Island Voices 2021

ISLAND VOICES 2021
‘We are the stories we tell ourselves’
Storytelling within the English, Irish and Ulster-Scots traditions
23
SEPT
25
NOV
2021
www.derrystrabane.com/islandvoices
Image Credit: nils-leonhardt@unsplash

THE STORY OF US
THE
STORY
OF US
‘We are the stories
we tell ourselves’
Storytelling is
the oldest of
all the arts.
We’ve been telling stories for centuries, long
before we could write them down. The desire
to tell and hear stories is deeply-rooted in our
human nature. Stories help us make sense of
the world around us; they allow us to reflect on
the past, document the present and imagine the
future. They bring us closer to the minds and
lives of others and remind us that we are not
alone.
This year’s programme reflects on the theme of
storytelling in its broadest sense including; the
literary legacy of Seamus Heaney; the stories
of the Great Irish Famine which endure in folk
memory; and a personal account of the Ulster-
Scots language and its power to evoke a unique
sense of home and place.
Derry City and Strabane District Council presents
Island Voices 2021 - a series of online talks
exploring storytelling within the English, Irish and
Ulster-Scots traditions.
This year all of our talks will be online.
ISLAND VOICES 2021
‘We are the stories we tell ourselves’
Storytelling within the English, Irish and Ulster-Scots traditions
23
SEPT
25
NOV
2021
Storytelling within the English, Irish
and Ulster-Scots traditions
Storytelling is at the heart of the Irish and Ulster-
Scots traditions. We fondly refer to ourselves
as an island of storytellers. We have filled the
imaginations of the world with fairytales, talltales,
folklore, legends and myths and our
literature and song hold a special place in the
hearts of people here and across the world.
Join us at
www.derrystrabane.com/islandvoices
at 1pm on the date of each talk.
All talks will also be available to play
again after this time.
www.derrystrabane.com/islandvoices
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Image Credit: patrick-hendry@unsplash

THE STORY OF US
ISLAND VOICES 2021
Heaney himself described
in Stepping Stones a
‘hidden Scotland at the back my ear’
Seamus
Heaney:
Ulster
Storyteller
Dr Shea Atchison
Thursday
23 September / 1pm,
Online
derrystrabane.com/islandvoices
25
NOV
2021
Seamus Heaney was a master storyteller. His
twelve major volumes of poetry chart his
pilgrim’s progress, an unfolding record of
spiritual enlightenment that is informed by a
wide range of Eastern and Western traditions of
metaphysics, mysticism and theology.
In this visionary synthesis, Heaney’s storyline
is also a rich linguistic trialogue between
English, Irish and Ulster-Scots. Most readers, of
course, will know that he identified as an Irish
poet writing in English. That part of the story
has been well documented. Yet our common
understanding of it was complicated in 2008,
which is when Heaney was included in Frank
Ferguson’s seminal Ulster-Scots Writing: An
Anthology. In the same year, moreover, Heaney
himself described in Stepping Stones a ‘hidden
Scotland at the back my ear’ and an ‘Ulsterese
register’ to which some of his late work was
still tuned. In this talk the speaker will consider
Heaney’s use of ‘the hamely tongue’ and its
attendant themes in the narrative of his life
and society, including key self-portraits such as
‘Fosterling’ from his 1991 collection
Seeing Things.
Dr Shea Atchison was born in Magherafelt, County
Derry, in 1991. He studied English at Ulster University,
Coleraine, where, in 2020, he earned his doctorate
for his thesis entitled ‘Seamus Heaney and the
Aesthetics of Enlightenment’. His recent article,
‘“O My Pablo of Earthlife!”: Heaney’s Neruda
and the Reality of the World’, was published by
Studi Irlandesi. Dr Atchison is currently writing
his first book under the working title Heaney’s
Enlightenment, and he is also involved in literary
projects with Dr Frank Ferguson (Ulster University),
including work on Heaney and the Ulster-Scots
tradition. This year, Dr Atchison also joined the
document design team of Allen & Overy LLP. He
currently lives in Sion Mills, County Tyrone, with his
partner, Rebecca.
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Image Credit: alex-azabache@unsplash

THE STORY OF US
ISLAND VOICES 2021
Learnin’ frae
th’lan
Identity and
creative writing
in Ulster Scots
Anne McMaster
Thursday
21 October / 1pm
Online
derrystrabane.com/islandvoices
This is a journey of reclamation. Many years
ago, I left behind an ebulliently expressive,
muscular, earthy language to work in the worlds
of theatre and academia. I grew up on a small
farm outside Garvagh, worked the land with my
father and then, for a period, ran the home farm.
Conversations with neighbouring farmers of all
backgrounds had always dipped in and out of
Ulster-Scots as naturally as leaves turning in a
breeze. This was a living language - I used it to
share stories, to speak of my work on the land,
and to take the measure of my days. Ulster-Scots
linked me intimately to my home, to my family
and to my life on the farm. Now, decades later
as a poet, I’ve returned to this richly expressive
language which forms my identity, shapes my
memories of living and working on the land
and, most importantly, gives me an intimate
perspective of the natural world.
My return to Ulster-Scots has been
a coming home.
These wirds belang tae me - natèral,
fu o’licht, life an’ sang. (Anne McMaster).
Anne McMaster is a poet, professional playwright,
and voice actor. A former lecturer in both
Performing Arts and English Literature in Northern
Ireland and California, she now specialises in
designing and/or facilitating projects focusing
on dementia and creativity, theatre education
and community development/cross-community
projects in addition to her work as a creative
writing mentor. She’s adapted novels for the stage
and has written/directed over 30 original plays.
She designed bespoke theatre productions and
projects for schools and theatres through NI, was
the director/facilitator of NI’s first deaf & deaf/
blind theatre company and is the creative director
of Hydra Theatre Company. Her poetry has been
published both nationally and internationally and,
during lockdown, she’s taken part in literary events
and spoken word festivals in Ireland, the UK, and
the US. Walking Off the Land, her debut poetry
collection focusing on life on a small Ulster farm, was
published in June 2021 by Hedgehog Poetry Press.
Saisons - her first poetry collection in Ulster-Scots -
will be published in November 2021 and Unexpected
Item in the Bagging Area in Spring 2022.
My return to Ulster-Scots
has been a coming home.
These wirds belang tae me -
natèral, fu o’licht, life an’ sang.
(Anne McMaster)
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Image Credit: nils-leonhardt@unsplash

THE STORY OF US
ISLAND VOICES 2021
These descriptions from ordinary people
of what happened in their locality give us
a grass-roots level account of the events,
often striking in their stark simplicity.
Oral Lore:
Humanising
the History
of the Famine
Cathal Póirtéir
Thursday
25 November / 1pm
Online
derrystrabane.com/islandvoices
Folklore and oral history offer us an opportunity
to access a valuable perspective on historical
events, including the Great Famine of the 1840s
in Ireland. The Irish Folklore Commission made
a sustained effort 100 years after the famine to
collect local accounts of what happened during
that period all over Ireland and the National
Folklore Archive holds thousands of accounts
of the period. These descriptions from ordinary
people of what happened in their locality give us
a grass-roots level account of the events, often
striking in their stark simplicity. These voices
help remind us that this was a human tragedy
which left its mark on local communities for
generations afterwards. The speaker will present
excerpts from these accounts and reflect on the
importance of oral history and what it can add
to our understanding of the events and legacy of
the Great Famine.
Cathal Póirtéir is a writer and broadcaster. He has
written and edited a number of books on the Great
Famine including two compendia of the folklore
material: Famine Echoes, with material collected
in English and Glórtha ón Ghorta, drawing on the
lore collected in the Irish language. He was also
contributing editor of the best-selling The Great Irish
Famine - Thomas Davis Lectures and has lectured
on the folklore of the famine in Ireland and abroad.
He worked as a radio producer and presenter in
RTÉ and is now writing a book on landlord tenant
relations in Gaoth Dobhair in the nineteenth century
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THE STORY OF US
THE
STORY
OF US
‘We are the stories
we tell ourselves’
Storytelling within the English, Irish
and Ulster-Scots traditions
Island Voices is an annual lecture series which
seeks to explore the languages, cultures and
heritages of these islands with a particular
emphasis on the Irish and Ulster-Scots traditions.
The series is funded by Derry City and Strabane
District Council’s Good
Relations Programme.
This information is available upon request in a
number of formats including large print, Braille,
PDF, audio formats (CD, MP3, DAISY) and
minority languages.
For further information on alternative formats
please contact Tel 028 71 253253
text phone: 028 7137 664
Further information on Irish and Ulster-Scots
available at:
www.derrystrabane.com/gaeilge
www.derrystrabane.com/ulsterscots
Please note: Details of this event were correct at
the time of publishing however please be aware
that details may change. For the most up to date
information please check our website: www.
derrystrabane.com/islandvoices
ISLAND
VOICES
2021
www.derrystrabane.com/islandvoices