Cúirt International Festival of Literature

The Cúirt International Festival of Literature (pronounced koorch) is an annual literary festival held since 1985 in Galway in Ireland. The Irish language word cúirt means "court".[1][2][3]

The festival consists of a variety of events taking place over the course of a week each April with attendances and contributions from Irish and international writers. It includes readings of poetry and fiction, discussions, poetry slams, book launches, masterclasses, spoken and musical performances, multimedia events, theatre, and visual art.[4] It was originally a poetry festival but its scope has broadened to include other forms.[2][5]

The festival is sponsored by Údarás na Gaeltachta; the National University of Ireland, Galway; the Arts Council; Galway City Council; Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology; Fáilte Ireland; Foras na Gaeilge.[6]

Charlie Byrne's hosts the festival's pop-up bookshop in the Town Hall Theatre each year.[7]

History

The Cúirt Filíochta Idirnáisiúnta na Gaillimhe (Galway's International Poetry Festival) of 1986 was held on 12-15 March. It featured John Cooper Clarke, Ian Crichton Smith, Paul Durcan, Douglas Dunn, Gerald Dawe, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Sorley MacLean, Eavan Boland, founder Fred Johnston, Eva Bourke, Thomas McCarthy, Kathleen O'Driscoll, Rita Ann Higgins, Patrick Deeley, Pat Ingoldsby, and John Hogan.

Cuirt '86 Poster by Tom Taheny

By the 2010s, the festival was starting to feature what would have once been fringe events as a large proportion of its main programme.[2]

However, the 2010 festival (25th anniversary edition) had John Burnside, Charles Simic, Joyce Carol Oates and Gerard Smyth among others.[3] Yet Eyjafjallajökull's eruption proved a disruptor as many participants were stranded on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean.[5]

The 2011 festival was held on 12–17 April.[8]

The 2012 festival was held on 23–29 April.[9] Rosita Boland of The Irish Times described as "a baffling piece of programming" a history discussion in Middle Street's Mechanics Institute during which historians Niall Whelehan, Sonja Tiernan and John Borgonovo presented academic papers to the audience; "the event had no connection with literature or even with the arts in its most general form. The event was more the kind of presentation you'd expect to hear at an academic conference or a history society meeting", though gave approval to the presence at other events of internationally recognisable writers such as John Banville, Lydia Davis, Ruth Padel and Manuel Rivas.[2] Boland, in a separate article for the newspaper, lamented that many "will undoubtedly be applying their craniums with vigour to the nearest wall at the prospect" of a "pop-up collaborative poetry studio" in a pub, "but the Poetry Depot is on the official programme, and it's happening twice".[5]

The 2013 festival was held on 23–28 April.[10] It featured Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley at the same event (in what turned out to be one of Heaney's last appearances a few months before his death), as well as Edna O'Brien.[11]

The 2014 festival was held on 8–13 April.[12]

The 2017 festival commemorated the Hibernophile French writer Michel Déon, who had died at the age of 97 shortly beforehand.[13][14]

In 2018, Sally Rooney, Daniel Woodrell, Bernard MacLaverty, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Declan Kiberd and Forward Prize winners Sinead Morrissey and Daljit Nagra were announced as taking part.[15]

On 30 March 2020, the organisers said that Cúirt—scheduled for between 20 and 25 April—would not proceed "in its physical form" in 2020 due to the incurable virus rampant throughout the country; however, only a small selection of the advertised events (including the Eilís Dillon centenary commemoration) were officially "postponed" and full ticket refunds were offered.[16] On 6 April, Cúirt announced it would be holding the world's first completely digital literary festival between 23 and 25 April, with events to be held at traditional venues such as the Town Hall Theatre, Nun's Island and Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, and broadcast for free through YouTube (though it requested donations to support the writers involved).[17][18][19]

Cúirt New Writing Prize

The Cúirt New Writing Prize is awarded at the festival and the winners receive cash prizes of €500.[20] The winners in 2012 were Kevin O'Shea for poetry and Eamon Kelly for fiction.[21] The winners in 2013 were Caoilinn Hughes for three poems from her collection, Gathering Evidence ("Rational Dress", "Two Roundelets", and "Airbowing in Second Violins"), and Hugo Kelly for his short story, "There It Is".[22] In 2014, the winners were Colm Scully, for poetry, and Philip Connor, for fiction, and each won €500. The Young Cúirt winner was Saffron Lily Gunwhy, who won €100.[23]

References
  1. "Cúirt". Focail.ie. Retrieved: 2012-05-03.
  2. Boland, Rosita (1 May 2012). "Does Cúirt need to go back to the books?". The Irish Times.
  3. Siggins, Lorna (24 March 2020). "'Banquet of reading' planned for Cúirt festival's 25th year". The Irish Times.
  4. Siggins, Lorna (14 March 2012). "Cúirt festival line-up set for April". The Irish Times.
  5. "Cúirting with words and poetry". The Irish Times. 25 April 2012.
  6. "Funding Partners" Archived 2012-09-07 at Archive.today. Cúirt. Retrieved: 2012-05-03.
  7. "About Charlie Byrne's"
  8. "Cúirt International Festival of Literature 2012 Brochure" (PDF). Cúirt. Retrieved: 2012-05-03.
  9. "Cúirt International Festival of Literature 2012 Programme" (PDF). Cúirt. Retrieved: 2012-05-03.
  10. Official website home page Retrieved: 2013-03-16.
  11. Andrews, Kernan (28 February 2013). "Heaney and O'Brien head impressive list as Cuirt 2013 promises to be best ever". Galway Advertiser.
  12. Cúirt Programme Archived 2014-04-14 at the Wayback Machine Cúirt, 2014. Retrieved: 2014-04-13.
  13. Andrews, Kernan (13 April 2017). "The French connection - Cúirt to celebrate Michel Déon: A seminar, book launch, and film screening to honour work of major Gallic writer". Galway Advertiser.
  14. "French writer Michel Déon dies in Galway, aged 97". The Irish Times. 28 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  15. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/sally-rooney-daniel-woodrell-and-bernard-maclaverty-headline-c%C3%BAirt-festival-1.3416974
  16. "Update: Cúirt International Festival of Literature 2020". Cúirt International Festival of Literature. 30 March 2020.
  17. "A Digital Literature Festival". Cúirt International Festival of Literature. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  18. Kelly, Brian (8 April 2020). "Cúirt Literature Festival is going digital this year". Galway Daily. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  19. "Cúirt to host world's first ever digital literary festival". RTÉ Culture. 9 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  20. "Cúirt New Writing Prize Winners" Archived 2012-07-23 at Archive.today. Cúirt. Retrieved: 2012-05-03.
  21. Cúirt New Writing Prize winners announced Galway Advertiser, 2012-04-05.
  22. Cúirt New Writing Prize Winners 2013 Cúirt. Retrieved: 2013-05-18.
  23. New Writers Prize 2014 Archived 2014-04-13 at Archive.today Cúirt, 2014. Retrieved: 2014-04-13.
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