Channel 4 International News Editor to speak at Mayo literary event

Channel 4 News International Editor, Lindsey Hilsum, who has covered conflicts around the world, will be one of the main speakers at this year's Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend on Achill Island.

The Annual Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend takes place on Achill Island from May 3 to 5 with an array of international panel of writers and speakers lined up to take part over the May Bank Holiday Weekend.

One of the highlights of the weekend will be a talk by Lindsey Hilsum, the International Editor with Channel 4 News entitled 'The Bulwark of Freedom: Reporting today's wars'.

Lindsey Hilsum has covered the major conflicts including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2011, she reported the uprisings in Egypt and Bahrain, as well as Libya. She has also reported extensively from Iran and Zimbabwe, and was Channel 4 News China Correspondent from 2006 to 2008.

During the 2004 US assault on Falluja in Iraq, she was embedded with a frontline marine unit, and in 1994, she was the only English-speaking foreign correspondent in Rwanda when the genocide began. Before becoming a journalist, she was an aid worker, first in Latin America and then in Africa.

The event opens on Friday, May 3 at St Thomas' Hall, Dugort, with guest speaker Mr Christian Resch, Deputy Head of Mission of German Embassy who will also present the School Essays prizes to students from Coláiste Pobail Acla.

Former Minister for the Environment and Green Party Leader, John Gormley will also be among the speakers over the weekend along with poet Ann Walsh Donnelly.

The TG4 film Caillte san Úcráin (Lost in Ukraine) which investigates the story of Achill Island native, Finbar Cafferkey, who died on the frontline in Ukraine in 2023 will also be shown.

On Saturday evening, May 4 at St Thomas’s Church Durgot – writers from Russia, Ukraine and Germany will read from recent works and this will be chaired by Dr Gisela Holfter of the University of Limerick.

There will also be a guided tour of the Valley and Dooniver by Micheál Ó Briain who is passionate about nature and its conservation in Ireland while Eoin Halpin will give a guided walk of 'Carrowgarve, the other deserted village' located close to the Atlantic Drive near Ashleam.

More information on the Heinrich Boll Memorial Weekend is available on the website http://heinrichboellcottage.com.