WHAT: The inaugural Dylan Thomas Literary Weekend
WHERE: Falls Hotel, Ennistymon, County Clare.
WHEN: Friday 18th May to Sunday 20th May, 2012.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The life and works of poet, short-story writer and playwright Dylan Thomas along with his ties to north County Clare will be celebrated in a new international literary festival this weekend. Thomas’ wife Caitlin was the youngest daughter of Francis MacNamara who transformed Ennistymon House into the Falls Hotel. The three-day festival will feature lectures, poetry recitals, a documentary screening, and a history tour outlining Ennistymon’s connections to the Welsh literary legend and other poets, including Brian Merriman.
The keynote lecture will be delivered by Dylan Thomas biographer and journalist Andrew Lycett, who will join a host of national and international writers and poets at the festival. Other contributors include John F. Dean (Poet and founder of Poetry Ireland), Fred Johnson (Hennessy Literary Award winner and co-founder of the Irish Writers Co-operative), Robert Minhinnick (award-winning Welsh essayist and poet), Diarmuid Johnson (freelance writer, translator and editor); Jo Slade (poet and painter), Clairr O’ Connor (Dublin poet, playwright, fiction writer), Eddie Lenihan (author, storyteller, lecturer and broadcaster), and Paul O’Mahony (Limerick-born poet).
Acclaimed as one of the best-known and important poets of the twentieth century, Dylan Marlais Thomas’ most popular works include his play for voices ‘Under Milk Wood’, and his poems ‘‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion’, and ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’. Thomas died, aged 39, in New York in 1953. His wife Caitlin died in 1994 at the age of 80.
The Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes will officially launch the 2012 Dylan Thomas Literary Weekend on Friday 18 May at 6:30 PM. Visit www.fallshotel.ie or contact (0)65 7071004 for more details.
CONTACT:
- Joanne Clancy, Falls Hotel (087-2211333)
- Barbara Faulkner, Clare Tourism Forum (086-3647173)
- Interviewees with individual Dylan Thomas Literary Weekend contributors may be arranged on request, subject to availability. The Conference Programme also is available on request. Please contact Mark Dunphy of Dunphy Public Relations on (mobile) 086-8534900.
