Press Release Announcing the 2005 Merriman Summer School

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Details of the Merriman Summer School 2005 were announced in Limerick on Wednesday 27 July, exactly 200 years to the day of the poet’s death in Old Clare Street, Limerick, on 27 July 1805.

This year’s Summer School will be in Lisdoonvarna, from Saturday to Saturday, 20 – 27 August. The Director is Bob Collins, former Director‑General of RTÉ, and recently appointed Chief Commissioner of the North’s Equality Commission.

The School will be opened by Seán Donlon, Chancellor of the University of Limerick.

This will be a special school to celebrate the bicentennial of Brian Merriman’s death. The intention is to look back in celebration and to look forward with the continuing relevance of the main subjects of Cúirt an Mheán Oíche. There will be an enhanced programme to cover:

• Cúirt an Mheán Oíche; the poem, its language, its influence
• Brian Merriman himself and his times – Clare, Limerick, education, the clergy, and the broad historical context
• A contemporary consideration of the main themes of his great poem
• Contemporary Poetry in English and Irish

There will be a particular focus on marriage, one of the main themes in the poem, and a topic of significant current interest. The life of women then and now, and the clergy of the time, are other themes to be explored. Ireland’s role in Europe at the time of Merriman’s death, and today, will also be featured.

So as to mark the role of Merriman as poet and to celebrate contemporary poetry in the context of the bicentennial, a feature of this year’s school will be Cúirt an Mheán Lae — "The Midday Court" — with eminent poets reading in Irish and English. There will also be sessions providing in‑depth readings of the original text of Cúirt an Mheán Oíche.

As usual, there will be sessions on Renew your Irish, set dancing classes with the acclaimed dance teachers Betty Mc Coy and Johnny Morrissey, song sessions, and a visit to Feakle and Loch Graney – Merriman’s country in East Clare, and Club Merriman, the nightly gathering of Summer School participants with conviviality and set dancing guaranteed, and outbreaks of song very likely.

People

Among the participants at the 2005 Merriman Summer School will be:

• Maeve Binchy
• William Binchy
• John Coolohan
• Linda Connolly
• John F Deane
• Seán Donlon
• Garret FitzGerald
• Áine Hyland
• Finola Kennedy
• Declan Kiberd
• Gabriel Kiely
• Margaret Mc Curtain
• Doireann Ní Bhriain
• Úna Nic Éinrí
• Bríd Ní Neachtain
• Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail
• Donnchadh Ó Corráin
• Brian Ó Dálaigh
• Denis O’Donovan TD
• Nuala O’Faolain
• Eoghan Ó hAnluain
• Patrick J Hillery
• Liam P Ó Murchú
• Muiris Ó Rócháin
• Eamon Ryan TD
• Willie Smyth
• Alan Titley
• Katherine Zappone

There will also be contributions from the poets Ciaran Carson, Pádraig Daly, Celia de Fréine, Sinéad Morissey, Gabriel Rosenstock and Peter Sirr

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