7:45 pm
Sunday 6th October
Ilkley Playhouse – Wildman
£8/£5 conc
Slouching towards Bethlehem: WB Yeats and The Second Coming
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”
A hundred years ago, in 1919, WB Yeats wrote a 22 line poem of disturbing power and prophetic symbolism. Composed in the wake of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and political turmoil in Yeats’ native Ireland, ‘The Second Coming’ has become a lyrical touchstone for many in times of political chaos and social unrest.
Poet and Professor of Modern Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester John McAuliffe leads contemporary Irish poets Martina Evans, Alan Gillis and Colette Bryce in a discussion of Yeats’ life and work and how and why a work like the The Second Coming continues to resonate, generation after generation.
Irish Poetry Showcase
5:15 pm
Sunday 6th October
Ilkley Playhouse – Wharfeside
£8.00/£5.00 concessions
Curated by ILF 2019 Poet in Residence Colette Bryce, this showcase brings together writers from the north and south of Ireland to demonstrate the best contemporary Irish Poetry.
Martina Evans is the author of eleven books of prose and poetry. Her latest collection Now We Can Talk Openly About Men (2018) was shortlisted for the 2019 Irish Times Poetry Now Award and the Pigott Poetry Award.
Alan Gillis is from Belfast, he has published four poetry collections with The Gallery Press, the latest being Scapegoat (2014). He has also been shortlisted for the T S Eliot prize and for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award.
Born in Newry in Northern Ireland, Conor O’Callaghan is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Live Streaming (2017).
