Johnny Gogan, writer and director, will join Sligo Central for a The Word on Wednesday 27th of November

Johnny will be in conversation with Keith Hopper. Music with Sarah Crummy

Audience Q&A | Open Mic

Sligo Central Library will be hosting The Word on Wednesday 27th of November in Sligo Central Library, Stephen Street from 6:30pm.

Johnny Gogan is the writer-director of ten feature films, including the award-winning dramas The Last Bus Home, Mapmaker, the Netflix feature-length documentary Hubert Butler: Witness to the Future and the drama Black Ice. Founding editor of Film Ireland magazine in 1987, his second novel Station to Station (Lepus Print) was listed by the Irish Times among the best crime fiction novels of 2022. He runs the Adaptation Film Festival in Manorhamilton and is currently completing a third novel.

Dr. Keith Hopper teaches on the Writing & Literature Programme at ATU Sligo. He is the author of Flann O’Brien: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Post-modernist (revised edition, 2009), and has edited twenty books on Irish literature and film. His most recent book is A Door Opening: Sligo and the Legacies of Partition (2023), which he co-edited on behalf of Sligo County Libraries. He is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement.

Sarah Crummy is a singer/songwriter from Sligo town. She has been performing both locally and nationally for over 10 years. She graduated from the Bristol Institute of Modern Music with an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Contemporary Modern Music. Sarah plays regularly around Sligo and has had her compositions on Sligo campaigns and RTE original series’.

Audience Q&A

Open Mic

The event is free and unticketed with limited seating. The doors will close at 6:30pm.

The event will also be streamed on Facebook on the night: //www.facebook.com/SligoCountyLibrary/

The Word is a collaborative event between Sligo Central Library and the BA in Writing & Literature course at Sligo ATU.

There is no charge for this event.

sligolib@sligococo.ie

Tel: 0719111675

Simone Hickey, in advance of her new publication Bringing Them Home; Sligo’s Great War Dead, will join Sligo Central for a The Word on Wednesday 30th of October

Simone will be in conversation with Ronan McGreevy. Music with Steve Wickham

Audience Q&A | Open Mic

Sligo Central Library will be hosting The Word on Wednesday 30th of October in Sligo Central Library, Stephen Street from 6:30pm.

Simone Hickey holds a Diploma in Folklore & History and an MA in Historical & Heritage Studies. Her research area of interest is early twentieth-century Irish history, in particular, the Great War 1914-18. She lectured on Myths & Legends and Famine & Pre-Famine Times for the Diploma in Folklore & History programs at St Angela’s College, Sligo where she was a module leader.

Ronan McGreevy is an Irish Times journalist and videographer. He is the author of Wherever the Firing Line Extends: Ireland and the Western Front (2016). His book Great Hatred: The Assassination of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson MP (Faber & Faber) was chosen as the Sunday Business Post history book of the year and one of the Daily Telegraph’s history books of the year in 2022. 

He was the editor of Centenary, the official State book on the Easter Rising commemoration. He was also the editor of Was it for This: Reflections on the Easter Rising, an anthology of commentary on the Easter Rising from the pages of The Irish Times. 

He is the presenter of the full-length documentary United Ireland: How Nationalists and Unionists Fought Together in Flanders which was shortlisted in the Imperial War Museums short film awards in 2018. He runs tours to the Western Front with GTI Travel twice a year in autumn and spring. 

The Kidnapping (A hostage, a desperate manhunt and a bloody rescue that shocked Ireland), co-written with Tommy Conlon about the kidnapping of Don Tidey in 1983 (Penguin Random House) was published in October 2023. It was an Irish bestseller and a No.1 Kindle bestseller in true crime.

Steve Wickham is recognised as Ireland’s premier rock fiddler since the mid-1980s. His distinctive playing has been a major contribution to the Waterboys groundbreaking records over the years. Steve Wickham became a member of The Waterboys in 1985 shortly after playing on their seminal album “This is The Sea”. Steve Wickham has recorded and performed with U2, Elvis Costello, Sinead O’Connor, Bob Dylan, Sharon Shannon and many other artists in the worlds of rock and traditional folk music. 

Steve also writes and records with world music group NoCrows. The ‘Crows’ have released six albums to date and continue to tour extensively. Steve composed the score for Tom Mc Intyre’s plays ‘The Midnight Court’ and ‘Caoineadh Airt O’ Laoghaire’, both performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He also collaborated with Michael Harding on his plays ‘Bog Dances’ and ‘Sleeping a Lovesong’. 

Audience Q&A

Sligo County Council’s Commemoration Programme 2024 supported by The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

The event is free and unticketed with limited seating. The doors will close at 6:30pm.

The event will also be streamed on Facebook on the night: //www.facebook.com/SligoCountyLibrary/

The Word is a collaborative event between Sligo Central Library and the BA in Writing & Literature course at Sligo ATU.

There is no charge for this event.

sligolib@sligococo.ie

Tel: 0719111675

 

Cecily Gilligan, author of Cures of Ireland, will join Sligo Central for a The Word on Wednesday 25th of September

The new term for The Word begins with Cecily Gilligan, author of Cures of Ireland, in conversation with Niamh Mac Cabe. Music with Aoife Hammond
Audience Q&A | Open Mic

Sligo Central Library will be hosting The Word on Wednesday 25th of September in Sligo Central Library, Stephen Street from 6:30pm.

Author of Cures of Ireland, Cecily Gilligan

In Conversation with – Niamh Mac Cabe

Music with – Aoife Hammond

Cecily Gilligan grew up and lives in rural County Sligo. She is a Primary school teacher, and has a degree in Social Science and a Masters in Women’s Studies from UCC. She has been interested in folklore since childhood, when much of her knowledge was acquired from within her community, and in particular from her grandmother. Cecily is a hill-walker, a sailor, a world traveller, and a strong supporter of Irish culture and language. She is also a campaigner for the protection of human rights and the environment, locally and globally.
Audience Q&A

Niamh Mac Cabe is an award-winning writer of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and hybrid prose.

She’s also a visual artist, an editor, a writing mentor, and a lecturer on the Masters in Creative Practice, the Honours Degree in Writing & Literature, and the Honours Degree in Performing Arts, at ATU Sligo.

Dublin-born, she worked overseas for several years in the Animated Film industry, before ‘settling’ in northwestern Ireland.​

Niamh is published in many literary journals and anthologies in Ireland, the UK, and the US. She’s represented by Marianne Gunn O’Connor at MGO’C Literary Agency.
Open Mic is a first come, first served bases, and is limited to five names. Names are taken on the evening; participants are asked to keep within a three minute time-frame.

Aoife Hammond is a singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Leitrim.
Current projects include ‘Goltraí, Geantraí, Suantraí, an exploration of women’s voices in traditional music’
with Tara Baoth Mooney, Eimear Ready + Fionnuala maxwell. ‘Songs of Grief + Death’ a project on the lament
+ tradition of keening in Ireland with Ruth Clinton + Tara Baoth Mooney.

Aoife has recently appeared on Nyahh records ‘An album of songs in the traditional and sean-nós style’
singing an unaccompanied sean-nós song.

In 2023 Aoife was awarded ‘Leitrim Artist of the year’ for their work as a musician and curator and their
contribution to arts and culture in County Leitrim.

Open Mic moderated by Catherine Whitehead

• Five spaces
• 3-minute maximum
• Names are taken on the night

The event is free and unticketed with limited seating. The doors will close at 6:30pm.

The event will also be streamed on Facebook on the night: //www.facebook.com/SligoCountyLibrary/

The Word is a collaborative event between Sligo Central Library and the BA in Writing & Literature course at Sligo ATU.

This is a Creative Ireland event.

There is no charge for this event.

sligolib@sligococo.ie

Tel: 0719111675