Kilkenny Arts Festival

Seventeen years after my first of many trips to the wonderful Kilkenny Arts Festival I'm thrilled to be speaking at this years' Festival, not once but twice!

My first talk, 'Death Becomes Us: Tradition, Ritual & the Comedy of Grief' is on 12 August at 1pm

It’s no secret that the Irish are obsessed with misery, suffering and death. Where else would a website that publishes death notices get five million hits per month, a marriage proposal begin with the words ‘Do you want to be buried with my people?’ or popular ballads extol the attractions of martyrdom?

In this fascinating talk, historian Gillian O’Brien explores our obsession with all things macabre. Why do the Irish, as Heinrich Böll once observed, love ‘the poetry of unhappiness’? Why is the funeral scene such an iconic moment in Derry Girls? And what exactly was her grandmother doing when she laid herself out as a corpse?

The second, 'Selective Memories: Ireland, Migration & Belonging' is on 13 August at 5pm.

Migration, both to and from Ireland, has been part of the Irish experience for centuries, but the stories we tell about migrant experiences are often partial and skewed. While successful emigrants (and their descendants) are celebrated and remembered, the countless thousands who struggled have been largely forgotten, and migrants arriving on these shores have not always found the warm welcome on which the nation prides itself.

Further information about these talks and all the excellent events at the festival are available here: https://www.kilkennyarts.ie/festival/programme