German Ambassador to visit Mayo to open Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend

The new German Ambassador to Ireland will visit Mayo over the May Bank Holiday Weekend to officially open the Annual Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend.

The annual event takes place on Achill Island from May 2 to 4 with an international panel of writers and speakers scheduled to take part.

German Ambassador to Ireland Mr David Gill will open the weekend's celebrations in St Thomas' Hall in Dugort on Friday, May 2 at 7pm. Ambassador Gill was appointed German Ambassador to Ireland in August 2024 having previously served as German Consul General in New York.

German writer Heinrich Böll who was the recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize for Literature is regarded as one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. He first travelled to Achill in the early 1950s and became a frequent visitor to the island where he eventually purchased a home.

The Achill Heinrich Böll Association was established to honour the Cologne native and each year they host the Annual Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend.

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The keynote talk on the opening night will be given by former German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht who has been a member of the board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation since June 2022. Albrecht became the youngest German MEP when he was elected in 2009 at the age of 26. He served as an MEP until 2018 before taking up the role as Minister for Energy, Agriculture, the Environment, Nature and Digitalization for the State of Schleswig-Holstein, a position he held for four years.

The opening evening will also hear readings from the work of Moscow-born author Katerina Poladjan who grew up in Rome and Vienna and lives in Germany. Readings from her book 'Upheaval' will be read by actress and translator Wiebke Acton

On Saturday, the participants will move outdoors with a guided nature walk at Keem Bay with Micheál Ó Briain.

Anne Shannon Memorial Writers workshop with Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin will take place on Saturday at 2pm. Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin was educated at Oxford before spending her working life as an academic in Trinity College, Dublin and in May 2022 she was elected Saoi in Aosdána.

The Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend will also feature the screening of the film 'Petra Kelly – Act Now' in St Thomas's Hall at 2pm on Saturday, with an introduction by director Doris Metz. Activist Petra Kelly was convinced that a single person could change the world and, as co-founder of the German Green Party, she did.

Director Doris Metz crafts an enlightening portrait of one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. Weaving historical archives that showcase her creative tactics to fight for disarmament, the environment, and human rights with intimate and revealing testimonies from her inner circle, the film demonstrates that Kelly´s spiritual legacy continues to resonate today.

A Q&A session with director Doris Metz, and panel discussion with Jan Philipp Albrecht, former Irish Green MEP Patricia McKenna and Gisela Holfter who will chair the discussion.

Patricia McKenna is a practicing barrister and member of the Bar of Ireland. She was Ireland’s first Green Party MEP and made history for the Greens by topping the poll at the 1994 European Parliament elections.

An evening of Paul Durcan’s poetry to celebrate his 80th birthday will take place on Saturday evening at 8pm in St Thomas' Church in Dugort. The audience will look back on the extraordinary career of one of Ireland’s most lauded and popular poets, Paul Durcan, through readings of his much-loved poems by poets and admirers.

For fifty years, he has explored and questioned a world both real and imagined and remains the most companionable of poets. Steeped in the goings-on of Ireland and preoccupied with its concerns, he has delighted, enriched and unsettled his readers. Readers will include Dermot Bolgor, Harry Clifton, Geraldine Mitchell, Michael O'Loughlin, Hans-Christian Oeser and Wiebke Acton.

For more information on the Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend and to book tickets visit www.heinrichboellcottage.com.