Aspects Festival Bangor 20 September - 6 October 2019 A celebration of Irish writing
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Aspects Festival Bangor 20 September – 6 October 2019 A celebration of Irish writing
P TOURIST
BANGOR MARINA INFORMATION
HELLO AND WELCOME
PICKIE
FUN PARK
HIGH STREET
P
NS PA
RADE Welcome to Aspects 2019
QUEE
We use the cliché all too often but there really is something for everyone in
MAIN STREET
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this year's programme! There are events celebrating historical writing, poetry,
LL
HI crime fiction, writing workshops, children’s events, politics, memoir, journalism,
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GRA P scriptwriting, the short story and exhibitions.
HAMILTON RO
AD Back by popular demand, we welcome some of our Aspects friends in Michael
Longley, Fergal Keane and Malachi O’Doherty – as well as local talents Moyra
T E
RE
Donaldson, Ian Sansom and Colin Bateman.
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IN
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We are delighted to host the launch of Darina Allen’s new cookbook and
Gerald Dawe’s new poetry collection.
BUS & TRAIN
STATION
Don’t miss out on our female crime event and Women Aloud NI shares its poetic
TENNIS COURTS
thoughts on food.
We hope you enjoy exploring our programme and look forward to seeing you at
the festival.
ET
5
RE
Y ST Aspects Festival Team
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AB SERC
P
AD
T RO
FAS
BEL
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BELFAST ROAD 3 BANGOR AURORA
TO CLANDEBOYE AQUATIC & LEISURE
COMPLEX
ESTATE
1 THE BLACKBERRY
4 PATH ART STUDIOS
2 BANGOR CARNEGIE
LIBRARY
3 BANGOR CASTLE
P
& NORTH DOWN
MUSEUM
4 WALLED GARDEN
We have sent you this guide as we believe you have a legitimate interest in our product as you have
FESTIVAL MAP
5 SERC THEATRE requested to receive it before, however you can unsubscribe at any time and we will no longer send
6 BOOM! STUDIOS you a copy. You can contact us using the details on the back page.
2 3
Aspects At A Glance
Opening North Down 1,000 Books To Read Before North Down
P6 4 Sep–6 Oct Writers in the Frame Free P24 3 Oct 6pm £7
hours Museum You Die Museum
Opening Blackberry Path
P6 26–29 Sep Poetry and Art Free P25 3 Oct 8pm Malachi O’Doherty Bangor Castle £10
hours Art Studios
Opening Bangor Castle Clandeboye
P7 8 Sep–6 Oct Gathering Silence Exhibition Free P26 4 Oct 5pm Olivia Manning £7
Hours Walled Garden Courtyard
Opening Seacourt Print An Evening with Poets and Clandeboye
P8 2–27 Sep Fabrications Exhibition Free P27 4 Oct 7pm £7
Hours Workshop Poetry Courtyard
Seacourt Print 5 Oct/ 6.30pm/ Clandeboye
P8 28 Sep 2–4pm Brainy Crafternoon Free P28 Lightning Talks Free
Workshop 6 Oct 2pm Courtyard
Opening This World is Magic Bangor Carnegie Clandeboye
P9 10 Sep–5 Oct Free P29 5 Oct 3pm Mad Hatter’s Tea Party £20
Hours Exhibition Library Courtyard
North Down Clandeboye
P10 21 and 28 Sep 10am–1pm Reading Like a Writer £30 P30 5 Oct 8pm Darina Allen £10
Museum Courtyard
Clandeboye
P11 26 Sep 8pm Michael Longley Bangor Castle £12 P31 6 Oct 10.30am–1pm The Woodland Chew and Yarn £5
Courtyard
North Down Shane Connolly discusses Clandeboye
P12 27 Sep 6pm Poetry: New Collections £7 P32 6 Oct 3.30pm £10
Museum Flowers, Food and Drink Courtyard
The History of What We Eat Clandeboye
P13 27 Sep 8pm Fergal Keane Bangor Castle £12 P33 6 Oct 5pm Free
and Drink Courtyard
North Down Clandeboye
P14 28 Sep 5pm Rise of the Short Story £5 P33 6 Oct 6.30pm Women Aloud NI Free
Museum Courtyard
Colin Bateman and Clandeboye
P15 28 Sep 3pm Bangor Castle £10 P34 6 Oct 8pm The Darkling Air £12
Stephen Walker Courtyard
Space, SERC Bangor Carnegie
P16 28 Sep 7pm Poetry Slam £5 P36 20 Sep 10–11am Toddler Storytime Free
Theatre Library
Carlo Gébler and Gavin Bangor Carnegie
P17 29 Sep 2pm Bangor Castle £8 P36 20 Sep 3.30–4.45pm Illustration Workshop £7
Weston Library
P18 29 Sep 4pm Gerald Dawe Book launch Bangor Castle Free P37 20 Sep 4pm and 5pm Book Inspired Yoga Boom! Studios £7
P19 29 Sep 6pm Polly Devlin Bangor Castle £10 P37 20 Sep 6.30–8.30pm Tablets and Text Boom! Studios £8
North Down 10.30am and Bangor Carnegie
P20 30 Sep 6–9pm Writing to the Image £15 P38 21 Sep Sensory Story £8
Museum 12noon Library
North Down Bangor Carnegie
P21 1 Oct 6–9pm As Good as it Gets £15 P38 21 Sep 2–4pm Comic Book Creations £8
Museum Library
North Down
P22 2 Oct 6pm Female Crime £7 P39 21 Sep 10am–4pm Poetry Collage Making Boom! Studios Free
Museum
Bangor Literary Journal North Down
P23 2 Oct 8pm Fealtys Back Bar Free P39 21 Sep 6pm Bedtime Stories £3
Launch Museum
4 5
Sunday 8 September – Sunday 6 October
Wednesday 4 September – Gathering Silence
Sunday 6 October
Bangor Castle Walled Garden
Writers in the Frame Free during opening hours
North Down Museum
Free during opening hours
Gathering Silence showcases new work by artists Helen Hanse and Owen Crawford.
Inspired by exhibiting in the unique and beautiful environment of the Walled
This is a literature inspired exhibition
Garden, the sculptures in stone and wood reflect a gathering of experience, of quiet
displaying works including author
moments and the changing seasons.
portraits and book-related framed
pieces. Aspects Festival is delighted The process of carving to create in stone and wood is time worn and allows for the
to present a small number of works alliance of story and word in the careful definition of these materials. Stories often
held in the Arts Council of Northern precede and germinate the carving yet the materials seem always to provide a new
Ireland’s Art Collection, including this telling of whatever has to be said.
portrait of Michael Longley by David
Russell, charcoal on paper.
Exhibition
Launch event
Sunday 8
September 3pm
Free – all welcome,
Thursday 26 September – Sunday 29 September meet at the
Bandstand
Poetry and Art
The Seventh Bangor Poetry Competition and Art Exhibition
The Blackberry Path Art Studios
Free during opening hours
The Bangor Poetry Competition’s theme this year was ‘Elements’. In this seventh year
of the competition, it saw poets from all over the globe submit original poems to be
considered for the shortlist. The final selection, made by the editorial team of The
Bangor Literary Journal, are displayed alongside original artwork.
The public is invited to come along and vote for their favourite poems and choose a
winner for the prestigious competition.
Exhibition opening hours:
Thursday 26 and Friday 27 September 11am–2pm
Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September 11am–3pm
6 7
Monday 2 September – Friday Tuesday 10 September – Saturday 5 October
27 September This World is Magic
Fabrications: Drawings by Barry Falls
Unravelling Facts Bangor Carnegie Library
from Folklore Free during library opening hours
Work by Susan Robinson
Seacourt Print Workshop Barry is an award-winning illustrator and artist from County Tyrone. He provides
Free during opening hours illustration for editorial, design, advertising and publishing.
Monday to Friday, 10am – 4pm
Barry works with a variety of pen, pencil, paint and found materials. Sections of a
drawing are created individually and then assembled on the computer in a digital
collage. Texture and vibrant, saturated colours are a hallmark of his work. Facial
Fabrications examines the fine line
expression and nuances of gesture or posture allow for the creation of a complex
between facts, fiction and folklore.
personality within the context of a ‘simple’ drawing. Barry’s love of drawing fauna
Combining screen-printing, stitch,
and flora is apparent in much of his work.
knitting and crochet, Robinson
examines, embroiders and embellishes His aptitude at finding a compelling visual to
our understanding of memory and the accompany an abstruse subject, has led to
human brain. repeated work for The Lancet medical
journal, Bloomberg Businessweek,
Where did the idea of ‘woolly thinking’ come from? How exactly does someone’s
The New York Times and The
mind ‘completely unravel’? What is a ‘hare-brained scheme’? How does one put
Financial Times. As well as
‘a twist in the tale’?
editorial, corporate and
This exhibition gathers all these curious threads to produce some imaginative advertising work, Barry
textile art. has also produced
book covers for
Faber & Faber,
Random House
and Macmillan
and illustrated
Saturday 28 September short stories in
Brainy Crafternoon The New Yorker.
His first
Seacourt Print Workshop picture book
2 – 4pm for young
Free during opening hours children, It’s
Your World
Now! was
Our take on a stitch’n’bitch, bring your current knitting or stitch project or we’ll published in 2019.
provide a project for you to work on. Session will be inspired by the exhibition of
fiction or folklore. Open to all ages and no experience required.
8 9
Saturday 21 September and Thursday 26 September
Saturday 28 September Michael Longley
Reading Like a Writer Aspects Launch Event
with Patsy Horton Bangor Castle
North Down Museum 8pm
10am–1pm £12
£30 total for both sessions
Michael Longley is an award-winning
‘Like most – maybe all – writers, I learned poet whose love of his craft remains
to write by writing and, by example, undimmed. This is his description of
reading.’ writing a poem: ‘You’re concentrating,
Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose and all of you is gathered up, deeply
attentive, and that concentration is like
Whether you are a writer or someone a drug, and you realise you’ve been at
with aspirations to write, or whether you a sheet of paper for four hours. I love
love reading and talking about books, this that. I love the intensity of that. It’s such
session is for you. excitement.’
Join editor and expert reader Patsy Michael’s most recent collection, Angel
Horton to discuss two fantastic and Hill, was published in June 2017. Winner
critically acclaimed novels that are loved of myriad literary awards, he is also the
by readers – David Park’s Travelling in a recipient of a CBE and the Queen’s Gold
Strange Land and My Name is Lucy Barton Medal for Poetry. He was the Ireland
by Elizabeth Strout. Professor of Poetry 2007-2010. His
latest publication is A Stream’s Tattle
The session, which will require
(2019) a pamphlet of new poems which
participants to have read both novels in
celebrate his eightieth year.
advance, will explore why these novels
are powerful works of fiction, and what it
is about the writing that makes them so
beloved by readers and critics.
We will discuss how these novels
have been ‘built’ and structured
through character, setting, plot and
other elements. We’ll also spend time
discussing the style of the writing in
novels, using close reading to explore
the rhythm and flow of sentences and
paragraphs.
© Bobbie Hanvey
10 11
Friday 27 September Friday 27 September
Poetry: New Collections Fergal Keane
with Maureen Boyle, Moyra Donaldson and Ross Thompson Bangor Castle
North Down Museum 8pm
6pm £12
£7
‘The journalism of witness is a form
Maureen Boyle’s The Work of a Winter contains poems written over sixteen years. of atonement. If by bearing witness
They are often narrative and many attempt to give a voice to women and men to these things we’ve got to confront
whose voices we haven’t often been able to hear, reflecting the idea that poetry can unpalatable truths one can then …
give intimate imaginative access to people’s lives. make a small start to look at the past …
Carnivorous is the eighth collection from County Down poet Moyra Donaldson. To look back, not with misty eyes, not
Drawing on myth, nature and memory, the poems speak of the extraordinary in the with sentimentalism, but with cold hard
ordinary. Fluidity of self and of time, an evocation of the natural world, our human facts.’ Fergal Keane
need to try to make sense of our lives – all themes that are expanded and developed Fergal Keane is a multi-award winning
in this latest book. foreign correspondent and author. His
Bangor Poet, Ross Thompson’s debut collection of poems, Threading The Light, will books have covered a diverse range of
be published by Dedalus Press in October 2019. It charts a chronological journey subjects, from the Rwandan genocide,
through the pre-adventure world of childhood, the wounds of awkward adolescence to the Irish War of Independence and
and the future promise of adult life. Honest and emotive, Threading The Light is a Civil War, to South Africa and the history
book about hope, love, faith and forging ahead without letting go of the past. of Apartheid, to the Siege of Kohima
and the Second World War. He is also a
memoirist, with Letter to Daniel and All
These People. His five-part series The
Story of Ireland was broadcast in 2011.
A personalised style of writing is
present throughout his work. ‘I’m just
uncomfortable with sanctimony’, he
says, ‘but I’m still a great believer in the
things that have always moved me, in
the fundamental principles of human
rights. They moved me long before
journalism ever did.’
He was awarded an OBE for his services
to television journalism in 1997 and
holds an honorary Doctor of Letters
from University of Liverpool.
12 13
Saturday 28 September Saturday 28 September
The Rise of The Short Story Colin Bateman and Stephen Walker
with Claire Simpson and Mia Gallagher in conversation
North Down Museum Bangor Castle
5pm 3pm
£5 £10
Claire Simpson was born in north Antrim and educated in Dublin but now lives and Join Colin Bateman and Stephen Walker
works in Belfast. A journalist for more than 13 years, she also hosts a weekly news as they discuss their very different
podcast. She has an MA in creative writing from Queen's University, Belfast and has writing experiences. Expect stories of
had work published in Crannog magazine and Surge: New Writing from Ireland. She is journalism, books and Hollywood with
working on her first collection of short stories. a love of football thrown in for good
measure.
Prize-winning author Mia Gallagher’s novels are HellFire (2006), awarded the Irish
Tatler Literature Award 2007 and Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland (2016), Award-winning author Colin Bateman
longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Award 2016. Mia has received several is a prolific crime novelist, children’s
literature bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland and has enjoyed the role of author, screen writer and dramatist.
writer-in-residence in many different environments. Her award-winning short fiction The series Murphy’s Law, adapted
has appeared widely in journals and anthologies. Mia has also written for the stage from his novel of the same name and
and worked as an actor. Shift (2018) is her first short-story collection. starring James Nesbitt, ran for six years.
Bateman’s The Journey was released in
2016, and his drama Driven, focussing
on the DeLorean story, comes out later
this year. Nearly a quarter of a century
after the publication of his award-
winning novel Divorcing Jack, Bateman
will soon bring us the eleventh novel
featuring Dan Starkey.
Stephen Walker is an award-winning
author and broadcaster. Since 1989 he
has worked for the BBC as a television
and radio reporter, a documentary
maker and a political correspondent at
Westminster and Stormont. Stephen
is the author of three books. Forgotten
Soldiers: The Irishmen Shot at Dawn,
Hide and Seek and Ireland’s Call: Irish
Sporting Heroes Who Fell in the Great
War.
14 15
Saturday 28 September Sunday 29 September
Poetry Slam Aesop’s Fables
Space with Carlo Gébler and
SERC Gavin Weston
7pm Bangor Castle
£5 2pm
£8
Aspects Festival presents: The North Down Heat of the All Ireland Poetry Slam.
This dynamic, competitive event pits poet against poet. A witty, illustrated version of the world’s
greatest collection of fables, allegedly
They’re working against the clock and their peers, to showcase their original work. written by a slave in the 5th century BC.
Poets who register at the start of the night, will be chosen at random and have A book for our times, this retelling of the
three minutes to perform. Three judges will score the work and choose who goes Fables makes them relevant and richly
through to the next round. The outright winner will be crowned ‘Aspects Poetry Slam enjoyable. This is a new version of a
Champion’! book that was often used to teach moral
lessons to children. Gébler’s Aesop is
The top two poets from the Aspects Slam will join winners from other regional heats darker, more realistic and compulsively
across Ulster in an All-Ulster final. readable.
From there, two winners join six other Carlo Gébler is one of Ireland’s most
poets from across Connacht, Leinster Rules of Slam prolific and respected writers. He was
and Munster. 1 Poems should not exceed three born in Dublin, the elder son of the
minutes Irish writers Ernest Gébler and Edna
One poet will walk away with the O’Brien. He is a novelist, biographer and
prestigious crown of All Ireland Poetry 2 Pieces should be the poet’s own playwright. His most recent novel is The
Slam Champion. work Innocent of Falkland Road, inspired by his
3 No props*, musical instruments youth in London. He is also the author
Good luck to all.
4 Poets should perform solo of several novels for children, and works
This event will be hosted by Clare of non-fiction including a biography of
5 There will be penalties/
McWilliams, director of Articulate Art NI, Ernest Gébler, The Projectionist.
disqualification for non-
and will include special guest readers
adherence to the rules Gavin Weston was born in Belfast,
and judges. @Articulateartni aims to
6 Timing begins after the poet studied Fine Art at Saint Martin’s School
raise the profile of all NI artists whose
gives their name and title of the of Art and Design and Goldsmiths’
work is articulate and can be heard out
poem College, London, and University of
loud.
Ulster. He has lectured at University of
7 Winning poets are required
Ulster and Belfast Metropolitan College
to attend the Ulster Slam
for many years and was a regular
Championship heat
contributor to The Sunday Times from
*Page/book to read poem from is 1994 to 2002. He is a former prize-
acceptable winner of the Claremorris Open and
Iontas, a recipient of The Tyrone Guthrie
Award and was nominated for The Becks
Futures Award in 2002.
16 17
Sunday 29 September
Gerald Dawe
Bangor Castle
4pm
Free – registration essential
Gerald Dawe is an award-winning poet, literary critic, anthologist and academic.
A widely published poet, his other books include Earth Voices Whispering: Irish poetry
of war 1914-1945 (2008), Of War and War’s Alarms: Reflections on Modern Irish Writing
(2015) and The Wrong Country: Essays on Modern Irish Writing (2018). Dawe is the
editor of The Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets (2017) and author of In Another
World: Van Morrison and Belfast (2017).
This event is the launch of Gerald Dawe's latest poetry collection The Last Peacock
published by The Gallery Press.
Sunday 29 September
Polly Devlin
Bangor Castle
6pm
£10
‘If I had been born a writer, I would have written all the time, and I had many years of
not writing. I was too busy living. But I was born a seanchaí. I was born a storyteller.
Those years were spent telling stories to my children and to anyone who would
listen.’
Polly Devlin is an author, broadcaster, filmmaker, art critic and professor. Her list of
interviewees as Features Editor for Vogue is a who’s who of the 1960s – Bob Dylan,
John Lennon and Janis Joplin to name but a few. Devlin has written for the Sunday
Times, New Statesman, the Evening Standard, the Observer and the International
Herald Times. She is the author of many books, including All of Us There and The Far
Side of the Lough, and was awarded an OBE for services to literature. Despite this
she admits: ‘you have to prod me with a cattle prod to make me write. I’ve never
written without being asked. And prodded. I find writing very easy. I just hate it.’
© Bobbie Hanvey
Her latest book is Writing Home, a collection which reflects on her remarkable life.
18 19Monday 30 September Tuesday 1 October
Writing to the Image with Malachi O'Doherty As Good As It Gets with Moyra Donaldson
Workshop Poetry Workshop
North Down Museum North Down Museum
6–9pm 6–9pm
£15 £15
The printing press separated the This workshop will focus on the skill of editing your own poetry, and offer helpful
reproduction of text from the and practical suggestions as to how best to ensure that your poem is ready for
reproduction of image. Before publication. What are the questions you can ask yourself? How do you know when
that the intermingling of the two a poem is finished?
seemed natural. Digital technology
has made the interaction of text The second half of the workshop will look at applying these skills to individual
and image easier, but we have poems. Please send one example of your work to info@aspectsfestival.com
lost the habit of it. We have film by 20 September.
in which image predominates; Moyra Donaldson is an award-winning poet whose most recent collection is
we have photography in Carnivorous from Doire Press. She is a creative writing facilitator with more than
newspapers and other formats 20 years’ experience and her workshops are designed to be both supportive and
as simple illustration; but we encouraging. She is a professional mentor for the Irish Writers Centre and Words
also have career structures in Ireland and also mentors poets who are working towards a first collection. Moyra
journalism and film making has been a judge for a number of poetry awards, including the Seamus Heaney
which define photography Award for New Writing and the Mairtín Crawford Award.
and writing as distinct
endeavours.
This workshop for writers
and photographers shows
how image and text are
naturally symbiotic,
and how each can be
enhanced by the other.
20 21Wednesday 2 October
The Bangor Literary Journal Launch:
Aspects Edition
Fealtys Back Bar
8pm
Free – registration required
Come and join us for the launch of the special Aspects edition of
The Bangor Literary Journal!
Several of the shortlisted poets from The Bangor Poetry Competition
Wednesday 2 October will read their entries and the winners will be announced. There will be
readings from contributors to the special issue and our featured writers.
Female Crime
North Down Museum
6pm
£7
Catriona King is a doctor, manager and writer. Raised in Northern Ireland, she
worked for many years in central London as a doctor and trained as a police forensic
medical examiner, working with the Metropolitan Police on many occasions. Catriona
now lives in Northern Ireland, basing her Craig Crime Series of novels here. This
contemporary series comprises twenty-one detective novels to date, the latest
being The Depths. She has also written an Irish fantasy novel and a science fiction
novel set in New York.
Sharon Dempsey studied Politics and English at Queen’s University, Belfast and
journalism at City University, London. She has written for a variety of publications
and newspapers, including the Irish Times. She is a creative writing tutor at Queen’s
University. Her debut crime novel, Little Bird, was published by Bloodhound Books to
critical acclaim in 2017. A Posy of Promises, a heartwarming story about life and love,
followed in 2018. She is working on a new crime series, along with a modern day
Gothic thriller.
Kelly Creighton lives in Newtownards and facilitates creative writing classes. Since
2014, she has curated The Incubator literary journal. Her books include: Three Primes
(2013, poetry); The Bones of It (San Diego Book Review’s 2015 Novel of the Year);
and Bank Holiday Hurricane (shortlisted in the Saboteur Award’s Best Short Story
Collection category and longlisted for the 2017 Edge Hill Prize). She is currently
writing the third book in her series of detective novels set in East Belfast; the first
instalment will be published in spring 2020.
22 23Thursday 3 October Thursday 3 October
1,000 Books To Read Malachi O’Doherty
Before You Die Bangor Castle
with James Mustich 8pm
£10
North Down Museum
6pm
£7
Malachi O’Doherty is an author, journalist, political commentator and photographer.
As well as two books on religion, he has written two books on the IRA, The Trouble
With Guns (1998) and The Telling Year: Belfast 1972 (2007). He reflected on his
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A rediscovery of his love of cycling in On My Own Two Wheels (2012). His unauthorised
Life-Changing List puts a thousand great biography of Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams was published by Faber & Faber in 2017. His
books at readers’ fingertips. Fourteen book Fifty Years On. The Troubles and the struggle for change in Northern Ireland is
years in the making this compelling published this year by Atlantic Books.
compendium of a thousand noteworthy
books to get lost in is essential reading
for every book lover.
The book is as compulsively readable,
entertaining, surprising, and
enlightening as the thousand books
it recommends, and it celebrates
something every reader loves — the joy
of discovery.
James Mustich began his career
in bookselling at an independent
bookstore in Briarcliff Manor, New
York, in the early 1980s. In 1986,
he co-founded the acclaimed book
catalog, A Common Reader, and was its
guiding force for two decades. He has
subsequently worked as an editorial and
product development executive in the
publishing industry.
Enjoy James Mustich in conversation as
he discusses the Irish titles that made
his list and find out if he really read all
of them!
24 25Friday 4 October Friday 4 October
The Writing of Olivia Manning An Evening with Poets and Poetry
Clandeboye Courtyard Clandeboye Courtyard
5pm 7pm
£7 £7
The novelist Olivia Manning (1908-1980) was born in Portsmouth but had Irish roots Ian Sansom is a novelist, critic, journalist, broadcaster and academic. He has written
and connections to the Morrow family who owned The Olde House at Home on for The Guardian, the New Statesman and the Irish Times, as well as writing and
High Street, Bangor. Her Balkan trilogy was published in the 1960s followed by her presenting programmes for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. In addition to his books on
Levant trilogy in the late 1970s. The final book of that trilogy, The Sum of Things was cultural history and literary criticism he had two novel series – The Mobile Library
published posthumously the year she died. The two trilogies, known as Fortunes of series and The County Guides series. His latest book, September 1, 1939: A Biography
War, were described by the Sunday Times as ‘the finest fictional record of the war of a Poem, is published this year by Fourth Estate.
produced by a British writer.’
Gail McConnell is a poet, literary critic and an editor. Her work has featured in Poetry
Join us for a conversation between Eve Patten and Linda McAuley about this Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Manchester Review and The Tangerine. Her
remarkable writer. long poem, Type Face, was published in Blackbox Manifold in December 2016, while
her first pamphlet Fourteen was published in 2018. Her second, Fothermather, is
Linda McAuley is an award-winning
forthcoming with Ink Sweat & Tears in autumn 2019.
broadcaster. She is best known as the
presenter of BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘On Stephen Sexton’s poems have appeared in Granta, Poetry London, and Best British
Your Behalf’. In 2017 she was inducted Poetry 2015. His pamphlet, Oils, published by The Emma Press in 2014, was the
into the Irish Music Rights Organisation Poetry Book Society’s Winter Pamphlet Choice. He was the winner of the 2016
(IMRO) Radio Awards Hall of Fame and National Poetry Competition and the recipient of an ACES award from the Arts
was awarded an MBE for services to Council of Northern Ireland. In 2018 Stephen was one of seven poets presented with
consumers in Northern Ireland in the the Eric Gregory Award, for his collection The Animals, Moon. If All the World and Love
New Year Honours 2018. Were Young is published by Penguin this year.
Eve Patten is Professor of English in
Trinity College Dublin. She has published
widely in nineteenth and twentieth-
century Irish and British literature:
her books include Samuel Ferguson
and the Culture of Nineteenth-Century
Ireland (2004), Imperial Refugee: Olivia
Manning’s Fictions of War (2012) and (co-
edited with Aidan O’Malley) Ireland: West
to East: Irish Cultural Connections with
Central and Eastern Europe (2013).
26 27Saturday 5 October and Saturday 5 October
Sunday 6 October Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
Clandeboye with Lady Dufferin and friends
Reading Party – Clandeboye Courtyard
Food for Thought 3pm–5pm
£20
Clandeboye Courtyard
Join Lady Dufferin and friends to enjoy an afternoon of local delights in the beautiful
Join us at the Courtyard at Clandeboye surroundings of Clandeboye Courtyard.
throughout the weekend for a series
This Food for Thought event, as part of the Clandeboye Reading Party, is sure to
of public talks, discussions, readings,
be a highlight of the weekend. There will be introductions between historic and
launches and food!
contemporary food delights.
The Clandeboye Reading Party brings
You are invited to join in the fun and wear your favourite hat!
together staff and students from
Queen’s University Belfast and Trinity
College Dublin, the local community
and Aspects’ audience for the fourth
Clandeboye Reading Party. This year
the theme of the weekend is Food for
Thought.
Saturday 5 October and
Sunday 6 October
Lightning Talks
Clandeboye Courtyard
Saturday 6.30pm
Sunday 2pm
Free – registration required
Early career researchers from Queen’s
University Belfast and Trinity College
Dublin will give lightning talks about
the history, culture and literature of
food and drink on both days. These
showcases always promote interesting
discussions!
28 29Saturday 5 October Sunday 6 October
Darina Allen: A Life in Food The Woodland Chew and Yarn
Clandeboye Courtyard Clandeboye Courtyard
8pm 10.30am–1pm
£10 £5 per child/adult
Darina Allen is an award-winning cook and author who runs the world-famous This Forest School family event will spend the morning in the great outdoors in the
cookery school at Ballymaloe House in East Cork. Her contribution to culinary beautiful Robin Wood. This unique morning of walks, cooking and creative writing
education was recognised in 2013 when she was awarded the UK Guild of Food will be fun for all the family.
Writers’ highest accolade the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’. An ambassador for Irish
We will be using Clandeboye’s very own yoghurt and apples to make delicious
food, she is part of the International Slow Food Movement for Ireland. Her Simply
food for all on the campfires. Trinity College Dublin’s Pádraic Whyte will be keeping
Delicious series for RTÉ ran for eight series, and last year saw the publication of
us all on the edge of our logs with his own unique brand of creative writing and
Simply Delicious, The Classic Collection. She is the author of many other cookery
storytelling throughout the morning.
books, including the kitchen bible that is the Ballymaloe Cookery Course and Grow,
Cook, Nourish which won The World Gourmand Cookbook Award 2018. Her new Robin Wood is home of the Clandeboye Nature Rangers, North Down’s after-school
cookbook One Pot Feeds All will be launched at this event. Forest School programme.
Please dress for the weather and wear suitable clothing and footwear. All children
must be accompanied by an adult. Max two children per adult.
30 31Sunday 6 October
The History of What We Eat and Drink
with Susan Flavin
Clandeboye Courtyard
5pm
Free – registration required
Susan’s research concentrates on the history of trade, consumption and material
culture in Early Modern Britain and Ireland. Her current research – food, culture
and identity in Ireland c1550-1650, brings together historians, archaeologists,
computational and archaeological scientists, from across the UK and Ireland, to
explore food consumption and its cultural interpretation during a complex and
dynamic period of Irish history.
Sunday 6 October
Shane Connolly discusses Flowers, Food and Drink
Clandeboye Courtyard
3.30pm
£10
‘I love seasonality above all things. Snowdrops in January symbolising “hope”; roses Sunday 6 October
for all the different aspects of love in summer; tulips for fascination in spring; lilac in
May symbolising “first love” and “memories of love,” and so the list goes on. So I go Women Aloud NI does Food for Thought
to the season first and then work out the flowers I’d like to suggest.’ Shane Connolly
Clandeboye Courtyard
Having trained with some of London’s leading flower designers, Northern Ireland 6.30pm
native Shane Connolly set up his own company in 1989. Since then he has built an Free event
impressive reputation as a floral designer, with a small gifted team of florists, artists
and craftsmen working in North Kensington. He designed the wedding flowers for
both TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and TRH The Duke and Women Aloud NI invite you to join them for some poetry inspired by food! Enjoy this
Duchess of Cambridge and proudly holds Royal Warrants for both HM The Queen showcase by local poets celebrating our love of good food!
and HRH The Prince of Wales. He lectures internationally and has published widely
Women Aloud NI is an initiative which aims to raise the profile of the women’s
on flowers and flower arranging, most recently with Discovering the Meaning of
writing scene in Northern Ireland.
Flowers: Love Found, Love Lost, Love Restored.
32 33Sunday 6 October
Festival Finale
The Darkling Air
Album Launch
Clandeboye Courtyard
8pm
£12
The Darkling Air are Rachel McCarthy
and Michael Keeney joined by their
long time collaborators Arco String
Quartet. Following the release of their
acclaimed debut album Untamed &
Beloved in 2016, the group performed
extensively on radio and television,
receiving widespread airplay (BBC
Radio Ulster, RTE, BBC 6 Music)
while performing at a host of arts
festivals. Filmic folk-noir coupled
with poetic lyrics, piano, guitar and
strings produce a richly emotive and
melancholic sound world accompanied
by bespoke projected visuals.
This will be the first performance of
The Darkling Air’s new album Ancestor.
They will perform new songs alongside
earlier material.
'The purity of voice, the measured
intensity of instrumentation and
the depth of lyrical portrait ... I
can’t recommend The Darkling Air’s
Untamed & Beloved highly enough.'
Stephen McCauley – Soundscapes,
BBC Radio Ulster
'Powerful vocals combined with
circular piano motions and thematic
reiteration in strings, a harmonious
melancholic scene is certainly set.'
CultureHUB magazine
34 35Young A weekend of family-friendly creative
events to inspire young imaginations
© Balázs Kétyi. Unsplash
Friday 20 September Friday 20 September Friday 20 September Friday 20 September
Toddler Storytime Illustration Workshop Book Inspired Yoga Tablets and Text
with Make and Take with Barry Falls Boom! Studios Boom! Studios
mini books Bangor Carnegie Library £7 8 years+
6.30pm – 8.30pm
3.30pm – 4.45pm Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreas
Bangor Carnegie Library £8
7–12 year olds and Guy Parker Bees.
10am – 11am
£7 4–7 year olds Join digital artist Graham Ginty to
1 years+
Free event (Booking required) 4pm – 5pm create a unique studio visual story
Illustrator Barry Falls will take the
'mash-up'. Using books, words, digital
children through activities exploring Breathe and Be by Kate Coombs
Enjoy a special morning with your little film, sound recording and drawing
character, story and how words and 7–12 year olds
one at our read-aloud story time in which will culminate in a short video
pictures can work together to bring 5pm – 6pm
Bangor’s Carnegie Library. After hearing piece filmed, recorded and edited
a narrative to life. He will use his new
some favourite stories together, you'll Both sessions will be inspired by the by the participants. No experience
book It’s Your World Now and the
be using toddler friendly colours and books, bringing them to life through is required and the equipment is
exhibition to inspire.
stickers to make your own mini story Yoga and Art. provided. All you need is a handful of
book to take home! words and your creative brain!
36 37Young A weekend of family-friendly creative
events to inspire young imaginations
Saturday 21 September Saturday 21 September Saturday 21 September Saturday 21 September
Creative Natives Comic Book Creations Poetry Collage Making Cosy Bedtime Stories
Sensory Story – The with Jim Laverty Boom! Studios North Down Museum
Very Hungry Caterpillar Bangor Carnegie Library
10am – 4pm
All ages
6pm – 7pm
4 years+
2pm – 4pm
Bangor Carnegie Library Free event £3 (includes cookie and drink)
7 years+
10.30am – 11.30am and 12noon – 1pm
£8 Call in to Boom! Studios and contribute Get your jammies on and bring a
1–5 years
£8 to a visual collage – a Myrioyama – blanket, it’s time to cosy up amongst
Learn all you need to know from an
originally a set of 19th century visual the fairy lights! You'll be hearing some
experienced and popular comic drawing
The colourful, crazy and very greedy cards that could be re-arranged to tell stories from new books along with some
genius, Jim. You’ll be creating your own
caterpillars feast will be in Bangor! a story. Using the words from poet old favourites. See you there with your
comic in this workshop and go home
Come and listen to the famous story Michael Longley and his poem Starlings, teddy!
with skills to continue the story!
and then get stuck into exploring all the a visual expression of the poem will
sensory stations inspired by the tale of be built throughout the day. Drop in to
a growing butterfly. There’s arty making contribute to the collage and see it take
and painting spots too, so dress for on a new life.
mess and lots of fun!
38 39Booking Information
Book online at
aspectsfestival.com
Or in person at
North Down Museum
028 9127 1200
Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4.30pm
Sunday 12noon – 4.30pm
Mondays in August: 10am – 4.30pm
Ards Arts Centre
028 9181 0803
Monday - Thursday 9am – 5pm
Friday 9am – 4.30pm
Saturday 10am – 4pm
Tickets can be purchased from all
Ards and North Down Visitor Information Centres.
Refund Policy
Tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded, so please
check them as soon as you receive them.
Access for Disabled Patrons
We welcome disabled patrons, but would appreciate knowing your
requirements in advance. Please contact North Down Museum.
All events correct at the time of going to print.
Aspects Festival reserves the right to make alterations if necessary.
No photography/recording of events.
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