Sarah Moore Fitzgerald and Clare O’Dea at The Gutter Bookshop launch (credit: Ger Holland Photography)
The last few weeks have been all about sending Before the Leaves Fall out into the world. I’ve been touched by the goodwill that surrounded the three events in Bern, Dublin and Geneva. I hope you can get a sense of that atmosphere in these photos.
In Stauffacher in Bern, the Irish Ambassador Aoife McGarry gave a lovely speech before the Swiss launch on October 9th. The Embassy is extremely supportive of the Irish community in Switzerland, which I’ve seen flourish over the past decade especially, with more cultural, sports and business activities than ever.
The Irish Ambassador to Switzerland Aoife McGarry at Stauffacher Bookshop with Clare O’Dea
I got a very warm welcome from Marta in The Gutter Bookshop in Temple Bar, Dublin for the Irish launch on October 23rd, and was delighted to have the older generation represented in the audience by my mother, aunt, godfather and my teacher from first class! The O’Dea clan was out in force.
The evening was made all the more special by the presence of Louise Boland and Laura Shanahan of Fairlight Books who flew over from England for the occasion. Photographer Ger Holland did a great job of capturing the best moments. I’ll add a few more of those pics at the end of this post for posterity.
Louise Boland, Clare O’Dea and Laura Shanahan (credit: Ger Holland Photography)
Next up was Payot Rive Gauche in Geneva on November 6th. A huge thank you to Marianna Baudouin who suggested and hosted the event, and to everyone who turned up to hear more about the novel. On the morning of the event, I did my first radio interview about the book on World Radio Switzerland. You can listen back here.
With Marianna Baudouin of Payot Rive Gauche
There have been some great reviews of the novel on social media and I’m hoping for a review to appear in The Irish Times soon. Fingers crossed! Meanwhile, I enjoyed doing this Q&A for Books Ireland on books that have meant something to me over the years.
I’m not sure where Before the Leaves Fall will take me next but I look forward to meeting more readers and booksellers. Don’t forget to add the book to your Christmas shopping list. Buy the book in Ireland from The Gutter Bookshop, in Switzerland from Stauffacher or Payot. Or anywhere you like!
Before the Leaves Fall Dublin launch (credit: Ger Holland Photography)Before the Leaves Fall launch (credit: Ger Holland Photography)Before the Leaves Fall launch (credit: Ger Holland Photography)
Martina Devlin, author of Charlotte. Picture credit, Steve Humphreys
All winter, the various Irish groups in Switzerland have been meeting regularly online to plan Ireland Week. And now that St. Patricks’ Day is approaching, we’re counting down to the first events next weekend.
The Ireland Week programme includes one Fribourg event, where I will get to interview award-winning Irish author and newspaper columnist Martina Devlin. If you’re within reach of Fribourg city, do join us at Centre le Phénix, rue des Alpes, on Saturday 15th at 5pm. The talk will be followed by music and drinks.
Martina’s latest novel, Charlotte, explores the little-known Irish connections of Charlotte Brontë, who died less than a year after her honeymoon in Ireland. At that stage, Charlotte had lost all five of her siblings and this was her brief chance at happiness. Her Irish widower went on to marry a younger cousin who had met and admired Charlotte on that Irish trip and would remain forever in her shadow.
We’ll be talking about Charlotte, and perhaps some of Martina’s eight other novels. Early this century, Martina and I crossed paths briefly as journalists in Dublin so there’s a high risk we’ll also touch on current affairs. I am so pleased to have this opportunity to present such a talented writer to a Swiss audience. Full details on the Irish Festival website. With thanks to Tourism Ireland, Colm Kelleher and the Irish Embassy for their support.
Meanwhile in Zurich, fans of Irish literature will be spoilt for choice, with five ‘Irish Voices’ author events during Ireland Week, as well as a literary pub stroll, a writing workshop (in German) and ‘A Dublin Man’s Guide to Zurich’ walking tour. Back to the Ireland Week link for details and you can enter two competitions to win flights to Ireland while you’re at it.
The Irish Voices series is organised by the Swiss Centre of Irish Studies and hosted by the Zurich James Joyce Foundation. The series kicks off with Martina Devlin (in Zurich) on Friday 14th at 7.30pm. Wendy Erskine, Melatu Uche Okorie and Elaine Feeney will each have their own event, finishing up with the authors of the Complete Aisling series, Orla Breen and Emer McLysaght on March 22nd.
Just before Ireland Week, on March 11th, Colum McCann will be at the Literaturhaus in Zurich to talk about his new novel, Twist. I believe that event is almost sold out. But you can check on the Literaturhaus website.
I would love to go to all these events but I’m going to be at the London Book Fair and the Salon du Livre in Geneva for work, which clashes with everything. Luckily Martina Devlin can make time to come to Fribourg in between!
While I’m in London, I’m also going to meet my UK publisher and editor in person for the first time, even though we’re well advanced on book two! Can’t wait to hear about Fairlight Books’ plans for my new novel. The title and publication date should be announced very soon. Hopefully that will be my next post!
Enjoy Ireland Week & St. Patrick’s Day, let me know what you get up to, and may the sun shine warm upon your face etc.
St Columbanus, neo-gothic mural in the church of St Pierre-le-Jeune, Strasbourg
The historical connections between Ireland and Switzerland run deep. Both countries share a Celtic past, and Switzerland (Confoederatio Helvetica) is even named after a Celtic tribe – the Helvetii – that once called these lands home.
The most legendary phase of Swiss-Irish connection was in medieval times when Irish monks travelled across the Continent after the fall of the Roman Empire, bringing learning to the peoples of Europe.
This era of saints and scholars is the subject of a pop-up exhibition taking place in Centre le Phénix, Fribourg this Friday, March 15th, from 2pm to 6pm. The exhibition is organised by the Irish Festival Fribourg/Freiburg as part of Ireland Week celebrations in Switzerland in the lead-up to St. Patrick’s Day.
Trailblazers
“Ireland and the Birth of Europe” exhibition tells the story of the long-lasting Irish presence in Europe, from Columbanus and his followers in the 6th and 7th centuries, up to the Irish-founded monasteries called Schottenklöster, a movement that peaked in the 13th century.
Around the year 590, Columbanus left the Irish monastery of Bangor for the Continent, where he established a succession of monasteries: Annegray, Fontaine, and Luxeuil in the Vosges mountains, and Bobbio near Genoa. Over the centuries, the monks were followed by scholars, theologians, philosophers, and poets.
Around 600 CE, Columbanus wrote ‘of all of Europe’ (totius Europae), becoming the first to use the expression in reference to the Continent’s cultural identity.
One of the original Bangor group, St. Gall, reached the region of today’s city of St. Gallen around 612 CE, and established a small settlement there in the wilderness, which was later the site of the famous Abbey of St. Gall. The Abbey Library, to this day, holds some of the most important sources of Old Irish in existence.
“Is acher ingáith innocht fufuasna faireggae findḟolt ni ágor réimm mora minn dondláechraid lainn ua lothlind
‘Bitter is the wind tonight, it tosses the ocean’s white hair
I fear not the coursing of a clear sea by the fierce warriors from Lothlend’
These words in Old Irish run along the top of a page of a manuscript of Latin grammar dating from the ninth century, the Priscian manuscript of St. Gallen. Lothlind, land of the lakes, is an early form of the Irish word for Scandinavia, more specifically Norway. The fierce heroes kept at bay by the weather are Viking raiders.
The unknown scribe who wrote these lines lived in dangerous times. We don’t know exactly what scriptorium he worked in, but two possible locations are the monasteries of Bangor or Nendrum, in Co. Down, both of which suffered heavily under Viking attacks in the ninth and tenth centuries. The monks would have breathed easier on stormy days.
I love the idea of the obedient monk faithfully transcribing page after page of intricate text for months or years, working for the community, for learning, for God. And then, one dreary day, he feels the urge to write something heartfelt and original. He throws caution to the wind and allows himself a brief moment of creative expression. That brief moment of inspiration survives more than a millennium.”
Traces of the past
“Ireland and the Birth of Europe” was researched, written and curated by Dr Damian Bracken, University College Cork, and Dr Angela Byrne for the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. The exhibition is hosted by the Irish Festival Fribourg/Freiburg with the support of the Embassy of Ireland.
The source of the translation above is http://www.stgallpriscian.ie/index.php?id=7056&an=1 with input from Kuno Meyer’s translation. I was amazed I could recognise some Old Irish words – like ‘tonight’, ‘sea’, ‘wind’, ‘warrior/hero’ – that are very similar in Modern Irish. Needless to say, a visit to Abbey of St. Gall is well worth the trek.
If you are on the trail of Switzerland’s Celtic past, the impressive Laténium museum and park on the Lake Neuchâtel is a good place to start. It has a wonderful collection of La Tène metalwork, pottery and jewellery, as well as objects from settlements as far back as the Palaeolithic Era.
The most amazing artefacts, I think, are words. I grew up in a place called Dún Laoghaire in Ireland. We have a lot of dun- placenames in Ireland, from the Irish word for ‘fortified place’.
But I didn’t realise that the -don placenames in Switzerland – like Yverdon – come from the same older, common Celtic word. The list goes on: Rhone, Brig, Winterthur, Solothurn are just a few of the many Swiss placenames derived from the original Celtic names.
If you can make it to Fribourg on Friday, the festival team will be glad to welcome you at Centre Le Phénix, and we’ll send you home with some Irish sweets. Enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations wherever you are. Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir!
My idea of a perfect day out involves a visit to a museum. With ten museums in four countries visited in 2023, it’s been a pretty good year. When I remember a visit to a museum, I remember the person or people I spent that precious time with. I can recapture the mood of the day and the inspirational effect of the art or history.
Let’s start with tables. On a visit to Ireland in October, I visited three museums. One was Derrynane House on the beautiful Iveragh Peninsula in Co. Kerry. This is the house Daniel O’Connell inherited from his uncle, the place where he felt most at home throughout his life.
In this dining room, the Liberator would have spent many entertaining evenings with friends and family. Also in the house is O’Connell’s death bed, which was transported back from Genoa. By the way, there is a brilliant novel by Seamus Martin about O’Connell’s ill-fated final pilgrimage called Duggan’s Destiny.
The next table is from 14 Henrietta Street house, the once grand eighteenth century residence that ended up housing more than 100 people living in tenements. This table is from the flat of the last resident of the house who left in the 1970s.
Another table that caught my eye was in the Kunstmuseum Basel. This 1916 painting by Marc Chagall is called Strawberries or Bella and Ida at the Table. I like Chagall but I didn’t know he painted peaceful family scenes.
Two cats
Also in Basel, I saw some of Giacometti’s works, including one of his rare animal sculptures, The Cat (1951). I once worked in a building on Giacomettistrasse in Bern, which is where I first heard the name, to be honest.
The other cat is the lynx which was successfully reintroduced into the wild in Switzerland about 50 years ago. This lynx is in Lugano Museo cantonale di storia naturale. We spent a couple of happy hours in there as a large family group on a rainy afternoon in July. Serious paws!
More paintings
I’m one of those annoying people who takes photos in museums but I really do like to look back on them and remember the artists and paintings. The photo at the top of the page was taken in the Rjiksmusuem in September. It was my first visit to Amsterdam and I fell in love with the city. The famous painting everyone wants to see in the photo is The Milkmaid by Vermeer. You could get an excellent view of most other paintings.
I can’t resist including another Basel painting here. Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach by Hans Holbein was painted in 1519. More than 500 years old and the face looks like it could be someone you might know. Incredible.
And here is another lovely face from the Strasbourg Museum of Fine Arts, Virgin in Prayer (ca. 1640) by Gian Battista Sassoferrato. I travelled to Strasbourg in France by train in February to meet two old friends, who came from Germany and Belgium. Such a treat.
Sassoferatto was a new name to me and I was interested to learn that he specialised in depictions of the Virgin in Prayer, which were apparently all the rage in the 1600s.
Handwritten
The last two items are the least picturesque but they are fascinating. Only yesterday, I visited the historic Abbey Library in St. Gallen, which has a very important collection of Irish manuscripts dating from the seventh to ninth centuries.
In my book The Naked Irish, I quote some verse inscribed in the margins of the Priscian Manuscript (ca. 850) – to show the ancient roots of Irish writing. But this was actually my first time seeing the manuscript. This version of Priscian’s Latin Grammar was transcribed possibly in Co. Down, with lots of glosses (explanations), a third of which were in Old Irish. That makes it one of the key sources for the study of the language.
And the last exhibit is from Listen Now Again, a lovely little exhibition of Seamus Heaney’s life and work, running in the Bank of Ireland Culture and Heritage Centre on Westmoreland Street until the end of 2025. I opened my first bank account in this building as a student. It was originally home to the Parliament of Ireland before the Act of Union, the world’s first purpose-built bicameral parliament house. The building has been in the hands of the bank since 1803. But to get back to Seamus Heaney, this sample of the poet’s creative process is pretty amazing, don’t you think? Even Nobel Prize winners have to edit.
Observant readers will note that I’ve only mentioned eight museums so far. I also visited the Museum of Amsterdam, which covers the social and commercial history of the city. But my pics are hopeless. The same goes for Kilmainham Goal in Dublin, quite the gloomy tour, especially in the lashing rain, but very interesting.
What museums did you visit this year? Any recommendations for me? On my list for next year is the house on Lake Geneva designed by Le Corbusier, Villa “Le Lac”. It opens again in March and I’d love to go there on a warm day. We are knee deep in snow at the moment in Fribourg. So first, let’s enjoy the winter!
At the welcome desk in Equilibre (photo credit: Patrice Bechtiger Photography)
Exactly this time last week, the Irish festival in Fribourg was in full swing. I was in La Spirale Jazz Club enjoying an exhilarating performance by The Dixie Micks. At the end of the sold-out concert, I ended up on stage with fellow organisers Julie and Deirdre for a rendition of Whiskey in the Jar. I can’t remember the last time I was part of such a joyful gathering.
The day had started at the university building with a writing workshop, followed by two public lectures and an interview with John Boyne. Later, there were two more author events in Equilibre Theatre, and two films (A Date for Mad Mary and Redemption of a Rogue) before The Dixie Micks concert.
Before that, bright and early, I was standing at a bus stop with a sandwich board and a bunch of large cut-out arrows in bright orange card. Things got so busy on Sunday afternoon that I needed my bicycle to travel quickly between the The Celtic Cello concert set-up, the Welcome Desk at Equilibre Theatre and the Cinema Rex to announce the Irish-language film The Quiet Girl.
From the launch party on Friday afternoon to finally packing away the welcome desk on Sunday evening, I had seen friends, guests, volunteers and visitors happily take over the streets of Fribourg, secure in their welcome. In the 20 years I’ve lived here, it’s never felt more like home.
The Irish Festival Fribourg/Freiburg (IFF) has gradually taken over my life in the past year. Before the festival fades into a blur of indistinct moments in my memory, I want to get some highlights down in colour. I want to remember how amazing it was.
I hope you enjoy these photos, some taken by friends, some by our official photographers Rromir Imami and Patrice Bechtiger.
John Boyne signing books after his interview with Helen Stubbs Pugin (Photo credit: Rromir Imami)The Celtic Cello performance in l’Hôpital des Bourgeois (Photo credit: Rromir Imami)With Deirdre Coghlan (L), Julie Hunt (R) and The Dixie Micks (Photo credit: @seaagency1)Padraig Rooney and Nuala O’Connor (Photo credit: Patrice Bechtiger Photography)Captive audience at the lecture by Shane Walshe of the Swiss Centre of Irish Studies (Photo credit: Rromi Imami)The writing workshop with Sarah Moore Fitzgerald (Photo credit: Rromir Imami)Véronique Platschka of Tourism Ireland and Shane Walshe at the Welcome Desk (Photo credit: Patrice Bechtiger Photgraphy)
A week on, today, the festival team – temporarily scattered by illness and other work commitments – got together to review the weekend. The verdict: we couldn’t have asked for a better first edition of the festival, we expect to come back in 2025 (tbc) and we need time to tend to the neglected parts of our lives – in my case writing.
A thousand thanks to all who came to Fribourg for the festival, to the volunteers, our local partners, the guests of honour, the visitors and those who made the inaugural IFF possible through financial and practical support:
Loterie Romande, Tourism Ireland, l’Agglomération de Fribourg, l’Etat de Fribourg, Culture Ireland, Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, Colm and Ella Kelleher, the Irish Embassy Berne, Max Geilinger Stiftung, IFI International, McGonigle Watches and the Swiss Centre of Irish Studies.
This day twenty years ago, I boarded a flight for Switzerland. Apart from my suitcase, all I had with me was my bicycle and a fold-up occasional table my grandmother had once given me. I had carried it from flatshare to flatshare and now I was carrying it with me to a new life in a new country.
Travelling light was what I did back then – in work, in love and in material things. A year earlier I had left a permanent job in The Irish Times, and my last short-term job in Dublin was producing a play for a small theatre company.
But I was ready for a steadier life, and that is what Switzerland had in store for me. My Swiss boyfriend became my husband. In our apartment in Fribourg, I finally cooked in my own kitchen with my own pots and pans. I got a job with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Eventually we had three daughters and built a house together.
I look back over those years and cannot believe how much my life has changed, and how fortunate I have been. Workwise, I reclaimed my freedom after ten years in the same job. I started writing books. This autumn, I’m organising a festival of Irish culture in Fribourg, enjoyable work that reminds me of the theatre job two decades ago.
Even though I’m as integrated as a piece of bread dipped in fondue and I speak the local languages, I haven’t always found it easy to accept my destiny as an emigrant. I didn’t realise how much I would be leaving behind, and for how long.
Acceptance. I got there eventually. I believe I will live in Ireland again – one day. But it doesn’t matter that it’s not now. Right now, this Swiss life is full in the best possible way. Yesterday evening, I went for a beautiful sunset walk with my mother (my most faithful Irish visitor) and daughters. It made me glad, yet again, that I found this place and made it my home.
Above is a photo of me from 2003 in the Gúna Nua Theatre Company office in Dame Street. It was taken a few weeks before I left Dublin for good. If I told her the whole story now, I think she would be more than ready to fold up the table once again.
The first quarter of the year is over and the Irish Festival Fribourg/Freiburg is taking shape. A lot has been accomplished since I last wrote about the festival in October. Even though there is plenty more to do, and it feels as if new tasks are added to the list daily, we are also seeing the first results of the winter’s work.
I’ve attended my fair share of cultural events over the years but only once before actually worked on the organisational side. That was in 2003, the last job I had before I left Ireland for good, when I worked as a producer for Gúna Nua theatre company. I’d forgotten how enjoyable and satisfying it is to make things happen! But, my God, where did that 20 years go?
The most important breakthrough this year was that the Agglomération de Fribourg, the equivalent of the city council, decided to back the festival. Without their support, other potential funders would automatically have said no.
We got the news on March 9th after sending in our 25-page application at the end of November with 13 supporting documents. More supporting documents were requested in January, including a contract with one of the venues. The project was discussed at three meetings before we finally got the good news. A champagne moment.
Group effort
Having the support of the Irish Embassy, Tourism Ireland, Fribourg Tourism and the Irish Film Institute International helped make our case much stronger. There are still some funding decisions to come in and possibly more applications to send out. In the meantime, we are getting everything else lined up – the programme, the venues, the website, publicity, ticketing, volunteers, insurance, travel … the list goes on.
Now it’s as sure as sure can be: Ireland is coming to Fribourg for the weekend of 6-8 October. Save the date! We’ll be announcing the programme in June, which is suddenly around the corner. Just a note that I’m not using the royal we. I’m joined in the whole enterprise by two brilliant Fribourg women – Julie Hunt and Deirdre Coghlan. Follow the festival Facebook page to hear more about our progress.
Book anniversary
In other news, it’s a year since Voting Day was published by Fairlight Books, and two years since the Swiss edition came out. I’m visiting two Swiss schools in the next few weeks to talk to students who’ve studied the novel and I’ve been invited to a university in Poznań in Poland later this month for the same reason. I’m delighted the story is still making waves, and I love meeting readers of all ages.
On my own reading pile, I’ve been working my way through the excellent Wyndham-Banerjee series of crime novels, set in Calcutta in the 1920s. I was lucky enough to interview the author Abir Mukherjee at the Société de Lecture in Geneva last week. We were in the beautiful yellow room you see above. I don’t have photos of the event yet.
More reading tips
My standout read of the year so far is Haven by Emma Donoghue, an extraordinary, captivating story set in seventh-century Ireland, featuring three monks on a quest to found a monastery in the most inhospitable place possible – Skellig Michael off the coast of Kerry. It was amazing to be transported back that far in history. Donoghue must be one of the most accomplished writers of historical fiction working today. I can also highly recommend the film adaptation of her 2016 novel, The Wonder.
And there’s a treat in store for fans of Swiss crime fiction with the publication of the second title in the Polizei Bern series by Kim Hays this month. Sons and Brothers centres on the suspicious death of an eminent (but not very likeable) heart surgeon whose body is pulled from the Aare in Bern on a winter’s night. The investigation leads detectives Giuliana Linder and Renzo Donatelli back to the doctor’s childhood home in the Emmenthal region.
Time for me to wrap up and wish the readers of this blog a pleasant Easter break. This is birthday season in our home with three birthdays coming up next week, so my to-do list is taken over by presents, cakes and parties for the next while. A very welcome change.
Lviv, Ukraine – March 2, 2022. Evacuees from eastern Ukraine near the railway station in western Ukrainian city of Lviv.
I did my school-leaving exams in the summer of 1989, what’s known as the Leaving Certificate in Ireland. It was long ago and far away; the world was younger than today etc. Seventeen-year-old me studied like mad in the last couple of months. I always was a crammer.
We felt (and we were repeatedly told) that our whole future depended on how we did in those three weeks of written exams. If you wanted to go to university you had to get enough points overall, counting the six best subjects out of eight. It was intense but you also gained temporary VIP status in the family.
We had to fill in the application form for third level courses in January of exam year. I was good at languages and writing, but clueless about careers. My first choice was a Communications course and my second choice was French and Russian in Trinity College. As it turns out, those two fields have dominated my working life.
Mikhail Gorbachev was the man of the moment. He had been president since 1985 and suddenly everyone knew two new Russian words – glasnost and perestroika. I got into the French and Russian course, and found myself surrounded by enthusiasts for all things Russian. There I made friends for life.
That’s the beauty of higher education, finding other people who tick like you, and diving into the world of your chosen subject. I took a year off between second year and third year, spending the first half working in restaurants in Paris to improve my French and save for Russia. At the beginning of 1992, I was on my way to St. Petersburg for a semester.
The Soviet Union had just ceased to exist, replaced by the Russian Federation and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Baltic States had achieved their independence, Gorbachev had resigned and Yeltsin was waiting in the wings.
In his resignation speech on Christmas Day 1991, Gorbachev touched on an important point, saying he was “concerned about the fact that the people in this country are ceasing to become citizens of a great power and the consequences may be very difficult for all of us to deal with”.
What he couldn’t foresee was that the culture of lying and repression that the ruling elite were steeped in would be revived to a terrible degree in the twenty-first century under a new self-serving, amoral and extremely dangerous leader.
The time I spent in St. Petersburg was the peak of my love of Russian culture. This memoir essay I read on Irish radio gives a flavour of the excitement. As students of the city’s state university, we had official student cards and could get tickets for everything in roubles.
We could easily afford long-distance train travel, which we took advantage of, visiting Moscow, the Baltics and Ukraine, all the way down to Odesa. Tickets for museums and the many theatre, ballet and opera productions cost next to nothing.
We were able to get by on ten dollars per week, which converted into increasingly large piles of roubles. Unfortunately, ordinary Russians were suffering economically while their better-placed and more corrupt compatriots were stripping the national assets. Organised crime took off.
I lived in Russia a second time in 1999 and I have spent the ensuing years feeling no desire to return. I have regarded the country with increasing dismay as Putin tightened his stranglehold on Russian life. The worst vainglorious tendencies of Russian people, tendencies often displayed by citizens of former empires, have been pumped up and twisted into something truly nasty, with deadly consequences.
Which brings us to today, and the war in Ukraine. There are decent Russians, who don’t subscribe to Putin’s genocidal project. It takes exceptional critical faculties and exceptional courage to maintain any opposition to such a powerful force inside Russia. I salute those people.
The rest of the population is awash in disinformation and short on options. They have been encouraged to take refuge in a dangerous brand of patriotism, built on grievance and false superiority.
I can’t express strongly enough how much I abhor what Russia is currently doing to Ukraine. We had a Ukrainian family staying with us for a few months this year. They have lost everything – their home, their school, their friends and family left behind, their business, their peace of mind, all their favourite things, all their plans.
Those losses are multiplied by thousands, millions, and the sad thing is that these refugees are the lucky ones. Countless others have lost their lives, or suffered horrific injuries, terror, torture, rape, bereavements.
In normal life, most of us apologise when we bump into someone, or rush to help when a person trips in the street. How can it be that one group of people is willing to inflict such terrible damage on another group? It is a question that has always been asked about humanity, a question that haunts me as 2022 draws to a close.
The people of Ukraine are foremost in my thoughts this festive season. As part of a communications project this year, I worked with several Ukrainian colleagues, and I have nothing but admiration for their dignity and fortitude. Even in that small circle, they have experienced so much disruption and fear.
The Russians like to talk about the Russian soul and how special it is. A cancer has taken hold of that soul, and there is a long and painful road to travel before it can be cured. Repentance will be part of the cure, though that seems very far off right now.
I was originally going to write a post about the novels I’ve read this year. One of them is The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan. It’s a gritty portrayal of Ukrainian citizens caught up in conflict, a difficult read but worth your time if you want to understand better. A gentler but equally affecting story is Grey Bees by my favourite Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov.
Wishing the readers of this blog a peaceful and cheerful Christmas break. I hope that we will have happier things to report at the end of next year. Take care.
(Photo credit: see link to the Ukraine-based content platform Depositphotos ‘Say no to war’)
Fribourg aka Freiburg is one of the most charming places in Switzerland. A university town set in beautiful, rolling countryside, it’s 20 minutes from Bern and equidistant from the three biggest cities – Geneva, Zurich and Basel. It’s also an overlapping point where the country’s two main language groups meet.
What a perfect place to hold a festival of Irish culture, I hear you say. That’s what I thought! The Irish Festival Fribourg / Freiburg is in the calendar for October 2023. It’s going to be a celebration of Irish literature, cinema, theatre and music. I hope it will be enjoyed by the people of Fribourg and by visitors from far and wide.
The inspiration for the festival can be traced back to my visit to Listowel Writers’ Week in Co. Kerry in June. I saw that the organisers had achieved something really special, bringing the whole town to life and attracting the great and the good to a place that – I hope they don’t mind me saying – is relatively small and off the beaten track.
I’ve been similarly impressed by Le livre sur les quais festival in Morges, which I’ve attended every year since 2017. Occasions like this are precious to the artists and audiences and to the community. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my 20 years of life as an Irish person in the town of Fribourg, than by building cultural ties between my two homes.
I will keep you updated on the festival as it takes shape. Some partners have already come on board, details to be announced. The first volunteers have begun working on the festival and we should be able to reveal the logo and unique name soon. It’s going to take a lot of work and we may have ups and downs, but, a year from today, the weekend festival should be in full swing.
Sophie Grenham, Clare O’Dea and John Boyne in Listowel
The last time I went to Kerry it was for a week-long diving course. I took the train and bus from Dublin to a tiny place on the coast but the diving school/hostel had lost my booking and given their only instructor the week off. The hostel owner phoned around and found me a place in a school two hours’ drive away in Baltimore. He then drove me all the way to Bantry in Co. Cork where I was handed over to my newly hired teacher to complete the journey. So I’ve had unfinished business with Kerry for the past twenty years and now the universe has paid me back handsomely with a different kind of exhilarating Kerry experience – Listowel Writers’ Week.
This legendary festival has been running since 1971 and it was back in person after a three-year hiatus. The whole town was in high spirits. The fact that the Listowel Races June Bank Holiday Meeting overlapped with the literary festival added to the excitement – and the fashion on display.
Hotel HQ
A lot of the action was centred around the 18th century Listowel Arms Hotel, which overlooks the Town Square and the racecourse. Throw in a few First Communions on the Saturday and I’ve never seen so much finery in one place. All we were missing was a wedding.
Floating serenely through all this activity was the organising team of the Writers’ Week, giving directions, selling tickets, rounding up writers and herding audiences, while manning (mainly wo-manning) and managing the 50+ events on the programme.
There was something happening every minute of the day – workshops, walking tours, author interviews, plays, poetry readings, art exhibitions, and a prize-giving for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year to kick things off on the first evening. The award went to Claire Keegan for her exquisite novel Small Things Like These.
Listowel Arms Hotel
Irish novel of the year
I was lucky enough to see Claire Keegan being interviewed by Rick O’Shea on the Thursday evening. Claire has quite a regal presence and strong ideas; frivolous would be the last word to describe her. We all listened with rapt attention to her carefully chosen words.
She said many things I agreed with – on the importance of structure and how she doesn’t like cryptic books, for example. ‘I want to be moved by the book and I can’t be moved if I don’t understand.’ Hear, hear! She’s also inclined to quiet prose rather than drama and, she says, the subject material never matters. ‘A good book can be about anything.’
Last quote from Claire Keegan: ‘Beautiful sentences make me tired. What I love is a good paragraph.’ Basically, she believes that sentences shouldn’t be competing with each other to display their individual brilliance but should work together to create a pleasing whole (to paraphrase with less perfect words). I like it.
The 12-week challenge
I caught Donal Ryan and Louise Kennedy at a joint event in town’s old dance hall which is now called the Plaza Centre. One thing Donal said that fascinated me is that it takes 12 weeks to get a novel written, at least the first draft. Apparently, a lot of writers feel 12 weeks is a magic amount of time, if you’re writing in an applied way. When I think about it, the first draft of Voting Day took me 14 weeks to write, so not far off.
Both Donal Ryan and Claire Keegan teach creative writing (oh to be in those classes!) and they both mentioned that they can’t really write while teaching. This seems like such a big sacrifice but they still manage to produce great work so maybe it’s a good balance overall. By the way, Louise Kennedy worked as a chef for 30 years before she wrote anything. She was dragged along to a creative writing class by a friend and never looked back.
Listowel Castle
Heritage town
In between events, there were lovely places to discover in the town – the River Feale walk, Listowel Castle, St. John’s Church, John B. Keane’s pub. Team O’Dea included my mother and two sisters and we enjoyed exploring together.
I had a great chat with Margaret in the Castle. It was the perfect weekend for striking up conversations with anyone and everyone (hello Audrey!). And if you’re looking out for someone in Listowel, you will definitely bump into them (hello Denis!). You can also be brave and introduce yourself to people you admire (hello Martina Devlin and Patrick Gale!).
In conversation
By the time my event came around on Friday afternoon, I felt totally at home. Sophie Grenham did a brilliant job directing the discussion with John Boyne and myself. We certainly had plenty to talk about but I need someone else to tell me what I said! One thing I do remember is our comments on how to approach writing a character who is quite different to you. In my case, all of them! But as much as there are differences between me and a disenfranchised and uneducated 1950s Swiss farmer’s wife or a young mother from a Yenish background, I believe there are enough things we share that can help me understand and express their frustration, joy and despair. If as writers we can’t tap into that shared humanity, we might as well all pack up and go home.
Tarbert ferry
Slán go fóil
I did eventually have to tear myself away from Listowel and I took the scenic route back – well, there are many – by getting the ferry across the Shannon estuary from nearby Tarbert to Killimer in Co. Clare. It was a happy ending to a joyful festival.
I hope you enjoy my photos of Listowel. I have nothing worth sharing from the events because my phone snaps didn’t come out well. But the hardest working person at the festival was the photographer Ger Holland and you can find all her fantastic pics on the social media accounts at the end of the Writers’ Week page.
And if you still haven’t read Voting Day, it’s available to order in bookshops pretty much anywhere, or through the usual online retailers. For online orders in Ireland, I recommend Kennys.
Clare O'Dea 