Arts & Culture

WHEN West Clare author Meadhbh Chambers completed working on her debut children’s book Rosie the Daisy there was certainly no shortage of little readers to give their reactions. As well as being a mother of four, Meadhbh is the infant teacher at Kilmihil National School. “I’ve tried the book out on my own kids, and in the classroom, and my kids have 33 cousins as well so I’ve given it out to a few kids to get feedback and it’s been very good so far,” she tells us. Launching this Friday in Kilrush Library, the book tells the tale of a daisy named Rosie, with Meadhbh explaining that as well as being a touching children’s story it is also a resource aimed at encouraging communication between children and trusted adults. “The idea behind it is that it would be a resource for adults to open up conversations with children, about sharing their thoughts and worries and feelings. The story is …

INTIMATE gigs and live entertainment are back on the bill at the hottest North Clare music venue, The Attic at Hotel Doolin.  Already hugely popular with fans of traditional music, Doolin now boasts another venue for music, spoken word, theatre, comedy and more. While The Attic opened last summer, it is now coming into its own with the easing of public health restrictions. Daily live music will be on offer this summer and organisers have promised to keep the tune coming throughout the winter with intimate gigs of all genres. Patrons will get the chance to check out some visual art. The artwork in the Attic was specially commissioned by local artist Marcus aka Surfek West who drew his inspiration from the mesmerising colours of the skies off Doolin pier. Also gracing the walls are some of the original Lisdoonvarna Festival posters alongside past posters from the Doolin Folk Festival. Organisers even promise that some of the same talent will …

MOVIE fans are set to enjoy a brand new film festival launching in Ennis which will quite literally be ‘fantastic’, writes Jessica Quinn. Plans are underway in the county capital to develop a film festival dedicated to the ‘Fantastic’ genre for the Halloween season. ‘Fantastic’ in this sense acts as an umbrella term and includes everything from horror and sci-fi to thrillers and fantasy and it is surging in popularity in the US. According to Ennis Chamber CEO Margaret O’Brien the development of the festival is at an “advanced” stage, with a dedicated committee working on bringing the plans to life in various venues across the county capital. Work is ongoing with full details yet to be announced, including the festival’s name, however there are talks underway for a world leading fan magazine for the Fantastic genre to be aligned with the festival. Ms O’Brien explains, “We were always looking for a festival for the Halloween period, I had worked …

TOOTHACHES, headaches and a range of ailments of humans and animals have drawn pilgrims to Holy Wells for centuries, if not millennia, writes Fiona McGarry. Across the length and breadth of Clare, people still leave offerings in the hope of spiritual comfort and special intercessions. As well as the famous ‘Tooth Well’ at Gleninsheen in North Clare, where people leave toothbrushes and coins, there are 236 sites dedicated to saints and pagan figures dating to the Neolithic Age. Now, thanks to the painstaking work of historians and authors Michael Houlihan and Tony Kirby and their teams, the location and lore of these sacred sites have been gathered and made available in a new online resource. The two men have spent years carefully searching out the lesser-known and almost-lost wells, and those which are globally famous like St Brigid’s Well in Liscannor. Their tireless work has recovered “the apparently forgotten”. It has also created a springboard for the celebration and restoration …

RESEARCH for her new novel The Letter Home really made Shannon author Rachael English think about the horrors of the Great Famine, particularly how it devastated west Clare, writes Owen Ryan. The novel, which hit the bookshop shelves last week, looks at how the experience of the Famine still resonates today, over 170 years after it began. One of the central characters is Jessie Daly, who has just arrived back in west Clare, after losing her job in the capital, and she begins to learn about what happened in her home place in the middle of the 19th century. “Jessie is back at home after being in Dublin for a decade, she’s broke, she’s unemployed and she’s adamant she’s going back to Dublin in two or three weeks, this is only a short time to regroup. “But through meeting a fella she was in school with she becomes interested in the story of a woman called Brigid Moloney who lived …

IRELAND’S evolving society and what it has meant for women writers will be discussed at a forthcoming literary event. Look! It’s a Woman Writer! Irish Literary Feminisms 1970-2020 is one of the Ennis Book Club Festival events and will be held at Glór on March 4. In 2021, author Éilís Ni Dhuibhne asked 21 writers who were born in mid-twentieth-century Ireland, north and south, to write about their literary lives. Collectively, these vivid, original essays make up Look! It’s a Woman Writer! Irish Literary Feminisms, 1970-2020 and provide a picture of Ireland’s literary landscape from multiple female points of view. These writers came of age when legislation for gender equality was beginning to be enacted. They are now growing older on an island where a great deal has changed and were activists and voices when it really mattered. Evelyn Conlon is one of the women included in the book and she will be part of the panel at Glór to …

A PARTEEN film producer was celebrating recently when his film won the Best Irish Short Film at the Foyle Film Festival in Derry, writes Dan Danaher. This award is both Oscar and BAFTA qualifying meaning that ‘Ship of Souls’ was on the long list for best short film at the annual Academy Awards. And while he didn’t make the final cut on this occasion, the Foyle award will provide a boost to Gregory Burrowes as he bids to finance future endeavours. Gregory (34) is the producer of this short film, which centres around Michael, a father who can’t come to terms with his son’s sudden death in a car crash. Written and directed by Jean Pasley, it was shot in Castlegregory during October 2020. Pasley lived in Japan for a number of years where she witnessed Obon, the annual Japanese Festival of the Dead. She was deeply moved by the festival, which inspired her to write Ship of Souls. She …

THE stunning scenery of west Clare has been enjoying more national exposure recently with the return to screens of RTE’s hit drama Smother. Smother has been supported from its inception by Clare County Council, whose arts officer, Siobhán Mulcahy, said: “Clare County Council is delighted to support and accommodate Smother logistically and behind the scenes, as we value its potential to promote our beautiful county, to provide investment and employment opportunities and to encourage the further development of local talent. “It has also provided us with a valuable opportunity to deepen our engagement and further our partnership with regional film supports such as WRAP and Film in Limerick.” The production has also been supported by Innovate Limerick through Film in Limerick, who have a regional remit for developing the sector in the Mid-West and they have produced a short behind-the-scenes film on the filming in Lahinch. Funded by Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland and the WRAP Fund and with BBC …