Have you ever been to Strangford?

The Wild Geese Festival
Poetry, Story & Song
Strangford, Co. Down

Geese appear high over us,pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,as in love or sleep, holdsthem to their way, clear,in the ancient faith: what we needis here.

From ‘The Wild Geese’ by Wendell Berry (Selected Poems of Wendell Berry)

The Wild Geese Festival returns for its third year. Write! Down welcomes all visitors to Strangford on Saturday, 7th February to celebrate writing in all its forms.

The programme includes writing workshops with distinguished writers Damian Smyth, Maureen Boyle, Joan McEldowney (songwriting), readings showcasing newly published writers presented by Summer Palace Press and the Ballycastle Writers’; and an evening featuring our guest artists and music at the church in Old Court, Strangford.

The festival is supported by the Down Arts Centre and Poetry Ireland, and is one of a necklace of festivals of literature in the north of Ireland, which links Strangford to the Let me take you to the island Festival in Rathlin Island, the Donegal Bay and Bluestacks Festival at the Summer Palace in Kilcar.
Everyone Welcome ____________________________________________________________

Programme: Saturday 7th February 2009

1.30pm-3.30pm – Writing Workshops, Strangford, venue tbc

Take a writing workshop. Workshops will be facilitated by Damian Smyth, Maureen Boyle, Joan McEldowney (songwriting). The workshops are open to everyone. Book a place with your preferred facilitator IN ADVANCE – email http://uk.mc258.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=writedown2005@yahoo.co.uk (please indicate if you wish to attend the evening event as tickets are limited and a number are held for workshop participants and, if you can, we’d request a voluntary contribution of £10 on the day).

4.00pm-6.00pm – Readings, Strangford
Afternoon reading by workshop participants wishing to share their work and scheduled readings by emerging Summer Palace Press writers (2), Ballycastle Writers’ (2) and Write! Down (2)

8.30pm – Concert, The Church, Old Court, Strangford
Evening Event of spectacular poetry, music and song in the historic and beautifully situated Church at Old Court.

Featuring our guest artists - poets Damian Smyth and Maureen Boyle, singer-songwriter Joan McEldowney. Musical programme included. The church is a small space which will hold a maximum of 120, so book early. Tickets, priced £7.50/conc. £5.00, are available at Kevin Óg’s, The Square, Strangford. Phone 00 44 (0)28 4488 1377. Workshop participants please indicate whether you will be attending the evening event when booking your workshop.


Programme may be subject to change.____________________________________________________________



Guest Artists

Damian Smyth was born in 1962, raised and educated in Downpatrick, Co Down, he studied Scholastic Philosophy and English at Queen’s University, Belfast . He has edited and introduced Joseph Tomelty: All Souls’ Night & Other Plays (1993), Martin Lynch: Three Plays (1996) and John Hewitt: Two Plays (2000), all from Lagan Press, and all reflecting a commitment to the regional ethos in Ulster . His first poems were published by David Marcus in the Irish Press in 1978 and work subsequently appeared in Poetry Ireland , the Honest Ulsterman, Threshold, Fortnight and elsewhere. In 2002, his stage play Soldiers of the Queen (Lagan 2002), set in the Boer War, played the Belfast Festival at Queen’s. His collections are Downpatrick Races (2000) and The Down Recorder (2004). Market Street is due in spring 2009. He is currently Literature Officer with the Arts Council in Belfast .

Maureen Boyle grew up in Sion Mills, County Tyrone. She studied at Trinity Collge in Dublin, then the Universities of East Anglia and London. In 2004 she was runner up in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Competition for an unpublished manuscript. She completed a Creative Writing Masters at Queens University, Belfast in 2005. In 2005 and 2007 she was the recipient of awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. In 2007 she won the Strokestown International Poetry Competition and in the same year was awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry Prize. She recently completed a commission for the BBC for a poem to run through a documentary on the Crown Bar which was screened in October 2008. She works as a teacher, writer and children’s bookseller.

Joan McEldowney, having written and produced a highly acclaimed first album storm, is working on a second album ‘Music and Moonlight’. She has supported acts such as Duke Special, the Lowly Nights, James Blunt, Ocean Colour Scene and the Hothouse Flowers. She was awarded a Write! Down bursary in the 2007 to attend the ‘Let me take you to the Island’ Festival on Rathlin. Singer, songwriter and tutor – she is currently based in Killyleagh, Co. Down.

*Poster image from an original artwork by Stephen McClean
Contact Write! Down at writedown2005@yahoo.co.uk Get updates at www.geocities.com/writedown2005