What’s next?

2015

Friday February 13 – 21.
All week at the marvellous Cill Rialiag writers’ retreat in County Kerry, courtesy of the Listowel Writers’ Week.

I’ll be finishing a short story begun in January as well as reading On the Map by Simon Garfield, and researching the 17th century trade in Irish butter. Walking boots, rain gear, notebooks packed.

Wednesday February  25
16:00 Dublin’s Collins Barracks.
“Pals, the Irish at Gallipoli”
Site specific performance by award-winning ANU Productions.
www.pals-theirishatgallipoli.com
Runs till April 30 but tickets going fast.

Thursday February  2619:30.
“Sea Wall” Play by Paines Plough with actor Andrew Scott.
Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar.
www.painesplough.com
6 performances only

March 1st
Reminder:
Listowel Writers Week is May  27 – May 31. My travel writing workshops are running again  28,29 and 30, each morning. If you’re interested and have something to write about, why not enrol NOW at www.listowelwritersweek.ie Even if you’ve nothing to write about, you’ll surely have something to talk about. Everyone does.
We had some great sessions last year – lots of writing, lots of staying up late, some drinking and lots but lots of other things to do in your “free”time. Check out the website now… 

Tuesday March 17

St Patrick’s Day, even though my iPhone says it’s on March 18 and won’t let me change the date.
Reminder
Listowel Writers Week is May  27 – May 31. My travel writing workshops are running again  28,29 and 30, each morning. If you’re interested and have something to write about, why not enrol NOW at www.listowelwritersweek.ie Even if you’ve nothing to write about, you’ll surely have something to talk about. Everyone does.
We had some great sessions last year – lots of writing, lots of staying up late, some drinking and lots but lots of other things to do in your “free”time. Check out the website now… 

Friday  March 27
14:00
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
Dublin’s Chester Beatty Library shows the film “Silk”. An intriguing doc about Muslim women in India who weave silk and work alongside Hindu traders.
I’m interested in this because one of the silk roads passed through Aleppo, in Syria, and I have written about it in my travel book My Home is Your Home. Not to be missed.
www.cbl.ie

Saturday March 28
08:00
Sail and Rail Dublin to Oxford.

Tuesday April 03
14:15
Wesley Hall, Oxford
“Two Fast Ladies” The story of two early solo female pilots:  Sophie Peirce of Newcastlewest, in Ireland, the first woman to fly solo Cape Town to Cairo in an open cockpit plane, wearing silk stockings. Her rival, Lady Mary Bentley, flew solo - the other way.

Late  March

Sail and rail Oxford back to Dublin

Thursday April 02
1pm
Record script for RTE Radio’s The History Show
Subject: the Armenian genocide of 1915. A terrible story with links to Syria. Ive cycled along some of the forced death march al Raqqa to Deir ez Zour/

Wednesday April 08
10:15
Ballinteer Group
Illustrated talk about travelling solo around Syria, the dos and donts.

National Concert Hall
13:30
Rehearsal for Blow the Dust Orchestra in preparation for Bealtaine concert on May 20.

Friday April 10
RTE’s The History Show with Myles Dungan  airs my piece on the Armenian genocide by the Ottomans in 1915

Saturday April 25

Dublin’s Grangegorman Cemetery
06:00
Anzac Day Dawn Service.
All welcome to this very moving ceremony of remembrance. Early morning chill assuaged by shot of rum, courtesy of the Australian High Commission.

MAY
Friday May 01
06:00
May morning in Oxford. Celebration of Bealtaine, the Celtic feast of fertility and mayhem. Gaudeamus igitur.

Sunday morning May 19, 1536.
Tower of London
Anne Boleyn decapitated on the orders of her husband, Henry Vlll. She mounted the scaffold wearing a fur-trimmed mantle of Damascene silk. Anne was the mother of Queen Elizabeth 1 and was 27 at the time of her death.

Wednesday  May 20
13:00
National Concert Hall
Blow the Dust Orchestra Bealtaine Concert

Wednesday May 27 – Sunday May 31
Listowel Writers Week, Listowel. Co Kerry.
My travel writing workshops:
May 28, 29, 30
09:00 – 12:30 each morning

Please see www.writersweek.ie for more details.

Monday 01 June till end of August
Othello
Stratford on Avon
Othello runs throughout the summer at the Royal  Shakespeare Company’s Stratford Theatre, www.rsc.co.uk
I’m currently working on an essay about Othello and the Ottomans. The RSC play will be shown in cinemas on August 26.
www.RSC.com

JULY
Monday 06 July
13:30
“A cultural journey round Syria”
Abingdon University of the Third age ( U3A)

Tuesday July 21
14:00
London’s Globe Theatre
Richard lll performed in Mandarin by the Chinese National Theatre.
This could well prove to be my theatrical highlight of the year. I’ve seen it performed with a dwarf playing Richard ( splendid performance by Peter Dinklage) and in Arabic, at Stratford when the play  was retitled The Butcher of Baghdad. This is a play that rarely disappoints.

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