What's in KISS?

Lip-Smackin' good: there's just no other way to describe this year's Kerry International Summer School of Living Irish Authors, known to its devotees as KISS Appropriately enough, the theme around which this year's series of lectures, workshops and discussion groups will be based is "Love And Passion In Modern Ireland", and the intriguingly-titled talks by such guest lecturers as Bernard O'Donoghue, Eamon Grennan and Desmond Fennell include "The Irish Fallback Position", "Catholics Make Better Lovers" and "Death and Desire in Irish Writing". And that's just the programme. The brochure for KISS 1997 is an extravaganza in pink, designed around a lips-on-the-staircase motif - as eye-catching, within the Irish summer school tradition, as would be the sight of W.B. Yeats dressed as Carmen, flower clenched between his teeth. So what brought on this fit of literary passion? "I firmly believe that love is a word frowned upon in Irish society, specifically by young Irish males - and in literature as well," says Dr Peter van de Kamp, organiser-in-chief of the KISS school. "How many people still have the guts to write love poetry? It has to be poetry with a serrated edge, you know? Think of any Irish woman poet and you think of the love poetry that she has written - when you think of an Irish male poet, you most certainly don't think of love poetry." The centrepiece of KISS 1997 will be a poetry-writing competition which goes by the delightful name of Kiss On The Spot and which anyone can enter - the more entries, the merrier, says van de Kamp. "People will arrive on the Friday morning and collect a package which contains the topic and the verse-format for the competition poem; on Friday and Saturday there are a series of workshops with famous visiting poets; they hand in their poems by Saturday at 2 p.m. and on Saturday night the winner gets a thousand smackeroos and their poem set to music by the English bard Tony Maude."

According to the brochure this is more than a competition, it is a unique literary happening: but you don't have to be a literary genius to see that it could also be great fun. "KISS is different from other Irish summer schools in that we try the impossible," says van de Kamp. "Bearing in mind that half our audience consists of academics and half of Irish people who come down here to enjoy a holiday, meet new people and have something to talk about, we try to make the school fun and still have a serious academic programme."

But there's a lot more to KISS 1997 than just the poetry competition. The school will be officially opened by John Montague at Siamsa Tire, Tralee at 11 a.m. on Monday, July 28th and runs until Friday, August 8th, with lectures devoted to the work of, among others, John Banville, Seamus Heaney, William Trevor, Eugene McCabe and Derek Mahon; readings by John Montague, Colm Toibin, Elizabeth Wassell and Gabriel Rosenstock; and a panel discussion on "Love, Sex Or Sundry" chaired by Nuala O Faolain and Seamus Hosey.

`PLUS," adds van de Kamp, "there'll be all kinds of outings and excursions - poetry by candlelight in Crag Cave, which isn't half as corny as it sounds, exhibitions, performance artists and plenty of pink champagne, strawberries and cream." Who could say no?

Further information from 066-21472.