4.15 pm
Tea/Coffee
4.00 pm
Liz Gillis
What Did The Women Do Anyway?
3.30 pm
Gerald Dawe
Of War and War’s Alarms – a brief look at Irish
writers at war
3.00 pm
Vincent Pierse
In Song and Story
2.30 pm
Lunch
1.15 pm
Questions and Answers
12.45 pm
Niamh Parsons
Traditional songs of Rebellion before the 20th
Century
12.15 pm
Alan Titley
1916 in the Nineteenth Century
11.45 am
Tea/Coffee
11.30 am
Frank Allen
From Cowgate to Celluloid, putting James
Connolly’s life on the big screen
11.00 am
Kevin Hora
Frank Gallagher/David Hogan: telling tales of
dread and derring-do
10.30 am
Luke Gibbons
Modernising the Rising: The 1916 Rebellion as
Global Event
10.00 am
Opening
By Cathaoirleach, Cllr Tony Ward
9.45 am
Welcome Address - Chairperson
Michael O’Dea, Poet and Teacher
9.30 am
Registration
9.00 am
Individual lectures: €10.00
Student, senior citizen and unwaged: €20.00
Conference fee: €40.00
Conference Fee:
Douglas Hyde
Michael O’Dea is a native of
Roscommon town. Currently
teaching in Rathmines College,
Dublin, he has published three
collections of poetry, including
‘Sunfire’ and ‘Turn Your Head’,
both published by the Dedalus
Press. In 2013 he co-edited
‘The Roscommon Anthology’
with his brother, John O’Dea. His current project,
‘Above Ground Below Ground’, is a collaboration with
artist Elaine Leigh on the subject of megalithic sites
and legends, and is being prepared for exhibition. A
community activist in Dublin, he was director of the
Rathmines Festival and Festival under the Clock, and is
currently involved in efforts to reinvigorate community
life in Rathmines.
Michael O’Dea
Conference Convenor and Chairperson Michael O’Dea,
poet and teacher
This year’s Douglas Hyde Conference, ‘Telling Tales of
Revolution’, looks at different ways the stories have
been told; 1916 and other revolutions and rebellions.
Literature, song, art, story-telling and film will feature
over the course of the day. It will put the telling of
these tales into the broader context of communication
through art in all its manifestations; the power and
the richness that these modes of expression confer on
events that have helped to mould our present.
Telling Tales of Revolution
Schedule
Ballaghaderreen is situated in the north west of the county
and is an exit off the N5, signed Ballaghaderreen. The Douglas
Hyde Conference will be held in the BMW Regional Assembly
which is located in The Square, Ballaghaderreen in the centre
of Ballaghaderreen.
Comhdháil Dhubhghlais de hÍde, the Douglas Hyde Conference
attracts visitors from all over Ireland, Europe, and indeed even
further afield, for one reason - it is a wonderful celebration
of Irish culture. Our culture and identity are what helps to
stand us apart and mark us as unique amongst others. It is
certainly worthy of this annual celebration in honor of the first
president of Ireland, Dr. Douglas Hyde. I would like to take this
opportunity to offer a very special welcome to all visitors and
speakers and contributors to the county for this - what has
now become in the calendar of literary events – an important
conference.
Cllr Tony Ward,
Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council
The conference fee includes entry to the full
conference programme throughout the day, lunch and
tea/coffee. Accommodation is not included. Please
note that payment for an individual lecture does not
include lunch.
Derek Warfield
The Patriotic Spirit of Irish Music – resistance
songs and ballads and why we sing them
Douglas Hyde, the academic scholar, son of a Church of Ireland
Rector, and later the first President of Ireland, was a leading
figure in the Irish language revival of the late 19th and early
20th century. In 1893, he founded Conradh na Gaeilge (then
known by its English name, the Gaelic League) as a nongovernmental organisation to promote the Irish language
in Ireland and worldwide and it quickly became the leading
institution promoting the revival.
As part of Roscommon’s 1916/2016 Centenary Programme,
the Douglas Hyde Conference 2016 reflects on those times,
by bringing together many leading thinkers, academics,
poets, writers and musicians who will discuss and debate
these issues. The Conference will provide an opportunity for
an interesting and challenging day’s reflection for this year’s
theme which is ‘Telling Tales of Revolution’.
Mr. Eugene Cummins,
Chief Executive, Roscommon County Council
Robert Ballagh
Representing the Rising
5.00 pm
Location:
Many of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, were also
prominent members of Conradh na Gaeilge in the early 20th
Century. Despite the incredible work that Douglas Hyde and
the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising did for the promotion of
the language and Irish culture, there were times when they did
not see eye-to-eye.
Questions and Answers
5.30 pm
Comhdháil Dhubhghlais de hÍde, the Douglas Hyde Conference
is a fundamental part of Roscommon County Council’s annual
programme of events since 1988. This conference is a focal
point of the cultural and literary diary of events in the county
and over the years has provided a unique opportunity to
contemplate, consider and debate a variety of issues.
Situated on the west bank of the River Shannon, County
Roscommon is easily reached from all parts of Ireland as it is
serviced by the N4, N5 and N6 National Primary routes as well
as the Dublin- Sligo and Dublin-Westport rail routes.
A nearby attraction that may be of interest is the Douglas
Hyde Centre in Portahard, 5 miles east of Ballaghaderreen on
the N5. The Douglas Hyde Centre is an interpretative centre
at the site where Dr. Douglas Hyde, Ireland’s first President, is
buried. The interpretative centre and grounds are maintained
by Roscommon County Council.
As part of the 1916/2016 Centenary Programme the
following will take place in the Douglas Hyde Centre on
Wednesday 20th July 2016:2.00 pm – 3.00 pm
An Teanga agus An Craoibhin
With speakers
Mícheál Ó Tuathail & Eileen O’Donnell
The Gaelic League, Its local branches
and the Revival of the Irish Language:
the contribution of the cultural
revolution and change that led to the
1916 Rising.
3.00 pm – 4.00 pm
Grandpa The Sniper
By Frank Shouldice
The Remarkable Story of a 1916
Volunteer.
4.00 pm – 4.30 pm
Laying of Commemorative Wreath
on The Grave of Douglas Hyde
4.30 pm – 5.00 pm
Light Refreshments
For further information please contact:
Mary Mullins, Arts Officer at 090-6637321
[email protected]
Douglas
Hyde
Conference
2016
Comhdháil an Chraoibhín 2016
Telling Tales of Revolution
Ag Insint Scéalta faoin
Réabhlóid
Date: Thursday 21st July 2016
Venue: Northern & Western Regional
Assembly Conference Room,
The Square, Ballaghaderreen,
Co. Roscommon.
Time: 9.30 am to 5.45 pm
This one day conference will be convened and
chaired by poet and teacher Michael O’Dea
DHC
Organised by Roscommon County Council
www.roscommoncoco.ie/en/Services/Community/Arts_Office
Douglas Hyde Conference 2016
Comhdháil an Chraoibhín 2016
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Luke Gibbons
Luke Gibbons, from Keadue,
Co. Roscommon, is Professor
of Irish Literary and Cultural
Studies at Maynooth
University. He was formerly
Keough Family Professor of
Irish Studies at the University
of Notre Dame, Indiana. His
recent publications include Joyce’s Ghosts: Ireland,
Modernism, and Memory (University of Chicago
Press, 2015); Co-editor (with Kieran O’Conor), Charles
O’Conor and Eighteenth-Century Ireland (Four Courts
Press, 2015); ‘Introduction’ to Dorothy Macardle, The
Uninvited (Tramp Press, 2015); Limits of the Visible:
Representing the Irish Great Hunger (Quinnipiac:
Great Hunger Museum, 2014).
Gerald Dawe
Belfast-born poet Gerald
Dawe has published nine
collections of poetry with
the Gallery Press including
Selected Poems (2012) and
Mickey Finn’s Air (2014). Cork
University Press recently
published Of War and
War’s Alarms: Reflections on Modern Irish Writing.
He has also edited numerous anthologies of Irish
literary criticism and poetry including Earth Voices
Whispering: an anthology of Irish war poems (2008).
He is a professor of English at Trinity College Dublin.
(photo credit: Bobbie Hanvey)
Derek Warfield
Singer, songwriter, historian
and entertainer, Derek
Warfield was founder
of the legendary Wolfe
Tones, spending nearly 40
years as their front man.
Phenomenally successful,
they had 13 best-selling
albums, 3 number one hits and appeared in venues
such as New York’s Carnegie Hall and The Royal Albert
Hall. Since embarking on a solo career in 2001, he has
released 12 albums. Nowadays he is vocalist with the
highly acclaimed The Young Wolfe Tones. He has been
presented with the keys to San Francisco, New York
and Los Angeles for his contributions to Irish Song and
Music and was honoured as “Dublin Gael of The Year
2013” by the New York Dublin Society.
Kevin Hora
A native of Roscommon,
Kevin Hora has taught
public relations and political
communication in further and
higher education in a number
of Dublin colleges since 2001,
and holds a PhD in history
from Trinity College. His
thesis, in preparation for publication by Routledge,
examined the use of official propaganda for state and
nation building in the Irish Free State. Married, he
lives and lectures in Dublin.
Niamh Parsons
Niamh Parsons is an
international traditional and
folk singer from Dublin. With
8 CDs Niamh’s music has
won awards for excellence
including the AFIM Indie
Award and the BBC 2 Folk
Awards. She tours mainly
outside of Ireland, in the USA
and in Europe. Locally, she sings regularly with the
Goilín Singers club in Dublin, and is on the committee
of the Howth Singers Circle. Niamh has been teaching
in Ballyfermot College of Further Education since
1995 where she mentors and teaches ‘appreciation
of traditional song’ to potential performers. Niamh is
also a private teacher to traditional singers and has
been the singing teacher at many traditional Irish
music festivals in Ireland, England and in the USA.
Alan Titley
Alan Titley is Emeritus
Professor of Modern Irish
in UCC and former Head
of the Irish Department
at St Patrick’s College,
Drumcondra. He is also
author of novels, stories,
poems, plays, film scripts,
and columnist with the Irish
Times. His television history of the Irish language
was recently rebroadcast by TG4, and his collected
English essays ‘Nailing Theses’ was published by Lagan
Press. His latest novel ‘An Bhean Feasa’ is written in
verse and deals with the hanging of an Irish woman
as a witch in Boston in 1688; his play for children
‘An Filleadh’ was produced in the Abbey Theatre on
Easter Monday this year.
Liz Gillis
Liz Gillis is from the Liberties
in Dublin. She has a degree
in Irish History and works as
a curatorial assistant in RTE.
She has written six books
about the Irish Revolution,
‘Ireland Over All’, ‘The Fall
of Dublin’, ‘Revolution in
Dublin’ and ‘Women of the
Irish Revolution’, ‘The Hales Brothers and The Irish
Revolution’ and ‘We Were There: 77 Women of the
Easter Rising’ co-written with Dr Mary McAuliffe. She
has worked as a researcher on numerous publications,
participated in many conferences focusing the Irish
Revolution and Liz is co-organiser of the annual
conference on the Burning of the Custom House in
1921.
Frank Allen
Frank Allen is a Drimnagh
born playwright and
screenwriter. He is a founder
member of Tobar na Run
Theatre Company and has
written many successful plays
for the stage including Café
Slices, Give Us a Break, Oh
When The Hoops, Seven Lives
For Liberty and Twelve Days in May. In 2012 Frank
directed The Trial for The International Eucharistic
Congress at the RDS Concert Hall. He was associate
producer on the film documentary, ‘James Connolly
– A Working Class Hero’ and wrote, directed and
produced the film ‘The Methadone Actors’. The
film ‘Twelve Days In May’ is now in production with
LIffeyside Productions under the direction of Danny
Boyle and is due for international release for the
Centenary Celebrations in the autumn of 2016.
Robert Ballagh
One of Ireland’s most
distinguished artists,
Robert Ballagh was born
in Dublin in 1943. Having
begun painting in 1967, he
represented Ireland at the
Paris Biennale in 1969. His
work is represented in many
important collections including the National Gallery
of Ireland, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Crawford
Municipal Gallery Cork and the Albrecht Durer House,
Nuremberg. As designer, he has created national
banknotes and over 70 Irish postage stamps; his
set designs include Riverdance, Samuel Beckett ’s
Endgame and Stephen Berkoff ’s production of
Salomé. In 1981 he was selected as one of the original
members of Aosdána. Ciaran Carty’s biography,
Robert Ballagh Citizen Artist, was published in 2010.
Vincent Pierse
Born in Kerry, Vincent Pierse
inherited his gift from the
storytellers of his locality. He
grew up listening to stories
made famous by seanachaís
like the late, great Eamon Kelly.
Vincent has performed in
venues and at festivals all over
Ireland, UK, US and Canada. A renowned storyteller,
Vincent also hosted his own show on Shannonside
FM called ‘The Open Door’. He is a member of the
South Roscommon Singers Circle where he regularly
spins yarns and he has recently performed with the
traditional group Síonnain.