In Crossing the Sound, in the Lyric Feature, at 6 pm on Sunday 22nd December on RTÉ lyric fm, poet Gerald Dawe goes back to the west of Ireland to explore its relationship to the arts and the enduring appeal of its wild landscapes to writers and artists - listen to Crossing the Sound above.
Dawe, originally from Belfast, lived in Galway in the 1970s and 1980s. Like so many writers before him, he found that the life and landscapes of the west of Ireland inspired his work.
In this programme, he goes back to the west of Ireland, starting in Galway city, travelling out through Connemara, and finishing on Achill Island. Along the way, in conversations with people who are native to Galway and Mayo, or who have made it their home, he explores the relationship of the west of Ireland to the arts, and the enduring appeal of its wild landscapes to writers and artists, an appeal that goes back centuries and continues to the present day. We also hear the story of Gerald's own intimate relationship with the west, and interwoven throughout the programme is a selection of his own poetry inspired by this part of the world.
As Gerald says, "Questions started to emerge: what is 'the west' in the first place? Does such a place actually exist or is it a notion we have taken at face value, influenced so heavily by tourist routes of the 19th and 20th centuries, with the powerful imagery of Paul Henry’s Connemara uppermost in one’s mind? How have things changed since I first went to live there as a young man and started to write out of Galway and Mayo, such contrasting ways of life and living to those I had known in the Belfast of my own upbringing in the 1950s and ‘60s?"
With these questions uppermost in his mind, we accompany Gerald as he meets friends and fellow artists: actor Cathy Belton, Tom Kenny of The Kenny Bookshop and Art Gallery, journalist Judy Murphy, artist Pádraic Reaney, poet Seán Lysaght, and John McHugh, artist and manager of Artist’s Residency at the Henrich Böll Cottage.
Listen to The Lyric Feature: Crossing the Sound, presented and produced by Claire Cunningham, at 6 pm on Sunday 22nd December on RTÉ lyric fm - listen to more from The Lyric Feature here.
