read

When a Palestinian team arrives in Ireland, nobody realises how deeply these new friendships will change everyone's lives. Inspired by a real football exchange this moving novel follows Irish children as they welcome visitors into their homes and hearts. As they play matches and learn about each other's lives, the Irish children begin to understand what daily life is like in Palestine. But when fighting breaks out in October, it becomes hard to stay in touch. With scary news reports every day, the Irish children worry about their faraway friends.

How do you help when someone you care about might be in danger? What can children do when grown-up problems seem too big to solve? Those brave friends, as they work through family worries, learn to speak up. With help from a kind counsellor, they turn their concerns into action, showing that friendship can cross any border. A powerful story about connection, understanding and finding your voice in a complicated world.

The Friendship Cup is a children’s book but there is a message in it for us all. Author Winnie Clarke based this novel on the true story of this Palestinian boys' football team who travelled to Ireland in 2017. Firm friendships were formed between the boys and the families of their hosts. When they returned to their homeland the outbreak of violence made it difficult if not impossible to keep in touch. At the launch on 9th May Winnie Clarke talked about her inspiration for writing the book and how sport can be used as an instrument for peace. She was joined on the day by her husband Paddy Lundy who is no stranger to sport. He played for Dundalk FC in the 1983/84 making over 30 appearances for that Town. Proceeds for the sale of the book went to the A1 Helal Football Academy. Roe River Books happily matched any money raised on the day. The author never imagined she’d write a children’s book. She says “Ninety per cent of the public think, ‘Oh, someday when life gets less busy, there might be a book in me’, but I didn't really actually think that.” The situation in Palestine after October 7, 2023, changed all that. “It horrified me” she says..

Details from ; info@roeriverbooks.ie

See you in August.