 He's learning how to solo. He's starting to feel like he's not alone. His local club welcomed him in like one of their own. He is one of their own. He's a newcomer and he belongs where we all belong. GAA where we all belong. Gene Curran on Highland Radio. Yes and welcome back and as I promised at the beginning of the show joining me in the studio is Andrew McNulty and Ann McMasters and they're going to be talking about the spread the word, the new literary festival that is in the water side and is taking place from the 1st to the 8th of October. Features a host of world-renowned and local authors, poets and illustrators and it will engage all sections of the community in person and online from the mainstream to the marginalised young and old to highlight the importance of reading, writing and literature. They'll be talks, readings, workshops, exhibitions and so much more. It promises to have something for everyone. So Ann a big call there. Yes very very much so Gene and thank you for the opportunity to talk about how big it is. Oh you're very welcome you're very welcome indeed. Now just from your bio that Andrew sent me an ex-farmer, farmer lecturer, you're a poet, a playwright and you're poet in residence for BBC Ulster and your creative writing mentor so how did you get involved in the Waterside Theatre? Well for a long time I was a lecturer in performing arts at the Northwest Regional College and I always believed in taking my students out to get them plenty of industrial experience so I hauled them to every theatre going and the Waterside Theatre was great and we would do regular shows, big public performances, we did Halloween pandemimes for years and I got involved with the Waterside Theatre at that point. Fantastic and so you know you're you're planning this festival I'm sure for a long time. When was the idea planted to run such a large festival Ann? We've been it's been months, months and months I think it's all blurred at this point but we were taking a look at certainly one of the discussions I've always had with Ian Barr was to talk about how much talent there is in this city, how much literary talent and to actually look at a showcase where you can actually go to something that's homegrown that's built and developed and that brings in readers from all over the world as well as from the local and regional areas and we thought it was about time. So it obviously took an awful lot of planning to get this very impressive programme together you say it engages all sections of the community and it includes so many diverse elements of literature you have everything in it. That's what we're hoping we had I think our mantra and I'm sure Andrea will back me up on this one had been well we'll start small and then it sort of ran and we were chasing after it but what we did want to do was to engage so many levels of the community not everything is in person it's online because we've got really used to being online via zoom since covid came and not all events are charged a number of events are free so we want to make them as accessible as possible. Fantastic and Andrew well I have known you for a long long time a different role you were involved in the DCA over there in the baller for years and now you're with the water sector so when did that all that happen? So yeah as you say I was working for the DCA for the guts of seven years and many years before that on and off through freelance work and that too as well and then I moved into the community arts side of things and community development side of things with Donegal Local Development Company and we infused the arts through the work that they had done and then it was offered the opportunity to go for the programs manager with Waterside Theatre and it was really a role that I couldn't turn down it's the ethos that the the building has it's the work that they do I have met Ian Barr the CEO of Waterside Theatre at the interview and I went I really want to work for this man here he was quite inspirational and he had a very positive candid attitude and the board and management in the theatre have lived up to every aspect of the promise that we made each other when when I joined the theatre and that was for me to develop programs and for them to allow me the space to do that which they absolutely have and the support is there and Ann as well is on the board of directors in the theatre and it just does provide you with that freedom there's a trust there and there's a framework there and there's a support there as well that allows you to carry out the work that you want to do and being a Donegal man as well I'm looking to pull as much as I can back over the border to as well so it's it's a real there is no border there is always been our city it's always been there and the work that we have done I actually staged my two shows in Waterside Theatre when I worked in the DC as well so there has been that prior relationship built up it's a familiarity as well and the work and this literary festival is one example of the good work and the expressive work and the community based work that the theatre is looking to engage audience members with so it's really exciting I'm very excited to be there great now your your promo says that includes workshops talks reading exhibitions so maybe we start off with the workshops what workshops are there I've read now there's something for everybody in it oh there absolutely is Jean 36 events in total and we have them over 15 different sites and venues and the workshops themselves will take place some in the theatre some in the gateway studio which is a standalone space at the theatre site we'll be going into the libraries for storytelling and we're linking up as well we thought that it was important to partner up with local organizations that already provide this service and we have a great partnership with the makey uppers in Derry and they are going to be doing two bits of work for us that's Jim and Sorka they're going to be in the libraries with their storytelling and the storytelling is really quite good in that it is utilizing the arts again to look at place and in particular they're going to be looking at places for new communities and a safe place for all to come so that's really exciting that's happening on the two Saturdays the storytelling also as well as that we have a writing creative writing for young adults workshops and what they're going to do is they're going to go into the schools as well the secondary schools and that'll be Jim and Sorka again working together this time they'll be doing the storytelling by themselves but they'll be working together this time going into the schools and eliciting the stories from the participants themselves on issues around at place and those themes that are important to them and that will engage them to as well continuing on from that we we have lots more workshops that will be happening as spinoffs to the main events so there'll be a main event nearly every single night and that usually will take place in the theater and we have also a couple of partner organizations we also have an online main event too that Anne will be chatting about in a week's second but the workshops then will spin off and I was talking about the Donegal connection there as well I have Winifred McNulty who's coming along a well-known Donegal writer who's coming along and she is going to do the right places called they're going to start off in the theater and then they're going to walk around the local area and they're going to look for she's already been down and I took her around and Kenny went go that direction or this direction so she's it'll be very exciting they're going to come back then after walking around the local area we have same calls park and and all of that the the peace bridge is just right beside us everything in squares right beside us so we have a lot of things in very near hand that they're going to come back then to the theater and they're going to write those up I'm trying to talk really quickly because it's such a big program and and Jean I know you're looking at me going I forgot how much he can talk I know I know I know my my apologies in advance for this but no it is it's just such a great program there's so many we have introduction to novel writing as well that's as Anne talked about earlier that's going to be online that's going to be a terrific workshop that's going to be or be Kelly is going to take take us through that we have divine crime writing workshop also that's going to be online for us and Damien Gorman on the last day he is going to go up to the library as part of his his main event later on that evening and he is going to be taking us through his workshop based on that to as well on on his work later on we also have a very very good and exciting comic book workshop it's called boom comic book workshop and that will happen in the theater and it'll be about creating your own comic book with Danny McLaughlin from Revolve Comics and that'll be really exciting stuff and they're booking up really quickly so that's kind of I suppose a sign that we're doing something right in that too as well so I may have forgotten a couple of bits but I'll try and pepper it throughout as well Jean but that's us that's what we're going to set out at first fantastic and Anne like as well as the workshops you have some very impressive people come to give talks and readings but I'm just looking here you've got Liz Weir and you've got Mummy Banter and you've got Lucy Caldwell's name but a few what other big names are coming well we've got um yes we've got those books we have Lem's to say it's coming along poet what do I say about this man poet mentor he holds professorships he has lifted so many awards but he has the most powerful story of his own early life and how he has written through that and written about that and um he's also going to be doing a question and answer session after he gives his talk and his readings so it's very interactive and very engaged and you've got exhibitions as well as part there's one by PJ Lynch is it oh there absolutely is and what we've done and I've had a great crack in talking to writers about this PJ is a number of years ago I went to the opening of one of his exhibitions and I work as a poet now and he was giving a talk as he does he's wonderful about explaining his work and the ideas he comes up with and how he's generated ideas and what he's working on and he started to show a number of images and one of them just hit me between the eyes and I thought oh my god I have to write about that went out started writing a poem on my phone and gathering notes and then came back to that and I thought right this is ecstatic writing where you are looking at images and you are getting a response to them and so one of the things we're doing in addition to having PJ coming along and having an evening with him and having the exhibition running is that writers will be able to come into the waterside theatre and spend some time in there with his exhibition and use his images for ecstatic writing so we're trying to appeal to everybody you know if you're if you're into memoir writing you can go and have a workshop with Joe Egan as well you can learn as Andrew was saying you can learn about comic book design if you're 18 and up 11 and up excuse me my name's the right way around we've got a poetry slam and Abby Oliveira who is a fantastic woman has is also offering workshops for anybody who would like a wee bit of polish or a wee bit of confidence in their poetry presentation for the slam so there's workshops even leading up to the event fantastic well one event in particular just struck me as this one's going to be really interesting is time for crime in the Lyford old courthouse it's sort of you've got well Claire Allen I've talked to her about her books as one of the people and Brian McGillaway is it that's right that's right so tell us a bit about that on the thursday night and oh it was well I'm also going to defer to the Dunnegal man here as well I think it was too good a chance to pass up and the thing is although we are the core of and the nexus of the festival itself is the waterside theater but we are everywhere and we're better than the Lyford courthouse I have to agree with that I'm there definitely we're better I would have worked with Gillian quite a bit in the past and I think you know it's just all about that building on relationships and Darius Drumandistry council are supporting this festival they're funding it so they are fully behind us bringing it across across the river over into Lyford and what an opportunity having a time for crime in the old courthouse it was something that we absolutely could not miss out on it's the setting and I was at a gig there fairly recently and it's just picture perfect with the big windows and you can just see the panels sitting down having a good conversation and as you say very well known writers in the room and most of it will be actually before the event and after the event when everybody's mingling around and having a chat about what inspires them what encourages them and what I found with a lot of the artists involved and writers involved in this is they're very giving of their time their experience and they're very willing to talk to audience members if they want to come up after they want to have a chat no I'm not saying that's definitely going to happen and put them on the pressure under pressure but it is one of those things that you do find you go along to the gig and it's the meeting before the meeting it's the cup of tea after the meeting that type of a thing and I think it was important for me to get it into Donegal and you never know we might get as far as the baller is the next thing that's also the good point because this is this isn't a one-off will be you know it's something that I don't even want to think about with a week to go before the festival begins I would like to get through that week and be happy and alive at the end of it but we'll we're already sitting even when we were going through lists of people and we it was such a difficult time to actually choose because we could have gathered in even more but we thought no rather than have a nervous breakdown on the first one we'll build up to it but we're already talking about the next one fantastic and you're very generously going to give me two tickets I think tonight to give away to a lucky listener for that time for crime and it's on at 7 p.m. on Thursday the 6th in the Lifford house and actually I sort of thought of a question that they could text in on on the text and there's a well-known saying if you can't do that bleep don't do the crime so if you can if you can out there now fill in that lip that missing word if you can't do that bleep don't do the crime you can text me 08 660 25 000 and you could be the winner of two tickets for that fabulous night in the Lifford courthouse on Thursday the 6th of October at 7 p.m. and and as well it's online and it's in in person as well a blended festival that's become very popular since COVID it has I do a lot of work with I mentor a lot of writers and I also run a number of writing groups and various things writers have been so lonely over COVID and although zoom hasn't been perfect it's become a habit and it connected very lonely very creative people who really missed being in groups and so I mean one of the things we're we're showing is you don't have to be able to travel you know we're in a very very difficult financial time now where we're looking at people having less money to spend on things and in terms of going out so we're trying to reflect that through the festival so for a number of these workshops we've even got a series of readings called late night lines where you can log on to zoom and you can listen to poets and prose writers reading their work online fantastic so as I said it's such a comprehensive program and I said we could be here until the end of the show talking about all the things that are in it so if you wanted to book Andrew where would you people book or find out more information about what's on in the waterside theater festival well indeed can I just give you two piece of information before I do that jean if that's all right I know you're looking at me going no but these are two two really good legacy permission granted thank you thank you one is queer rights that's on the Friday night just before the poetry slam and that's for the lgbtq i a plus community and that's going to give center stage to Dr. Hilary McCollum who we're so delighted to have she's shea miss heaney resident now so we're really looking forward to that and me hill mccann from dairy too as well but as a legacy of the festival we are going to work with the lgbtq i a plus community in delivering a series of creative writing workshops as a result of the festival because we wanted it to be sincere and meaningful as well engagement in particular with a group that has experienced a lot of disadvantage and hardship and also behind the walls is another event in St. Colm's Cathedral it will be an absolute delight and some of the the people that have been chatting to have said why isn't it open to the public it's a school gig but it'll be absolutely terrific it's Nicola Pierce and she's going to be talking about and giving insight into behind the walls during the siege of dairy as well so there's all of those elements too to to book or get in touch if you could ring us by phone and it's dairy so it's 02871314000 and you can call in person we'll be more than delighted to have a chat take you through the program or you can visit us on our website and I want to mention Jason Dunn who's done a terrific marketing job on this and Raina Wright as well who's working on the operational elements of this too as well we've had a very tight very tired but really inspiring team it's been great to work together fantastic well thank you so much Andrew and Ann for joining me and every good wish for the festival and I'm sure this is the first of many every every good wish for success during the week thank you so much Gene thank you you're listening to Gene Cohen