JOHN O’CONNOR WRITING SCHOOL John O’Connor Writing School & Literary Arts Festival 2nd–5th november 2017 armagh No Borders, No Boundaries – Celebrate and Inspire PROGRAMME John O’Connor Writing School & Literary Arts Festival Programme Lord Mayor, Alderman Gareth Wilson BOOKING INFORMATION: Online: www.armagh.co.uk/johnoconnor www.thejohnoconnorwritingschool.com It is with great pleasure that I send my best In person: wishes to all involved with the John O’Connor Armagh Visitor Information Centre, 40 Upper English Street, Armagh, BT61 7BA. Writing School and Literary Arts Festival. By phone: John O’Connor was a great writer from Armagh 0044 (0) 28 3752 1800 and I am delighted that his name and talent will be celebrated and enhanced through the John O’Connor Writing School and Literary Arts ACCOMMODATION: Festival, now in its second year. Contact Armagh Visitor Information Centre (40 Upper English Street; 0044 (0) 28 3752 1800) I would commend all those who have worked and /or access the PDF link below to ‘Armagh: Ireland’s Ancient Cathedral City’. The Visitor extremely hard to pull together such a full and Information Centre will be able to recommend budget accommodation available in the area. varied programme for people of all ages to www.armagh.co.uk/armagh-visitors-guide enjoy and be inspired by. www.armagh.co.uk/accommodation Phone: 00 44 (0) 28 3752 1800 I hope and trust that you will build on the success of your inaugural event last year and The Charlemont Arms Hotel offers a 10% discount on room rates for attendees at the that everyone will enjoy the festival. festival. Please quote JOCWS. Phone: 00 44 (0) 3752 2028 WRITING SCHOOL FEES: Best wishes, Students pick ONE intensive course of study over the three days. Lord Mayor, Alderman Gareth Wilson Adult: £130 (choice of five courses of study): Fiction, Screenwriting, Playwriting, Poetry, Songwriting. Concession: £99 (over 65s, unwaged, students). Early Bird offer: 15% on all places booked by 4th October. LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL TICKETS: Prices as listed per event. Early Bird offer: 10% on all Literary Arts Festival events up to 4 October (excludes The John O’Connor Celebration Evening on Saturday 4th November). Ticket Exchange/Refund: Once purchased, tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded. A cancellation fee may apply. Refunds will be made only in the event of a cancelled performance or course. Note: Concession tickets require proof of eligibility at the entrance to the event. 2 3 John O’Connor Writing School John O’Connor Writing School A word from Cathy McCullough, Festival Director We are pleased to present this second John O’Connor Writing School and Literary Arts Festival programme. We hope you will find in it inspiration and cause for celebration. We are especially grateful to The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and ABC A word from our Patron, Paul Muldoon Council for their financial and moral support, which has made this year’s I’m delighted to welcome you to (the programme for) the second annual festival possible. Equally, we wholeheartedly thank our local sponsors, John O’Connor Writing School and Literary Arts Festival. management board, volunteers, and festival team for their hard work, In my capacity as patron of the School and Arts Festival, I thought I’d commitment and dedication to the cause! remind myself of the several meanings of that word. In the first place, For John O’Connor, there were ‘no borders or boundaries where good writing is concerned’. He believed a patron is ‘a person who gives financial or other support to a person, that there is a good book, story, song or poem in us all. This festival seeks to embody his spirit of organization, cause, or activity.’ The idea of being a ‘backer’ is an openness, welcome, encouragement and support to all our class participants and our audiences. Photo: Adrian Cook Adrian Photo: attractive one, particularly when one may fulfill the role in ways that are As well as writing classes, we offer a wide range of Literary Festival events and are confident that there is not necessarily financial – and I don’t mean not heading for the bookie’s something for everyone. to back a horse! To be a supporter in the sense of providing moral or emotional or, indeed, intellectual support is no less important. And it’s Writing helps us to make sense of the many complex ideas that travel through our minds. In some cases, something I don’t have to do alone. You can do it, too! this may result in the gripping novel we cannot put down; in others it aids self-expression, clarity of thought, and even assists us in our working lives. The second meaning of patron is ‘a customer, especially a regular one, of a store, restaurant, or theater.’ It’s an idea that’s connected to that first The Writing School and Literary Arts Festival programme presents writers such as Louis de Bernières meaning but does, I suppose, go more in the direction and Robert McCrum, poets Lemn Sissay and Maria McManus, musicians and songwriters Gareth Dunlop, of financial support. The fact that public sponsorship Horslips, Fiachna and Lisa Lambe, screenwriters, playwrights, librettists, choirs, and more... there is much of the arts is now so fitful, frugal, and (more often to enjoy! than not) driven by favoritism, means that we all As we celebrate the writing talent that was John O’Connor, so do we celebrate the beautiful city of light really need to fall in and fork out. and learning that is Armagh, and the fine talent that has emerged from it over the years. We hope you The role of being a ‘frequenter’ of the School and will feel inspired to write, read, sing, gaze at the stars, and embark on your writing journey – whatever Literary Festival is one that comes naturally to us, the reason! I believe, when we think of the long tradition of Cathy. Armagh being a center for the arts. In addition to the idea of Saint Patrick being our patron saint (patron in the sense here of ‘one to whose protection and intercession a person, a society, a church, or a place is dedicated’) we may extend the A word from Damian Smyth, Arts Council of idea of ‘patron’ to John O’Connor himself, given his place as a prime defender of, and advocate for, our Northern Ireland city of Armagh. The re-emergence in 2016 of John O’Connor, author of Come Paul. Day – Go Day (1948), as a force to be reckoned with in Irish fiction, more than half a century after his early death at the age of 39 in 1959, was a cause for celebration among those aware of this writer’s distinctive qualities as a chronicler of Irish market town moralities, rural lore and our common human foibles. The quality of his work was matched by the Writing School and Literary Arts Festival which prompted the revival in his home place of Armagh – and places unique focus on writing skills across the genres, from songwriting to poetry to travel to cuisine to creative non-fiction. A heady mix and one the Arts Council is delighted to support in its second year, as it develops another asset for culture generally and in Armagh City especially. Damian. 4 5 n the outskirts of Armagh on the Loughall road there was a small hamlet of fifty tiny houses built for the workers of the Duncairne Spin- John O’Connor ning Mill. It was here that John O’Connor was born on 4th April 1920 and here that he lived with his family. His father, Johnny, was a First World War Somme veteran who returned in 1916 with shrapnel injuries Oto his leg and head. He was a cobbler by trade and he eked out a modest living with his wife Kitty by running a little shop from their tiny kitchen in the Mill Row. Writing It was a simple life, dictated by the working mill, the river floods and the simplicity of the lives lived there. The family moved from the Mill Row in 1932, to a ‘grand’ house by comparison, at St. Columba’s Terrace, Banbrook Hill. A blue plaque in honour of O’Connor has been School erected at the house. John O’Connor left school in the mid 1930s and worked, briefly, as a telegram boy. His career with the post office was short-lived as he much preferred lying on the banks of the programme Callan River dreaming and crafting his stories. He became a prolific writer, producing pieces for local newspapers, a large number of short stories and several documentary 2nd–5th november 2017 programmes for the BBC under the encouraging eye of his close friend and mentor, Sam Hanna Bell. His only novel, Come Day – Go Day, was described by Benedict Kiely as a ‘masterpiece’ beautifully capturing the ‘wonder, danger and magic of ordinary days’. In the early 1950s John O’Connor travelled to Papua New Guinea and then Australia, where he died suddenly from peritonitis in Ayr, near Townsville, in December 1959. ‘There are no borders, and no boundaries His emergence as a storyteller of genius did not happen in a vacuum. where good writing is concerned’. His immersion in the cultural and literary traditions of his native city in particular, and County Armagh in general, is evident in his work. The people and environment were John O’Connor. his material; local schools and institutions fed his creativity. Come Day – Go Day was first published by Golden Eagle Books Limited in Dublin in 1948, then republished by Blackstaff Press in 1984.