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ÉIRE && ALBAALBA ISLANDISLAND SISTERSSISTERS ÉIREÉIRE & ALBA ISLANDISLAND SISTERS ISLANDISLAND VOICES 20202020

24 SEPT

17 DEC 2020

JoinJoin usus atat 1pm1pm on the date of eacheach talktalk @@ WWW.DERRYSTRABANE.COM/ISLANDVOICESWWW.DERRYSTRABANE.COM/ISLANDVOICES ISLAND VOICES 2020 ÉIRE & ALBA ISLAND SISTERS 24 ÉIRE & ALBA SEPT 17 ISLAND SISTERS DEC ISLAND VOICES 2020 2020

ÉIRE & ALBA ISLAND SISTERS

This is a story of two sisters who share then, that the languages of Irish Gaelic much in common: Éire and Alba - and Scottish Gàidhlig share such striking and - sister nations with a bond similarities, or indeed that Scots and that stretches back hundreds of thousands Ulster-Scots weave so seamlessly together, An fhéile nach do reub an cuan, of years, and a shared heritage that is or that our songs and music ring with celebrated the world over. echoes of each other. This constant ebb nach do mhill mìle bliadhna and flow of language, tradition and culture Ireland and Scotland have but a narrow still defines our relationship today. The humanity that the ocean could not break, expanse of water between them and over the centuries this short crossing has City and Strabane District Council allowed for the exchange of language, presents Island Voices 2020 - a series that a thousand years has not severed tradition, culture, commerce and people. of online lectures which celebrates A modern view of the world places Ireland the shared heritage of Ireland and and Scotland as places apart but in reality Scotland reflecting on the legacy of St (Sorley MacLean 1911 – 1996) each was only a short journey across water Columba, our shared languages, and our for the other. centuries-old affinity which endures to the present day. So much has been shared through time across this Narrow Sea. It is no surprise

Join us at 1pm on the date of each talk @ WWW.DERRYSTRABANE.COM/ISLANDVOICES

Image by: Analise Benevides unsplash 2 3 ISLAND VOICES 2020 ÉIRE & ALBA ISLAND SISTERS

Colum Cille and Adomnán: Lands, Languages and Literature Dr Brian Lacey Thursday 24th September 2020 1pm

Colum Cille lived during the last Brian Lacey studied Celtic Archaeology early history and archaeology of counties three quarters of the sixth century; and Early Irish History at University Donegal and Derry: St Columba: His Life Adomnán lived during the last three College and later obtained a and Legacy and Medieval and monastic quarters of the seventh century. Most PhD from the University of Ulster for Derry: sixth century to 1600 (both 2013) of what we know about Colum Cille interdisciplinary work on the legacy were his last published monographs. In comes from the writing of Adomnán. of St Colum Cille. He also completed 2016 he edited a book for Coiste Dhoire Both men came from what is now postgraduate ‘museum studies’ at the 1916-2016 on the revolutionary period in Donegal and their maternal language would have been /Gaelic. But University of East Anglia. He lectured at Derry city. He is currently writing a book multilingualism was part of their world Magee University College, Derry about Adomnán, the seventh-century and, sometimes, a source of intellectual (1974-86), and later set up Derry’s Irish monastic intellectual, writer and playfulness. Even their names raised Heritage and Museum Service. In the ‘saint’. He grew up in Dublin but now interesting issues of language: Colum mid-1970s he had directed a series of lives in Dún Lúiche in the west Donegal Cille is known also as Columba – the Dr Brian Lacey salvage excavations at sites relating to . form - derived from the word for plantation Londonderry and, in 1980- ‘dove’; Adomnán seems to derive from the Cumbrian region - the modern 3, the archaeological survey of Co. a word for ‘fear’ – perhaps referencing descendant of which we call Welsh Donegal. From 1998 to 2012 he headed ‘fear of God’ - but it was also taken as and, of course, English, which only the Discovery Programme, an institute an Irish form of ‘Adam’. Both lived not then was beginning to appear in what in Dublin for advanced research in Irish only in Ireland but also in northern we now call . This talk will archaeology. He is the author of 14 Britain where they encountered the examine those fascinating cultural books – including Siege City: the story several languages in use across those interconnections and the sort of various lands: Gaelic, Latin, Pictish, of Derry and Londonderry - and many evidence by which we know research papers dealing mainly with the perhaps a separate variety of P-Celtic in about them.

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Baith Sides O The Sheugh Stuart A Paterson Thursday 22nd October 2020 1pm

For all of us, Scots is very much a Scottish Qualifications Authority, a are Aye (Tapsalteerie, 2016), poems in Scots, language of our everyday. To some, real renaissance in Scots literature Looking South (Indigo Dreams, 2017) and Heelster- it’s not even a language at all and yet and publishing backed by government gowdie/beul-fo-bhonn (Tapsalteerie, 2018), poems translated from Scots to Gaelic and vice versa with 1,500,000 people in Scotland identified and a growing movement demanding Gaelic poet Marcas Mac an Tuarneir. In 2019, the as Scots speakers at the 2011 Census. an official Scots Language Act and UNESCO Year of Indigenous Minority Languages, It’s a language which crosses over and Board to put it on a par with the Gaelic Stuart was visiting lecturer in Minority Languages under politics and circumstance, a Language Act establishing Bòrd na at Rhodes University in South Africa, where he also language older than many countries Gàidhlig in 2005. The speaker will took part in a world-first ‘Scots meets isiXhosa’ which shares more than one country compare and contrast the situation of poetry performance with Imbongi, local Xhosa itself and has been transported to and Scots in Scotland with Ulster-Scots in praise poets. He also held an all-day Masterclass settled in so many more. Ulster reflecting on how both languages workshop for Ulster Scots writers to round off Ulster Scots Language Week in . 2021 will see the provide us with a sense of history, publication of another world-first, with Stuart, Stuart A Paterson lives in Galloway, Stuart A Paterson place, identity and connection. o Sheena Blackhall and Christine de Luca translating south-west Scotland, Gall- (into their native Scots dialects of Lowland, Doric Ghàidhealaibh, the Land of the Foreign and ) the major poem I, Snow Leopard by Yi Gael. It’s a region separated from so many institutions and the wider Stuart A. Paterson is an award-winning Scots poet poet Jidi Majia, considered to be one of the greatest by the southernmost public across all levels of society, and activist originally from Ayrshire who now lives living minority language poets in China. 2021 will stretch of the Sea of Moyle, Sruth na including government, on both sides of in Galloway. Widely published and filmed in the UK also see the release of Wheen: New and Collected Poems in Scots (Chapman), published with the Maoile, or as Scots speakers on either The Sheugh and beyond, exemplified and abroad, he has recently been Poet in Residence for BBC Scotland and the Scots Language Centre. support of one of the first ever nine Scots Language side have called it for generations, by own recent experiences working Stuart’s new book is A Squatter o Bairnrhymes Publication Grants from the . The Sheugh. In this talk, Stuart with partners in South Africa and (Tippermuir Publishing), the first major collection demonstrates and explores the new China. In Scotland, this includes a of original illustrated Scots poems for children in respect for and interest in Scots by new Scots Language Award by the several years. Among his many previous collections

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Crossing the Sea of Moyle

Dr Máire Ní Annracháin Thursday 26th November 2020 1pm

As we approach the 1500th anniversary what beauty, whether bright or dark, it eloquently to today’s world. That interest of Colm Cille’s birth in 2021, we recall has incarnated; with what it has been is part of an overarching fascination with his legacy as an enduring symbol the associated; and how it has sung its how language is used in literature in of the closeness and affinity between heart out. ways that differ from everyday speech the Gaelic communities of Ireland and, at a further remove, it is part of a and Scotland. In history, culture and love of languages and literature wherever language, successive generations of Máire Ní Annracháin is Professor she finds them: in Irish, , Irish and Scots are startled by the Emeritus of Modern Irish in University French, Spanish and English. She discovery of a shared inheritance College Dublin, Adjunct Professor of with ancient roots, which is, to this mourns the fact that her Welsh is still Modern Irish in Maynooth University and day, unquenchably alive and forward rudimentary. She has been chair of the looking. They – we—can also be taken Research Fellow at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, community development organisation aback by differences we would never the Gaelic college of the University of the Glór na nGael as well as a member of the have imagined. The exploration of Máire Ní Annracháin Highlands and Islands in Scotland. She Irish Placenames Commission and the Professor Emeritus of Modern Irish in University College Dublin what unites and what divides us is a is a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Board of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. challenge that can sometimes take us Her doctoral thesis was on the Scottish over rocky ground but more often into and space, than the here and the now Gaelic poetry of Sorley Maclean. She has fertile lands with more than a hint of and the relatively recent. This lecture published and lectured widely on various milk and honey. It also invites us to will examine the tools that have been aspects of Irish and Scottish Gaelic reflect on the most cherished aspects honed, the questions that can be asked, literature, primarily from the modern of what makes us who and what we are. the boundaries that tremble, and the period. She has a particular interest in The current generation is privileged enduring joy that results. In doing so it how recent and contemporary writers to have the tools to undertake that will focus on how the Gaelic language take up ancient ideas and images and exploration and to look farther, in time resonates across the Sea of Moyle; re-imagine them in works that speak

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Beatha Cholm Cille: Ipsum Ipsum The Life of Colm Cille Dr Niall Comer Landucid quid quaessum int dolorr Landucid quid quaessum int Thursday 17th December 2020 1pm dolorr Landucid quid quaessum int dolorr

When Anraí Mac Giolla Chomhaill The editor, Niall Comer, is a native of Newry and a published Beatha Cholm Cille (The Life past pupil of Abbey CBS, but for over twenty years of Colmcille) in 1980 he chose excerpts has been living in Glenullin in North Derry, an area from Manus O’Donnell’s work and steeped in the tradition of Colm Cille. Comer works produced a text in Modern Irish. This as an lecturer in Ulster University in project’s aim is to develop this further Magee College, Derry but spent seven years as an Irish teacher in St. Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon, and publish this work in Irish and in and three years in St. Patrick’s College, . It Scots Gaelic. The emphasis will be on was during his time in Dungannon that he got to producing a text in both languages know Fr. Anraí Mac Giolla Chomhaill and “Harry” which will be accessible for modern had a huge influence on his early teaching days. day readers. Whilst using modern Comer has held a long association with An tUltach and standardised spelling, important and Comhaltas Uladh and is currently president of aspects of will be Dr Niall Comer . retained. Essentially, this will celebrate Irish language lecturer in Ulster University the shared historical and linguistic heritage which has arisen from the life and lore of Colm Cille. This talk will discuss the context and content of Beatha Cholm Cille and will also look at the various challenges faced by editors, historians and linguists when trying to make such a text more accessible to modern readers.

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Island Voices is an annual lecture series which seeks to explore the Please visit the Island Voices Learning Zone: languages, cultures and heritages of these islands with a particular emphasis on the Irish and Ulster-Scots traditions. www.towermuseumlearning.co.uk/island-voices/ The series is funded by Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Good Relations Programme and delivered by Council’s Language Services in This information is available upon request in a number of partnership with Council’s Heritage and Museum Services. formats including large print, Braille, PDF, audio formats(CD, MP3, DAISY) and minority languages. This year all of our talks will be online. They are free however you will need to register so a link to view can For further information on alternative formats please be emailed to you beforehand. contact Tel 028 71 253253 text phone: 028 7137 664 You can register at Further information on Irish and Ulster-Scots www.derrystrabane.com/islandvoices available from:

www.derrystrabane.com/gaeilge www.derrystrabane.com/ulsterscots

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24 SEPT

17 Colum Cille lived during the last three quarters of the sixth century; Adomnán DEClived during the last three quarters of the seventh century. Most of what we 2020know about Colum Cille comes from the writing of Adomnán. Both men came from what is now Donegal and their maternal language would have been Old Join us at 1pm on the date of each talk @ WWW.DERRYSTRABANE.COM/ISLANDVOICES

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