"Creative Journey" Reflections.

Some reflections on the creative journey by the Irish team for Italio-Irish Festival  on Italian literary blog  in both English and Italian.

Press Release for Italio-Ireland Festival

Under the patronage of the Embassy of Ireland to Italy, we are proud to announce the second edition of

Italo-Irish Literature Exchange - Festival italo-irlandese with Catherine Dunne e John Lynch,  and the contribution of Mimmo Paladino
Nogarole Rocca - Verona, 3-6 maggio 2012

Italy and Ireland share a common catholic background. Moreover, their agricultural tradition turned
suddenly – yet in different historical moments and with different intensity – into an unexpected boost in
industrial, financial and urban development. In both countries, family plays a crucial role, more as an actual
institution than a mere small social community.

The stories of the two countries, though, have been artistically told in dramatically different ways.
The very first idea of a putting together people from both the two “cousin” countries sprang out of the blue,
as an unpredictable outcome of a creative writing course held by Catherine Dunne at the Irish Writers’
Centre in Dublin. One of the Italian promoters and organisers, Federica Sgaggio, deeply fond of Irish
literature and music, enjoyed Dunne’s lectures and conversations, and began to spread among her friends –
who were writers like her, or otherwise “into words” – the suggestions she got from the great Irish Author.
Why don’t provide other friends – journalists, actors, editors, or mere devotees of reading – with the chance
to improve their knowledge of Irish culture, books, authors, places, arts and history, then?
That was it. Thanks to commitment and passion, the Italo-Irish Literature Exchange first edition was born,
organised with the Irish Writers’ Centre and supported by the Italian Institute of Culture, Dublin.
It took place in Dublin, Sept. 2011.
‘It was a huge success,’ says Catherine Dunne. ‘We met people who, like us, were willing to share their
love for writing and reading. At the same time, the initiative raised Italy’s profile in Ireland, just like this
second edition will surely enhance Ireland’s image in Italy.’

Now it’s our turn: «ònoma» association and IWC and Culture Ireland , with the contribution of Il Circolo dei Lettori di Verona, and ScuolAleph, has organised the second edition of the initiative (http://italireland.net), which is going to take place from 3rd to 6th May in Nogarole Rocca (Verona) and Verona.

We are proud to welcome and host – along with Catherine Dunne, whose 8 novels are published in Italy by
Guanda – the actor and novelist John Lynch, from Northern Ireland (who was in In the Name of the Father,
Sliding Doors, Cal, Best...); the writer, critic, journalist and editor Anthony Glavin (who edited Nuala
O’Faolain New York Times No. 1 best-seller Are You Somebody?, published in Italy by Guanda); the two
acclaimed poets Niamh MacAlister (emerging poet for the 2010 Poetry Ireland Introduction Series) and
Celia de Fréine (a multi-awarded author who writes in Irish and English); the writer June Caldwell (winner
of the Irish Blog Awards, 2001), and Lia Mills, creative writing teacher and novelist whose work is published by Penguin Books.

“Any story is a million stories“ - “In ogni storia c’è un milione di storie” :: a Workshop
Would you like to write your own piece of fiction, poem, screenplay, or get started with your novel having
Catherine Dunne and John Lynch at your side? Well: this is exactly what you are supposed to do on Friday,
4th May, from 9.30 to 18, during the workshop “Any story is a million stories- In ogni storia c’è un milione
di storie”, our Festival’s central event (Nogarole Rocca, agriturismo Corte Castelletto). In order to make
everyone comfortable in using their own language, we will have the assistance of two professional
interpreters from the Italian Associazione nazionale interpreti di conferenza professionisti (Aiti).
This seminar is all about stories: how they can be dismantled and reassembled into new and unexpected
shapes and fashions; how they can change their own natures and rationales; how they can be manoeuvred
and pushed and pulled and stretched and shrinked and shaked, and torn, and finally rebuilt.
You will meet an actor (Fabio Bussotti, who will tell us the germinal story, from which anyone will extract
their own bits and pieces by asking him questions), a journalist (Luigi Grimaldi, who will drive the story
into a newspaper’s piece); a writer (Federica Sgaggio, searching for raw matter to put together into the short story she’s inclined to tell); an editor (Barbara Gozzi, whose peculiar task will be to discover stories and characters and settings cuddled up between the lines); and two Systemic psychoterapists from Centro
Milanese di Terapia della Famiglia (Massimo Giuliani) and Episteme, the Turin section of the CMTF,
(Teresa Arcelloni). Both of them will be tracking down key-points and keystones, to unravel threads and
enlighten the germinal story under a new spotlight.
Then, you will attend Fabio’s monologue, which is the outcome of the “contaminations” of the initial story.
Any of us will then have room to write their own story. We will afterward edit and collect them in an
anthology along with the stories written by the Irish authors and the teachers from ònoma.
In order to take part in this workshop you must sign in for membership at ònoma (150 eur.) by 30th April.
You may have to pay an additional fee (30 eur.) for later signing.
Since ònoma is a non-profit organisation, any fees is assigned to statutory activities.

Info and bookings: see below.

In the evening, a public reading will be held in Nogarole Rocca, Corte Bassa. (Free entry).
On Saturday morning (5th May) at Santa Maria in Chiavica church, Verona, we will host a meeting between
our Irish guests and a group of Italian professionals working in the publishing sector. In the afternoon, some
Italian emerging writers will join the morning group to animate a public conversation about public cultural
policies in the two countries. We will hear the actual voices of Irish institutional representatives who,
recently recorded in Dublin, tell us how things work in their country. (Free entry)

On Sunday morning (6th May), Catherine Dunne and her Irish colleagues will lead in English a three-hour
workshop of creative writing at ScuolAleph, Verona, via Monte Nero 1.
The third edition of Italo-Irish Literature Exchange is scheduled to take place at the end of September in
Dublin. Its focus will be on literature and music.
ònoma is planning a rich agenda of cultural exchanges, especially aimed at leading people through the knowledge of English language and Irish traditional music; it is also working on creative writing courses and a lot of further projects.

INFO AND CONTACTS:
Italireland - Un ponte tra Italia e Irlanda (http://italireland.net/)
Federica Sgaggio - mob. +39 348 2231106 fsgaggio@gmail.com
 Barbara Gozzi - mob. +39 392 8055828 barbara.gozzi@gmail.com
 Luigi Grimaldi - mob. +39 347 8455175 luibn@tiscali.it
 Paola Francia - mob. +39 347 7201752 paola.francia@redpaper.it

Agriturismo Corte Castelletto
Via IX Maggio, 47 - 37060 Pradelle di Nogarole Rocca (Verona)
Tel. +39 045 7925300/7925294 - Fax. +39 045 7925296
info@cortecastelletto.com; http://www.cortecastelletto.com/


Moving On by Catherine Dunne
Front cover by Mimmo Paladino
Saturday 5th May at 8.30 p.m., at Santa Maria in Chiavica church, Verona, our Irish guests will meet their readers. We will launch Moving On, a luxury bilingual edition of an original short story by Catherine Dunne.
The front cover has been illustrated by the great Italian artist Mimmo Paladino. The book has been printed in limited and numbered edition. Both the artists generously donated their work to support the Italo-Irish Literature Exchange.
In the same evening, The Birkin Tree, a celebrated ensemble of Italian musicians, will play Irish traditional music.

The workshop at the festival

Some notes on the festival taken from Federica Sgaggio's blog.  I can't wait to do this workshop. I've never done anything like it before.

any story is a million stories (4th may)

15 apr 2012

Would you like to write your own piece of fiction, poem, screenplay, or get started with your novel having Catherine Dunne, John Lynch, Anthony Glavin, Lia Mills, Celia de Fréine, Niamh MacAlister and June Caldwell at your side?
Well: this is exactly what you are supposed to do on Friday, 4th May, from 9.30 to 18, during the workshop “Any story is a million stories- In ogni storia c’è un milione di storie”, our Festival’s central event (Nogarole Rocca, agriturismo Corte Castelletto).
In order to make everyone comfortable in using their own language, we will have the assistance of two professional interpreters from the Italian Associazione nazionale interpreti di conferenza professionisti (Aiti).

This seminar is all about stories: how they can be dismantled and reassembled into new and unexpected shapes and fashions; how they can change their own natures and rationales; how they can be manoeuvred and pushed and pulled and stretched and shrinked and shaked, and torn, and finally rebuilt.

You will meet an actor (Fabio Bussotti, who will tell us the germinal story, from which anyone will extract their own bits and pieces by asking him questions).

Then, you will attend Fabio’s monologue, which is the outcome of the “contaminations” of the initial story.

Any of us will then have room to write their own story. We will afterward edit and collect them in an anthology along with the stories written by the Irish authors and the teachers from ònoma.

Info and booking: http://italireland.net

A journalist (Luigi Grimaldi, who will drive the story into a newspaper’s piece).
A writer (myself, searching for raw matter to put together into the short story she’s inclined to tell).

An editor (Barbara Gozzi, whose peculiar task will be to discover stories and characters and settings cuddled up between the lines).

And two Systemic psychoterapists from Centro Milanese di Terapia della Famiglia (Massimo Giuliani) and Episteme, the Turin section of the CMTF, (Teresa Arcelloni). Both of them will be tracking down key-points and keystones, to unravel threads and enlighten the germinal story under a new spotlight.

The Italo-Irish Literary Exchange.

Am very excited and honoured to be a part of this project. Its having it second outing this May in Nogarole Rocca and Verona.  Below are the Irish team and the website address to keep up to date on all the developments!

http://italireland.net/

Irish members

Catherine Dunne is the prize-winning author of eight novels, the most recent of which is ‘Missing Julia’. She has also published one work of non-fiction, a social history of Irish immigrants in London, called ‘An Unconsidered People’. Her work has been optioned for film and TV and has been translated into several languages.

Catherine was awarded the International Prize at the Vigevano Literary Festival in Italy in 2006, and has been shortlisted for, among others, the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize and the Italian Booksellers’ Award.

She is currently working on her ninth novel, entitled ‘the things we know now’.

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http://catherinedunneauthor.com/

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One of Ireland’s foremost literary editors, Anthony Glavin is author of a critically acclaimed novel, Nighthawk Alley, and two short story collections, One for Sorrow and The Draughtsman and The Unicorn. His stories have also appeared in Best Irish Short Stories, Short Story International, The Journal of Irish Literature, Best New Irish Short Stories (Faber, 2007) & New Irish Short Stories (Faber, 2011). Editor of ‘New Irish Writing’ in the Irish Press from 1987-88, he has served as an associate editor for New Island Books since 1994, for whom he commissioned & edited, Nuala O’Faolain’s New York Times No. 1 best-seller Are You Somebody?—The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman. A critic and journalist, he reviews for the Irish Times, and has contributed to RTÉ Radio’s landmark Sunday Miscellany programme for over twenty years.

http://www.irishwriters-online.com/glavin-anthony/

Lia Mills is a novelist who also writes short stories and literary non-fiction. Her novels are Another Alice and Nothing Simple. A memoir of her experience of Mouth Cancer, In Your Face, came out in 2007. Her short stories and essays have appeared in publications such as the Irish Times, the Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly and in many anthologies. She has worked as a creative writing teacher and arts consultant, and on several Public Art Commissions. In a previous existence, she worked for the Women’s Education, Research & Resource Centre in UCD for several years, teaching undergraduate, adult education and postgraduate courses. She is currently completing her third novel. For more information:  www.liamills.com
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Niamh MacAlister completed a Masters Degree in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews, Scotland with the assistance of The Arts Council of Ireland, An Chomhairle Ealaíon. She was selected as a ‘New and Emerging Poet’ for the 2010 Poetry Ireland Introductions Series and also for the Lonely Voice Short Story Series. She has had prose published in 3009 and poetry in The Stinging Fly, Raft, The Moth and Washington Square Review. She will complete a residency in Cill Rialaig in 2012.

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June Caldwell studied Writing & Publishing at Middlesex University, London, before returning to Ireland to do a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism. She spent 14 years writing feature articles and news stories for the UK and Irish press. In 2006 she co-wrote a non-fiction biography: In Love With A Mad Dog (Gill & MacMillan) and the following year she enrolled in an MA in Creative Writing at Queens’ University, Belfast, where she was awarded an Arts Council of Northern Ireland fiction bursary. In 2008, she was commended for a feature article in The Guardian following the death of writer Nuala O’Faolain and in 2011 she won Best Blog Post at the Irish Blog Awards. June likes to write short stories, fiction, and modern poetry and has been shortlisted for a number of creative writing competitions. She us currently working on a novel set in the 1940′s Blitz in Coventry (UK). Her day job is ‘Programme Coordinator’ at the Irish Writers’ Centre in Dublin.

http://junecaldwell.wordpress.com/ 

Celia de Freine is a poet, playwright, screenwriter and librettist who writes in Irish and English. She has published five collections of poetry: Faoi Chabáistí is Ríonacha (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2001), Fiacha Fola (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2004), Scarecrows at Newtownards (Scotus Press, 2005), imram : odyssey (Arlen House, 2010) and Aibítir Aoise : Alphabet of an Age (Arlen House, 2011).
Her poetry has won many awards including the Patrick Kavanagh Award(1994) and Gradam Litríochta Chló Iar-Chonnachta (2004). Her work on Marathon and Rian: Trace have won awards at the New York International Film Festival (2009 and 2010).
Arlen House has also published a collection of her award-winning plays Mná Dána.
Further information: www.celiadefreine.com

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John Lynch is a successful film, television and stage actor. Torn Water is his first novel, Folling out of Heaven has been published in May 2010. He lives in France.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001487/

Easter Cake!

My Easter Simnel Cake! Spiced cherry and chocolate chip sponge with chocolate marzipan.

Residency at The Cill Rialaig Project

Only in the wild wild west would this place be possible. I couldn't believe it when I got the nod to do a short residency at the Cill Rialaig Project. I had been psyching myself up for the month leading up to it and I had high hopes for what I might get done.  But when I was there I couldn't believe what I managed to get done. It reached beyond even my own expectations. And that why this place is so special.

Isolated, quiet, sunshine (although this one isn't a guarantee), the Atlantic, islands, walks into the hills, alarm clocks cleverly disguised as sheep and, and, and ...

Apart from the occasional bleat the quiet was hypnotic. Reveling in it I averaged between 5 and 7 hours of work a day. I got into a routine pretty quickly; breakfast and Saturdays papers (I managed to make them last the whole week-I don't think I've ever read them so thoroughly), work, lunch, walk, work, dinner, work, dvd.

I had even done a spree to end all sprees on Amazon so that i could go down there fully armed and loaded. I only managed to finish one book of poetry. Surely one of my stranger accomplishments.
With the long weekend approaching now I'm going to try and keep up the momentum. It can be such a rare visitor that I want to try and make the most of it while it's here.