We had a blast - I am not going to do a journalistic resumé of the weekend, just dip in and out of what floated my boat - an apt analogy as Immrama is all about voyaging about in boats! The line-up was impressive as you'll know from my last post and the one from the launch, and there were some events and speakers that stood out more than others.
I found the deadpan droll self-deprecation of Sir Ranulph Twistleton-Wickham-Fiennes hilarious (with a name like that you'd need a major sense of h
Today's Irish Times has a feature piece on him, and Immrama gets another mention . Manchán Magan wrote a nice piece last Saturday on it, so it's really arrived as a festival when it gets such national acclaim.
He seems to have been an impoverished aristocrat with a string of im
Homan Potterton wrote in Rathcormick that the Anglo-Irish were distinguishable from the Irish Protestants in the nascent Republic as the ones where the dogs occupied all the comfy armchairs while their owners shivered in their unheated big rooms, sitting on kitchen chairs. He distanced himself from these recent settlers and landlord classes, as a proud Irishman from a Protestant family with roots in Ireland for over four centuries.
Back to Immrama - we were very lucky to have an invitation for the premiére of a film on the life of Lismore's internationally renowned travel writer - Dervla Murphy - which was unique as she is such a private person. It had wonderful cinematography, and showed the moods of Lismore trailing Dervla through the Warren Path and down by the Blackwater as well as around the Old Market where she lives. It was a bit surreal to see familiar faces on the big screen - her daughter Rachel in Italy with her three daughters, Dervla herself, and Manchán Magan the film maker and writer/journalist who was in the audience - he was at Immrama as a visitor this year, having been the Literary Breakfast speaker last year.
The Literary Breakfast in Ballyrafter House was lovely - Damien Lewis was speaking a
knows him and commented on one of his books.
A new name for us was Pico Iyer who is an amazing, softly spoken travel writer and p
There were Poetry Readings for kids in the Park by Alan Murphy, a locally based poet, and Pippa Sweeney, Irish Language Workshops for Primary Schools by Áine Uí Fhoghlú, Paul Clements' Creative Writing, Poetry Slams, and The Molly Keane Short Story Award, all going on over the weekend. So there was something for everyone, and the Family Fun Day in the Park on Sunday afternoon is a firm favourite fixture, with Buí Bolg (Yellowbellies) fro
m Wexford entertaining with jousters and damsels in distress, and face painters from Lismore's Foróige, as well as the talented band Carouse who kept the crowd going for the afternoon.
The Farmers' Market was buzzing all weekend and hopefully they had plenty of business, with a great variety of stalls from Jane's ceramics to Pie in the Sky treats, with lots in between. A real treat this year was to meet one of my fellow bloggers - Ann from Inkpots'nQuills via Wisconsin and Dungarvan who was here last year before we met in the blogosphere!
I should really break up this post into a few parts as I could go on for wa
y past anyone's attention span (and probably have done so) but I just want to convey a sense of the weekend while it is still fresh in my mind. We had late nights and early mornings which took its toll in that I was running on adrenaline and tea all weekend - no alcohol whatsoever as I daren't risk a hangover headache - and I was pretty wrecked on Monday! Lucky it was a day off work for me, and I could chill and zone out a bit. We were in a different pub each night as the Festival Club diplomatically spread itself around - and it really felt like old friends came to call as we met so many people who were at previous Immrama weekends - including Manchán, Paul Clements and some of the regular visitors. One of the joys of Immrama is the social contact with writers, speakers, journalists, locals and visitors all together at the events and the social gatherings afterwards, and the great accessibility to the speakers by the general public. 
Who knows how many more of you might make it to Lismore for Immrama 2011! You'll be guaranteed a great time and plenty of good memories - as well as a lot of new books!
I hope you like the photos - they just give a flavour of the wonderful weekend in a lovely corner of the country.
The Farmers' Market was buzzing all weekend and hopefully they had plenty of business, with a great variety of stalls from Jane's ceramics to Pie in the Sky treats, with lots in between. A real treat this year was to meet one of my fellow bloggers - Ann from Inkpots'nQuills via Wisconsin and Dungarvan who was here last year before we met in the blogosphere!
I should really break up this post into a few parts as I could go on for wa
Who knows how many more of you might make it to Lismore for Immrama 2011! You'll be guaranteed a great time and plenty of good memories - as well as a lot of new books!
I hope you like the photos - they just give a flavour of the wonderful weekend in a lovely corner of the country.
From the top:
- Sir Ranulph Fiennes
- Fortwilliam House
- Audience at Ranulph Fiennes
- Jan Morris, Pico Iyer and Paul Clements at Fortwilliam, and audience
- Shayne and Jany with Sofia in the Park
- Our sons with Ranulph Fiennes
- Me and sons and Jany with Tim Severin
- Larks in the Park with jousters
- Damien Lewis at the Ballyrafter House Breakfast
- Me with Pico Iyer and Hiroko
- Jane Jermyn Ceramics at the Farmers' Market
- Áine Uí Fhoghlú (Irish Poet) with Bernard Leddy, schoolchildren and me at Lismore Library
- Me with Ann - bloggers united!
4 comments:
Sounds like a brilliant festival. Such interesting speakers and a great insight into our history. I've seen Sir Ranulph Fiennes interviewed before - what a fascinating man!
WOW what a festival. which book will you start with?
Musings - thanks, yes it was a great festival and Ranulph Fiennes was terrifically entertaining. Did you see the brilliant coverage the festival got in the Irish Times last Saturday? Cover feature on Sir Ranulph on the magazine, great publicity. Met the editor of the mag who interviewed him, lovely guy. Small world - great to meet such people as these writers.
Laurie - it was great indeed - and I don't know which book to start with when I finish my present book (Lionel Shriver's new one, great read) although it might be Sir Ranulph's family biography as they must be totally eccentric and fascinating.
All the best, Catherine x
What a super event. I'm really sorry I missed it.
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