6th November 2006

Sunderland to host largest Irish festival

England’s largest independent Irish conference gets underway this weekend in Sunderland. (Friday, November 10 to Sunday 12)

Experts, VIPs and visitors from around the world will be at the event - the fourth time it will have been held in the city – to celebrate the richness of the Emerald Isle’s writings, history and culture.

The event, which is hosted by the University of Sunderland, includes plays, exhibitions, poetry, readings, lectures and an end of event ceilidh.

Eminent academics from Ireland, America, Canada, Australia, China and Britain will be among those taking part, at the university’s riverside campus at St Peter’s.

A major coup for event organisers this year has been securing a popular exhibition by Irish dramatist, novelist and poet, Samuel Beckett, which will run throughout the weekend. They have also attracted renowned poet Catherine Byron and Oxford academic and Times literary critic Bernard O’Donoghue.

The North-East, and Sunderland in particular, is an obvious choice for such a high-profile event, given the Irish are the largest ethnic minority in the region and the Irish connections in Sunderland with Niall Quinn and Roy Keane.

The popularity and renown of the festival, entitled Ireland: Renaissance, Revolution and Regeneration, has led to it being sponsored this year by Culture Ireland. The conference also attracts Derek Hannon, who is First Minister at the Irish Embassy in London.

Festival organiser Dr Alison O’Malley-Younger said: “This is the largest Irish studies conference and festival to take place in England and it promises so much, not only because we have some of the leading names in Irish culture but because it is open to the public.

“The support we’ve had from within and outside the university, especially Culture Ireland, has been excellent.

“University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Fidler, is delighted to welcome everyone to this wonderful event, which will be warmly hosted by the university and the city. The university has long had links with Ireland both academically and culturally and these are links we intend to strengthen.

“There are a lot of Irish people in the North-East. People forget that the Irish are the largest ethnic minority in the region. There’s plenty for people to see and they are welcome to go to anything and everything.”

The conference takes place at different venues at the University of Sunderland. For more information contact Sue Cottham 0191 515 3621.

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