Temple Bar Tradfest Poetry Photos

It may have been cold and there may have been some rain but it is Ireland and it is January. The poetry reading by the Swift Satire Festival, Trim, members at the Temple Bar Tradfest was very enjoyable. We set up camp in the Square beside the second hand book stalls and had three sessions, at 12, at 2 and at 4.

All the old favourites and a few more unusual ones as well. A moving audience as people stopped, listened to a poem or two and moved on. We have a number who looked through our collection of books and chose one to read themselves. and one poet who recited three poem of her own composition, by heart!

Dublin Symposium on Jonathan Swift

The eleventh Dublin Symposium on Jonathan Swift is on tomorrow Saturday, 20 October 2012 in The Deanery of St Patrick's Cathedral, Upper Kevin Street, Dublin 8.

Speaking on "International Currents on Swift Studies" are:
Ashley Marshall - University of Nevada, Reno
Brian Connery - Oakland University, Michigan
Dieter Fuchs - Technical University of Koszalin, Poland
Te-hsing Shan - Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Valerie Rumbold - University of Birmingham.
Chair: Robert Mahony, Jonathan Swift Foundation.

For further details on how to register: Email: dean@stpatrickscathedral.ie

And the annual Service in Commemoration of Jonathan Swift will be held in Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin on the following day, Sunday 21 Oct 2012 from 3:15pm to 4.15pm.

This service is at Evensong at which the address will be given by H.E. Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland. The service will be sung by the Cathedral Choir (Boys' & Men's voices).

Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts in Dublin

On 5 March 2007 a bomb was exploded on Baghdad's Al-Mutanabbi Street, located in a mixed Shia-Sunni area. More than 30 people were killed and 100 wounded. Al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic centre of bookselling in Baghdad, holds bookstores and outdoor bookstalls, cafes, stationery shops, tea & tobacco stores.

The Al-Mutanabbi Street coalition was formed in response to the bombing by poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil in San Francisco. It initiated and completed a broadside project with contributions of 130 broadsides from 130 letterpress printers, some of which were exhibited at the Market House in Monaghan and the Central Library in Dublin last March.

Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts in Dublin is the Dublin edition of a series of events taking place around the globe on 5 March 2012 to mark the 5th anniversary of the bombing, and will feature readings, performances and exhibitions by the Ireland-based participants in 'An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street' and other friends of these projects.

The writers, performers and artists contributing to the evening are Alansary, Cah-44, Evelyn Conlon, Sue Cosgrave, Djeribi, Kit Fryatt, Judy Kravis and Sarah Lewtas. The event is co-ordinated and will be introduced by Christodoulos Makris.

The venue is The Winding Stair Bookshop, 40 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1, and start time is 7pm. Admission is free.