German Ambassador to visit Mayo for Achill memorial weekend

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

Mr David Gill, the German Ambassador to Ireland, will formally open the weekend's celebrations in St Thomas' Hall in Dugort on Achill Island on Friday, May 1 at 7pm. The annual event takes place on Achill Island from May 1 to 3 with an international panel of writers and speakers scheduled to take part.

Ambassador Gill also opened last year's weekend which celebrates the renowned German writer and Nobel prizewinner for literature, Heinrich Böll who had a long association with Achill. A native of Cologne, Germany, Böll 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 German writer and each year they host the Annual Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend.

Among the keynote speakers at the opening of the memorial weekend will be historian and literary scholar Maria Birger, who is a Senior Programme Officer with the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

In her presentation entitled "Heinrich Böll`s Search for 'a Liveable Language in a Liveable Country'”, Birger explores Böll's writings after returning home after serving as a soldier in the German Wehrmacht during World War II.

German historian and literary scholar Maria Birger will speak at Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend

The talk will focus on the connection between Heinrich Böll’s concept of the “The Aesthetics of Humanity” and his travels to Soviet Russia and his support of dissidents there.

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Irish author, Hugo Hamilton, who is a regular attendee of the memorial weekend, will also give a reading from his latest novel 'Conversation with the Sea', which has been described by critics as 'as compulsive as it is lyrical - deeply moving, utterly readable, bursting with life'.

On Saturday morning, the participants will move outdoors with a guided nature walk at Keem Bay with Micheál Ó Briain while in the afternoon, Galway-born author, Rita Higgins will give a workshop at the Anne Shannon Memorial Writers Seminar in An Clochan, Keel.

In St Thomas' Hall at 2pm on Saturday evening, a presentation on German artist, Joseph Beuys will be given by Timothy Emlyn Jones and Nigel Rolfe.

Achill artist, Margo McNulty will launch her new book and recent work called 'from the earth' in St Thomas' Hall at 5pm with Rene Böll, son of Heinrich Böll the guest speaker.

The weekend will also include a collection of readings from authors and poets including Iggy McGovern, John F Deane, Michelle Walshe and Timothy Emlyn Jones while the Achill Writers Group will also give readings of their work.

Arechologists Eoin Halpin and Michael Gibbons will give a guided tour on the 'Archaeology, History and Folklore of Kildavnet' on Sunday morning with a recently rediscovered Bronze Age stone alignment among the sites to be visited.

Comedian David O'Doherty will bring some laughter to the weekend on Sunday evening in Ted's Bar in Cashel while musicians John Butler and Diarmuid Gielty will also be performing over the weekend.

For more information on the Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend visit www.heinrichboellcottage.com.