This July, Dublin Book Festival presents Departures, a special, three-part summer series of conversation and music, presented by Manchán Magan and filmed amidst some of the most beautiful scenery in Ireland. You can discover a new volume online each Tuesday from July 6th at 6.30 pm via RTÉ Culture.
Below Manchán talks journeys of the mind, via journeys through the land...
One of the more enjoyable benefits of the last eighteen months has been the shared impulse to reconnect to our surroundings, a newfound urge to explore our island home. To reflect this, the Dublin Book Festival decided to ask Irish writers to share their favourite places and to describe the role that landscape has played in their work.
The Dublin Book Festival team commissioned a film crew and they embarked upon a pilgrimage out of Dublin and around the country; meeting up with writers from Leinster, Connaught and Munster, and questioning them about the beauty, potency, heritage and history of the Irish landscape.
I came along for the ride and together we've fashioned three films from our journey which we are delighted to present in a selection of arts venues around the country and also here online on RTÉ Culture. Each film offers unique glimpses into the specific elements of landscape that inspire some of our most talented contemporary artists, including Mike McCormack, Billy O’Callaghan, Michael Fewer, Alice Taylor, Jane Clarke and Alice Kinsella.
On the journey we met up with musicians too and asked them to perform tunes that were inspired by the land, so you’ll get to hear performances from Anna Mieke, Cormac Mac Diarmada & Ruth Clinton, and Jack O’Rourke and Aisling Fitzpatrick.
The principle interviews with the writers were filmed in alluring locations in the wilds of Co. Wicklow, on Mayo’s Atlantic coast, and in the great maritime harbour of Cobh, Co. Cork.
As we present the films over the coming weeks we hope that their insights and experiences may inspire people to embark on their own journeys of discovery, or perhaps to start writing about journeys they’ve taken in the past or local landscape that nourish them.
For 15 years, Dublin Book Festival has been sparking journeys of the mind through its interviews with authors and book readings. Now, as all of us begin to venture out from our communities once again, it feels appropriate for the festival to embark on actual physical journeys throughout the land. We hope you’ll join us, by either watching the films here online or finding us at one of the public showings throughout the country. If you’re curious to hear the poet Jane Clarke talk about Roscommon, or Mike McCormick share insights into Louisburg, or Alice Taylor talking of Innishannon, join us for this three-part series, titled, Departures.
We hope you enjoy the ride.
Discover a new episode of Departures online each Tuesday on RTÉ Culture from July 6th - find out more here, and find out more about this year's Dublin Book Festival programme here.
