Night of song, story and satire for Cúirt Festival

Far from Literature we were Reared, a night of song, fiction, comedy and theatre, with songwriter Seamus Ruttledge, playwright Conor Montague and friends will be held in the main stage at the Róisín Dubh on Dominick Street during this year’s Cúírt Festival of Literature.

This showcase for both established and emerging writers, musicians, comedians and satirists was first held last year, when it received a great response. The event mixes Hennessy award nominees with up-and-coming talent.

Seamus Ruttledge, together with multi-instrumentalist Willow Sea will perform Elementary Chaos, a series of spoken-word pieces dealing with male stereotypes and international affairs. They’ll be joined by former Saw Doctor Pearse Doherty on double bass and Michel Durham of Galway Gospel Choir.

Journalist Olaf Tyaransen will read Darkness from the new short-story collection,Galway Stories, while columnist with the Connacht and City Tribune, Charlie Adley will read The Kinsale Stranger, from his memoir collection, CV of an Underachiever.

There will also be readings from five members of Abandoned Darlings, a collective that emerged from the MA in Writing at NUI Galway. They are Laura Ann Caffrey, Fiona Farrelly, Helena Kilty, Paul McCarrick, and Ruth Quinlan.

Several of the group have had their work published in literary magazines and anthologies, while Paul McCarrick’s work has featured at the Galway Fringe Festival and Corcadorca’s Festival Nights. Ruth Quinlan was shortlisted for the 2012 Cúirt New Writing Fiction Prize and is shortlisted for this year’s Hennessy First Fiction Award.

Also taking part is Aideen Henry, who was shortlisted for the Emerging Poetry section of the Hennessy Literary Awards. She will read from her debut short-stories collection, Hugging Thistles, published by Arlen House.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.