5.30pm: Teanga-Tongues;
Enjoy the dynamic celebration of bilingualism!
Julie Field, aka Julie Goo will weave her Irish Language Poetry from her recent debut collection DÁNA (Coiscéim), with her award-winning slam poetry. Focusing on the common themes of Equality, Inclusion, Gender & LGBTQI issues in both languages across her work, Julie will reflect on how a particular language lends itself to such exploration. Flirting with the world of Hip Hop in both languages she enjoys the various rhythms and word play, occasionally jumping from one language to another. DÁNA was launched as part of Cork World Book Fest 2021 Funded by an tOireachtas
6.30pm: Fragment of the Furies
Dramatized Poetry
Fragment of the Furies by Kenneth Hickey is a long multi voice poem dealing with the complex interaction of memory and loss. The work excavates memories long clouded by time and distance to pull some coherence into the present. Events long consigned to memory are interrogated to investigate the meaning that resonates through the years. This dramatic reading aims to fully bring to life the layered, ambiguous voices distributed between four separate speakers and ultimately build their disparate words into a coherent whole.
Kenneth Hickey has won the Eamon Keane Full Length Play Award as well as being shortlisted for The PJ O’Connor Award and the Tony Doyle Bursary. His work in film has been screened at the Cork and Foyle Film Festivals.
7.30pm: Joan Denise Moriarty: ‘The Dancer and the Dance’
Exhibition and performance
The Exhibition, Joan Denise Moriarty: ‘The Dancer and the Dance’ is an exploration of the life and legacy of Ireland’s first Lady of Dance. In 1934, Miss Moriarty set up her first dance class in Mallow and so began a lifelong project to bring ballet and a love of the Arts to the people of Ireland.
Throughout the determined waltz of her life, she would establish and run several ballet companies and schools including Cork Ballet Company, Irish Folk Dance Group, Irish Theatre Ballet and the Irish National Ballet Company- the first professional ballet company of its kind in Ireland. Miss Moriarty’s dreams were often hindered by the availability of money, a rigid culture and political environment, a devastating fire at the Firkin Crane, conservative mindsets, and in the end, The Arts Council of Ireland. This Exhibition at Cork City Library presents this tangled relationship between dance, dancer and survival in a time of great economic and cultural poverty.
The story of Joan Denise Moriarty is brought to life once more through her own words, photos, awards, costumes, online interviews and a special performance by the students of the ‘Joan Denise Moriarty School of Dance’ on the night.
9.00pm: Frank O’Connor Fellow
Reading and discussion with the 2021 Frank O’Connor Fellow, yet to be appointed. The fellowship is a Munster Literature Centre initiative funded by Cork City Council and supported by Cork City Libraries.