CULTURE Böll weekend honours Henri and Deane

Böll weekend honours Henri and Deane


The ninth annual Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend will take place on Achill from Friday, May 3, to  Sunday, May 6. The weekend will be formally opened on the Friday night at the Cyril Gray Memorial Hall, Dugort, Achill, by Professor Enda McDonagh.
This year, the weekend will focus on the work of American painter Robert Henri, who worked on Achill 100 years ago this year. There will also be a series of readings to celebrate the contribution to literature of Achill-born poet John F Deane, marking his 70th birthday.
A documentary exhibition of reproductions of Henri’s Achill portraits will run at Áras Forbairt Acla, Crumpaun, Keel, over the weekend. American curator Valerie Ann Leeds will also give an illustrated lecture focusing on the work of Robert Henri in Achill entitled ‘Robert Henri: From New York to Corrymore’.
On the Saturday morning, Eoin Halpin will conduct a guided walk around Corrymore House and Lake, and that afternoon, the Heinrich Böll cottage will be open to members of the public. There will be a poetry reading with Padraig J Daly, Fiona Sampson, James Harpur, and Harry Clifton at the Cyril Gray Hall, followed by a creative-writing seminar hosted by poets Eva Bourke and Gerard Smyth.  Visual artist René Böll will also give a lecture on research work on Cillíní on Achill Island.
Tom Mac Namara will give a talk entitled ‘Identifying the sitters: Robert Henri’s portraits of children from Dooagh’, while visual artist Deirdre Walsh will give a talk, ‘The Art Spirit, Robert Henri’, focusing on the influence of Robert Henri as teacher, at Áras Forbairt Acla, Crumpaun Keel.
On Saturday evening, Maurice Harmon will deliver a new lecture ‘Lonesome, between times – The Poetry of John F Deane’, which will be followed by a reading by John F Deane at St Thomas’s Church, Dugort.
On Sunday morning, another guided walk takes place, this one on Inishbiggle Island. Revd Canon Professor Patrick Comerford will also deliver a lecture on the history of Church of Ireland on Inishbiggle. This will be followed by poetry readings from Paddy Bushe, Eva Bourke and Jan Wagner, with an introduction by Mechtild Manus, Director of the Goethe-Institut Irland.
On Sunday afternoon, Patrick Comerford will give a talk, ‘The poet as theologian, the theologian as poet’, exploring a theologian’s engagement with John F Deane. This will be  followed by poetry readings by Maurice Harmon, Harry Clifton, Gerard Smyth, James Harpur, Padraig J Daly and Jacques Rancourt at Bunnacurry School.
The weekend finishes on Monday, May 6, with a guided walk at the Bunnacurry Monastery site, with Poetry readings on site by Jacques Rancourt, John F Deane, Fiona Sampson, Jan Wagner and Paddy Bushe.