The Word at Sligo Central Library, with Cecily Gilligan in coversation with Niamh Mac Cabe. Music with Aoife Hammond.

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

The Word

Heritage Week – Harvest Knot Workshop – FREE Workshops for Adults

 

 

Lúnasa marked the onset of August, autumn and the harvest season where the whole community helped with reaping the harvest. The cutting of the last sheaf, often known as the cailleach, was accompanied by a special ceremony.

This sheaf was often decorated and hung above the table at a celebratory harvest meal. In some areas men and women decorated pieces of straw to make ‘harvest knots’ to be exchanged as tokens of love and courtship at the harvest festival.

Thomas Doyle (Educator at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life)  will provide a detailed workshop using straw and ribbon to show the traditional knot weave.

This is a Creative Ireland funded event.

 

Tubbercurry Community Library Ballymote Community Library Sligo Central Library
Heritage Week at Sligo County Library
Thomas Doyle Harvest Knot Making Workshop for Adults
Tubbercurry Community Library
Tuesday 20th of August
2.00pm – 3.00pm
Contact 0719111705/ tubberlibrary@sligococo.ie to reserve a place
Heritage Week at Sligo County Library
Thomas Doyle Harvest Knot Making Workshop for Adults
Ballymote Community Library
Tuesday 20th of August
3.30pm – 4.30pm
Contact 0719111669/ ballymotelibrary@sligococo.ie to reserve a place

**FULLY BOOKED**

Heritage Week at Sligo County Library
Thomas Doyle Harvest Knot Making Workshop for Adults
Sligo Central Library
Friday 23rd of August
3.30pm – 4.30pm
Contact 0719111675/ sligolib@sligococo.ie to reserve a place

Sligo and the Sense of Place – 6 week Creative Writing Workshop Series

A six-week series of workshops is scheduled to run September – October as part of the Commemorations Programme 2024 supported by The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

Workshops will run on Saturday afternoons, 2.00pm – 4.00pm, 7 September – 12 October 2024, in Sligo Central Library.
The course is free, but numbers are limited.

Applications are open to members of Sligo Libraries who are residing in County Sligo, with successful applicants required to attend all workshops.

Applications can be made by emailing a short cover letter – no more than 300 words – explaining why you would like to do this course to centenaries@sligococo.ie by Wednesday 31 July 2024.

Sligo Central Library Comic Con on Friday 28th of June

Sligo Library Comic Con
The MakerMeet-MakerSpace team, which promotes Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) among young people, will run two Green Screen workshops, between 11:30am and 12:30pm and 2:30pm to 3:30pm, and two Cosplay Helpdesks, also at the same times.

In March, ATU officially opened its own MakerSpace on its Sligo campus while MakerSpace has also been running an outreach programme for secondary schools, showcasing the wonders of STEAM to students and introducing them to the latest technology like 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines and soldering equipment.

For the Comic Con event at Sligo Central Library, the team is excited to display their Green Screen technology, which is used in most blockbuster movies, including the worlds of Marvel’s and DC’s superheroes. It neatly fits into the MakerSpace slogan: ‘Imagine It – Create It’.

The CosPlay Maker Helpdesk will endeavour to answer questions about costume, makeup, armour, and weapons and offer guidance on how best to create these props. The team is more than qualified to do so, given leather, 3D printing, glue, masks, foam, moulding/casting, paint, latex, cardboard, and metal, among others, are the materials they work with.

New research grant for local historians

Poetry as Commemoration Workshops

Tim Hannigan will join Sligo Central for a The Word on Wednesday 24th of April

THE WORD FOR APRIL WITH TIM HANNIGAN

Sligo Central Library will be hosting The Word on Wednesday 24th of April in Sligo Central Library, Stephen Street from 6:30pm.

Tim Hannigan, Journalist and Guidebook writer, will be joining us in Sligo Central Library to discuss his work.

In Conversation with – Marion Dowd

Music with – Mark Kennedy

Tim Hannigan was born in Penzance in Cornwall. He started his working life as a chef in busy Cornish restaurant kitchens, but later escaped to Southeast Asia to become a journalist and guidebook writer. He is the author of several narrative history books, including the award-winning Raffles and the British Invasion of Java, as well as The Travel Writing Tribe and The Granite Kingdom, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year Award. He also studies travel writing as an academic. He has a PhD from the University of Leicester and he teaches on the Writing & Literature programme at ATU Sligo.

Marion Dowd is an archaeologist and academic; she has been a Lecturer of Archaeology at ATU Sligo since 2005. Marion‘s research and publications focus primarily on the archaeology of Ireland’s caves; the intersection between archaeology and folklore; and, more recently, Sligo’s Civil War. She is author and co-editor of seven books.

Mark Kennedy is a singer and musician originally from Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. He has learned his trade gigging in pubs and at events all over Ireland.

In order to join a vibrant music scene Mark moved to Sligo 12 years ago and has now put his own roots down in Sligo Town. He has multiple weekly residency gigs as well as his work travelling the country.

Mark can be found doing solo gigs or playing with his own band The Atlantic who specialise in corporate events and weddings. But his real musical love is folk music. He has a grá for songs that tell stories and he believes the Irish are up there with the best of story tellers when it comes to music.

Audience Q&A 

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.

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