What is turning out to be one of Ireland's premier literary festivals gets underway on Wednesday when Aspects: A Celebration of Irish Writing opens in the seaside town of Bangor, Co Down. This is the sixth year of the festival and features a tempting and varied range of writing talent that includes Seamus Heaney, Brian Keenan, Dermot Healy and Medbh McGuckian. Donegal poet Matthew Sweeney also makes a visit: the title of his new collection of poetry Bridal Suite was inspired by his last visit to Aspects in 1994, when he found himself staying in a bridal suite (sans bride) in The Sands Hotel: "He found himself sitting alone in the bridal suite on a Friday afternoon, so he wrote a quirky poem and read it that night. Now it's the title of his new book," says Aspects director, Kenneth Irvine, with some pride in Bangor's ability to fire the poet's muse. Sweeney will launch Bridal Suite at 9 p.m. on Friday in a reading with fellow poet, Michael Davitt. All the readings are held in the Bangor Heritage Centre, the attractively renovated 19th-century home of Lord Bangor. The single exception is Seamus Heaney's reading, at 4.15 p.m. on Sunday (September 28th), which takes place in the North Down Institute, situated in the same park as the Heritage Centre. Aspects kicks off with a talk by novelist and broadcaster, Frank Delaney at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday, followed at 9.15 p.m. by a reading by poets Robert Greacen and Theo Dorgan. Greacen is from Derry and has just published a new collection, Protestant Without A Horse.
ON Thursday at 7.30 p.m., novelists Patricia Scanlan and Mary McCarthy lead a discussion on the genre of popular fiction. At 9 p.m. investigative writers Chris Moore and Mike Milotte (who is from Bangor) will speak about their craft. On Friday at 7.30 p.m. Brian Keenan will read from his novel-in-progress on Carolan, accompanied by Carolan's harp music. Later singer Kieran Goss will talk about the art of song-writing.
Next Saturday, Young Aspects features children's writers Tom McCaughren, Linda Neilands and Siobhan Parkinson. At 7 p.m. there is a masterclass with Matthew Sweeney, and for those who would rather listen than learn, there is the option of Dermot Healy and Fintan Vallely performing their celebrated collaboration of words and music, The Humours of Ballyconnell at 7.30 p.m. Later, poets Medbh McGuckian and Rita Ann Higgins take the floor.