This article is from page 12 of the 2012-04-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
CLARE’S connection to one of the most well-known English-language poets of the modern era will be celebrated in a new literary weekend which will take place in Ennistymon next month.
The Dylan Thomas Literary Weekend will mark the Welsh poet’s connection to the Falls Hotel, where his wife Caitlin MacNamara was born and raised. Caitlin was the youngest daughter of Francis MacNamara, who transformed Ennistymon House into the Falls Hotel.
The keynote lecture for the threeday festival will be delivered by Dylan Thomas’ biographer and journalist Andrew Lycett, who will join a host of national and international writers and poets at the festival.
Other contributors include John F. Dean, the founder of Poetry Ireland; the co-founder of the Irish Writers Co-operative Fred Johnson; award- winning Welsh essayist and poet Robert Minhinnick; freelance writer and editor Diarmuid Johnson; poet and painter Jo Slade; fiction writer Claire O’Connor; Crusheen-based folklorist and author Eddie Lenihan; and poet Paul O’Mahony.
The festival, which will run from Friday, May 18, to Sunday, May 20, will feature lectures, poetry recitals, a documentary screening and a history tour outlining Ennistymon’s connections to the Welsh literary legend and other poets, including Brian Merriman.
“This literary weekend focuses not only on Dylan Thomas’ inspiring work, but that of his contemporaries and those who continue to be inspired by him. The festival will enable fans of Dylan Thomas to celebrate his connections with Ennistymon, and to learn more about the man who is known the world over for the passion and love of life he infused in his poetry and prose,” said organiser Joanne Clancy of the Falls Hotel and Spa.
“The Dylan Thomas link with the hotel is that the original Ennistymon House was owned by the MacNamara family. Thomas himself did not live in Ennistymon at any stage but his wife Caitlin did. Her father Francis was the person responsible for transforming the manor house into a commercial property, what we know today as the Falls Hotel and Spa.”
Acclaimed as one of the bestknown and important poets of the twentieth century, Thomas’ most popular works include his play for voices ‘Under Milk Wood’ and his poems ‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion’ and ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’. He died at the age of just 39 in 1953 but his wife Caitlin survived until 1994.
For more information, visit www. fallshotel.ie.