Howard Marks at CQAF

Sometimes we make mistakes. I thought Ardal O’Hanlon would be a better evening’s entertainment than Howard Marks at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival last night and booked my ticket accordingly. However, the way things worked out, I called in to see the first half hour of the self-appointed Mr. Nice, just to see the cut …

West Ocean String Quartet

‘Twas fitting that the West Ocean String Quartet should play at St. George’s Church in Belfast. Between 1817 and 1821, Edward Bunting, the man who recorded the music played at the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival (thereby saving a huge part of the national repertoire for posterity), was organist in this very church. One of the stained glass …

We are children of the stars

We are stardust, we are golden … Little did I think the line from the Joni Mitchell song about Woodstock could be taken literally! We humans actually are all made up of stars. I’d heard the theory before, a TED lecture probably, but watching the wonderful first programme in the Beautiful Minds series on BBC …

Agallamh le Edna O’Brien

Foilsíodh an t-alt seo i bhFoinse i mí na Samhna, 2007. Tamall ó shin, scríobh Anne Enright léirmheas ar an leabhar is déanaí ó Edna O’Brien, The Light of Evening. Scríobh Enright  gurbh í Edna O’Brien an chéad bhean Éireannach riamh a raibh gnéas aici – roimhe sin, ní raibh ag mná na hÉireann ach páistí. Inniu is doiligh …

The Absence of Women

Má bhaineann dráma deora asat, caithfidh go ndeachaigh sé i bhfeidhm go mór ort. Bunús an lucht éisteachta a bhí i láthair ag premiere domhanda dráma úir Owen McCafferty, The Absence of Women, ag Halla Elmwood i mBéal Feirste, bhí siad ag cuimilt a súl agus iad ag aithint rud eigin iontu féin a léirigh …