Tuesday 3 June 2008

Iniscealtra Afterword



There are not many festivals where the artists’ accommodation is a boat, but so it was at the Iniscealtra Festival in Mountshannon. Our boat was compact – like a caravan without the space. (Complete with caravan smell…) But it was lovely to be on the water, watching the greedy swans begging from cruiser to cruiser. It all would’ve been fab except for the rowdy neighbours (several boat-loads of them) who sang and caroused until 5am each night.

But, my workshop went off well, in the school on the first day and in one of the festival organiser’s beautiful homes on the Sunday. This house is amazing, perched on a hill, with a huge abundant garden – from which we ate salads for lunch – and a view over Lough Derg.

There was music, a fair and art exhibitions, and I did a poetry reading in the gallery space in The Snug on Saturday afternoon. See mini review from Colm Liddy here on The Stinging Fly’s Café forum.

All in all, a wonderful and vast festival, in a very welcoming town in County Clare. I recommend it for next year, people.

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