Weekend to honour Co Laois storyteller

The second annual John Keegan weekend will be held in Portlaoise next month, building on the success of last year's inaugural…

The second annual John Keegan weekend will be held in Portlaoise next month, building on the success of last year's inaugural event. The weekend has been sponsored by the National Millennium Committee. A writer, poet and storyteller, Keegan was born in Shanahoe, Co Laois, in 1816 and died of cholera 33 years later in Dublin, where he had lived for the previous three years. But it is his origins, and those of Christianity in Laois, which are being marked and remembered with a series of talks, readings and field trips over the weekend of October 13th and 14th.

The opening speech on the Friday evening will be delivered by Dr John Feehan, of UCD, who will examine the relevance of early Christian Ireland's heritage to the present century.

The following day's activities include a visit to some of the many former monastic settlements in this part of the midlands, such as Clonenagh, Aghaboe, Kyle, Coolbanagher, Timahoe and Dunamaise.

The Dunamaise Theatre will then host a lecture by Dr Daithi O hOgain, associate professor of Irish folklore at UCD, on "Saintlore of the Midlands". He will be followed by the popular author Alice Taylor, whose talk is called "Come Walk the Fields".

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The John Keegan memorial lecture, "Though Earth and Sky Looked Dreary - Young Ireland Growing Old", will be delivered on Saturday night by Dr Padraig O Machain, assistant professor at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies.

He will be followed by a performance by the Carlow group of singers and musicians, Liam Lawton and Friends. Further information about the weekend and its events, as well as bookings, is available from the Dunamaise Theatre box-office (0502-63355).