34th Gerard Manley Hopkins Festival gets under way

Sean Bagnall, President, The GMH Society; Poet Desmond Egan; HE Paul Johnston, British Ambassador to Ireland; Minister of State Martin Heydon TD; Fr Joseph Bulman OP, Prior, at the opening of Festival 2022 in Newbridge College Theatre. Photo: GMH Facebook page.

The 34th Gerard Manley Hopkins Festival gets properly under way in Newbridge today with a highlight this evening being the Celebrity Irish Music Concert featuring Frankie Gavin and Noel Hill, writes Brian Byrne.

The Festival, conceived and organised down more than three decades by Newbridge-based poet Des Egan, was officially launched last evening by the British Ambassador to Ireland, HE Paul Johnston.

Today's programme includes a lecture Milton and Hopkins by Mario Murgia of the University of Mexico, from 10am. A Creative Writing Workshop will be held in Newbridge Library, starting at 11.40am. In the afternoon from 3pm there will be a performance of I Think About Your Hands in the Newbridge College Theatre from 3pm.

Key events tomorrow include a Memory Tree celebration in the grounds of Newbridge College following 10.30am Mass. A visit to Emo House, Coolbanagher Church and the Rock of Dunamase in the afternoon will be by bus leaving Newbridge at 2pm.

An Irish Night in Hotel Keadeen will round out the Sunday festivities with poetry readings, music by Conor Mahony and Anthony Johnson, and a book launch, Towards a Credo, by Brian Arkin.

The Festival continues through to Thursday next and includes a parallel Youth Programme. 

Full details of all the week's activities can be found here. 

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