Hugely entertaining night of writing and song
A variety of presentations entertained hugely the attendance at last night's Open Mic evening hosted in Woodbine Books for Irish Book Week, writes Brian Byrne. Humour, reflection, and seasonally spooky pieces were delivered along with some thoughtful songs.
After a welcome by Woodbine's Dawn Behan who thanked Ilona Blunden for her mentoring of the Brigid 1500 Creative Writing Group which underpinned the evening, John Martin (above) kicked things off with one of his typically offbeat short stories, about a fictional (he emphasised in advance) car theft. Then it was the turn of Orla Ni Sheaghdha who writes wickedly funny reflections on everyday things — specifically last night on how to take a shower, and baking a cake.
For Mary Orford, always a fan of the Schools Folklore Collection, a piece from that written by Kilcullen's Gerry Kelly in 1938 prompted her story of 'The Banshee of Gormanstown' which transported all of us listening into a shivery, scary space. After that, two songs by Athy-based singer-songwriter Brian Mulhall — 'Lost Treasure' and 'Shadow Love' — brought us back into the world of the living with some relief.
Geraldine Gahan's recollection of a visit to a down-at-heel St Petersburg ("before Putin spent millions refurbishing his native city"), evoked a strong sense of place as she sat in the Idiot Cafe, listening to Ella Fitzgerald on the radio and unashamedly people-watching. She was followed by Jo Doyle's heartfelt description of a woman's grief, rooted in part in the sorrow she had felt herself in the 1970s on the death of her grandmother.
The final piece came from Ilona Blunden, who read her stylish short story 'Wonderland', broadcast in 2011 on RTE Radio 1 as a shortlisted entry in the Francis MacManus Short Story season.
A really diverse and polished evening of writing and song proved once again the high quality of such talent in the Kilcullen area. A promise was made to do it again.
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