Tuesday, 14 September
Remembering Patrick Kavanagh
At 8.00 p.m. in Buswell’s Hotel, Dublin
Monaghan Association – Dublin – Celebrating Patrick Kavanagh
Speakers - Eddie Holt – Dublin City University and Irish Times
Derek Hand – St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra
Peter McDonnell – Monaghan Association Dublin.

October 2004 – Two month Centenary Festival Begins

Patrick Kavanagh Centenary Exhibition – 1 October 2004
Launch of the Patrick Kavanagh Centenary Exhibition running for the month of October at the Dublin Writers Museum, Parnell Square, Dublin 1, at 5.30 p.m. on Friday, 1 October 2004.

5 October – Annual Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Competition - Launch of new anthology, Dancing with Kitty Stobling, featuring work by all 32 previous winners of the Patrick Kavanagh Award. Invitation only.

Official Centenary Commemoration – 21 October 2004
Official Centenary Commemoration of Patrick Kavanagh’s Birth Date –
City Hall, Dublin, 13.00-14.30 hrs on Thursday, 21 October. Featuring well-known actors and musicians celebrating Kavanagh. All welcome.

Commemorative Evening – 21 October
Special Kavanagh Commemorative Evening – National Concert Hall, Thursday, 21 October 2004 – organised by Noel O’Grady.

Celebrating Kavanagh’s Birth – 23 October
Celebrating Kavanagh’s Birth - 100 Years Ago – special event in Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.

Writers of Ireland Reading – Sunday, 24 October
Gate Theatre – organized by the Trustees of Catherine Kavanagh Estate.

International Conference on Patrick Kavanagh – 29-30 October 2004
First International Conference on Patrick Kavanagh at Boston College –
Boston College, MA, USA. Keynote address by Dr. Seamus Heaney.

Royal Irish Academy Centenary Event – Date TBC

The Green Fool – Date TBC
Stage adaptation to be performed by Upstate Theatre Company, Drogheda. It will be performed in the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, in October and subsequently in Drogheda. It will then tour around Ireland.

November 2004

Annual Patrick Kavanagh Weekend, 26-28 November
Keynote address by Dr. Seamus Heaney, entitled ‘Patrick Kavanagh’s Essential Gesture’ at 8.00 p.m. on Friday, 26 November, Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskeen, Co Monaghan. Visit www.patrickkavanaghcountry.com for more information.

Contact: Emily Cullen , Artistic Director – Patrick Kavanagh Centenary Celebrations,
Tel/Fax: (042) 937 8560, Email: infoatpkc@eircom.net

The comprehensive and innovative programme is enhanced by an exciting evening entertainment schedule, which will bring a mystical element and truly Irish flavour to the event.

The stunning Festival line-up for this year is full of big hitters – from the great Mingus Big Band from New York City to the legendary Hammond organist, Jimmy Smith; from the stunning US composer/performer Michael Brecker to the powerful groove of Detroit’s Amp Fiddler.

The beat goes on – with performances by many world famous stars including Terence Blanchard, Bobby Watson, Babatunde Lea, Joe Locke, Tommy Smith, Ellen Demos, Charlie Mariano, Richard Galliano, Bobby Wellins, Daryl Sherman, Lonnie Plaxico, the top Australian jazzman, Bernie McGann, and the great Masters of the Groove band from Philadelphia.

In tune with the ever changing musical direction of the Festival, some of the hippest, coolest young stars of the jazz world will also be in Cork including top US swing vocalist Jane Monheit, Avishai Cohen, Tim Garland, Gilad Atzmon, George Colligan, Mark Feldman, Dave Binney, Mario Laginha and Esther Miller, South Africa’s Queen of Song.

As ever, the famous Guinness Festival Club at the Gresham Metropole Hotel is right at the heart of the music action with five jazz stages giving fans a choice of world class talent, day and night. Among the many big names appearing there will be the Kinda Dixie band from Las Vegas, The Jive Aces and King Pleasure and The Biscuit Boys groups from England, Ben Waters Band, The Swingin’ Lovers band from Paris and George Kilby Jr’s band from New York.

To cater for the huge expansion in audiences, 2004 sees the doubling of jazz performances in two of the newer venues to the Festival roster - the intimate Granary Theatre on The Mardyke, which will feature contemporary, avant garde jazz sounds and the 240 seater ICD/Firkin Crane Theatre in Shandon, Cork’s traditional centre of culture.

In another major move, the famous Guinness Trail has been expanded and will offer rhythm and blues and roots music, mostly free of charge, in over 70 pubs and clubs throughout the city.

The 2004 Guinness Jazz Festival will utilise 14 major stages, 120 bands and over 1,000 musicians from 32 countries.

Web: www.corkjazzfestival.com  Tel: (021) 427 8979, Email: corkjazz@corkcity.ie
Contact: Deirdre Smith, Director / Administrator, Tel: (01) 637 5221.

The festival which is based in the Donegal Gaeltacht places special emphasis on the Irish language and culture. Festival Host - Cathal Ó Searcaigh.
Ars Poetica by Czeslaw Milosz
"The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are no keys in the door, and invisible guests come in and out at will"
Web: www.samhainpoetry.com

The 2003 Dublin Marathon had 8,000 plus entrants from over 50 countries and every county in Ireland, this year Marathon organisers are hoping to break the 10,000 mark. The marathon attracts 5,000 plus overseas participants and a further 2,000 supporters to Dublin annually, generating in the region of €10 million for the city's economy over the October Bank Holiday weekend.

Cork is the European Capital of Culture in 2005. All the stops will be pulled out for 2005 when the city becomes Art Capital, Dance Capital and Song Capital. The programme will include the best in architecture, crafts, dance, design, film, food, literature, music, sport, theatre and visual arts. Artists, musicians and writers from far and wide will visit and stay in Cork.

Every month, every week, every day of 2005, Cork will present the work of important Irish arts practitioners as well as the work of leading international companies and individuals. Out of doors city centre and suburban civic spaces will form an open stage for a significant part of the Cork 2005 programme.
Theatre companies from across Europe will present a season of major outdoor theatre specially written for Cork.

An important aspect of the twelve month celebration will be European Enlargement and Literature when Cork will host the cultures of the EU accession states. The Vision Centre will become a sitting room for the new Europe where audiences can experience and engage with the work of the ten accession states as they exhibit their music, cuisine, visual art, performance or film, for a month each. The city, too, will become the publishing house of Europe, with thirteen writers translating thirteen writers of the New Europe – the Cork 2005 Translation Series is one of the most ambitious literary tasks ever undertaken by a Cultural Capital.

For programme information visit www.cork2005.ie, Email: info@cork2005.ie
For visitor information visit www.corkkerry.ie

It will open on Friday evening with a lecture by Seamus McGabhann, NUI Maynooth, on ‘O’Carolan and The Big Houses – Their Culture, Fate and Legacy.’ This will be followed by an arts and crafts exhibition. On Saturday morning there will be harp and instrumental workshops followed by harp competitions at 3.30 p.m. The instrumental workshops will be fiddle, tin whistle, button accordion and sean nós dancing. The Festival will be officially opened by Mr Jim Teevan, President – Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann.

A traditional concert will commence at 8.30 p.m. in Memory of the late Tony Finnegan. The line up will include Seamus MacMathuna, The Meath Harp Ensemble, Ballyroan Half Set, Young Dublin Group, Martin Donohue and Friends, The Táin Ceilí Band, Nollaig Ní Laoire, Bernard Tiernan, ‘Throw the Lady’ with Kilkenny Set Dancers, Antoin McGahann and guests, dancers - Aoife Fagan and Joanne Phillips.

On Sunday there will be a traditional Mass at 11.00 a.m. followed by a wreath laying ceremony at the O’Carolan Monument. A Ceilí will follow from 3.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. From 6.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Nobber, there will be ‘An Evening of O’Carolan’ presented by Art Edelstein, Vermont, USA, historian, journalist and author of ‘Fair Melody’. He will be joined by the Meath Harp Ensemble.

Contact: Ann Finnegan,
Altamush, Kilmainhamwood, Kells, Co Meath,
Tel: (046) 905 2115, Fax: (046) 905 2376,
Website: www.carolanonline.com
Email: carolanonline@oceanfree.net

The Ninth World Harp Congress will take place in Dublin in July 2005. The event is expected to attract over 1,200 delegates to Dublin and as the harp is the national symbol of Ireland, the capital is a very appropriate setting for it.
The majority of concerts and workshops will take place in UCD, Dublin 4 and in the National Concert Hall.