A highlight of Ireland’s rich literary calendar is Cúirt, which returns to Galway city on April 21-26. With the theme ‘Finding the Words’, old and young are invited to revel in the power of storytelling – its clarity, mystery, and spark – via Irish heavyweights including Anne Enright, Ardal O’Hanlon, Edel Coffey, Neil Jordan, Vona Groarke, Jessica Traynor, Louise O’Neill and Liz Nugent, and international voices such as Gwendoline Riley, Adania Shibli, Balsam Karam and Polly Barton.
Ardal O’Hanlon will appear at Cúirt. Photo: Kip Carroll
Seven Irish‑language events will celebrate the lore of place in the written word, with a poignant yet celebratory tribute to the late, great Manchán Magan on the Saturday. cuirt.ie
Gift one thing
It’s easy to while away an entire afternoon on Dublin’s buzzy Drury Street, starting with a coffee at either Kaph or Industry & Co’s cafe before grazing at Mani (pizza slices), Loose Canon (wine and cheese) and Drury Buildings (dinner and cocktails) – with pedestrianised shopping aplenty in between.
A non-negotiable visit is to Irish Design Shop, the award-winning retailer founded by jewellers Clare Grennan and Laura Caffrey in 2008, who champion Irish Independent brands, including Luke O’Callaghan’s beautiful butter dishes made in Mayo, Martina Scott’s screen prints made in Co Louth, and Andrew Ludick’s earthenware.
Eight years ago, IDS expanded its jewellery operations upstairs, which is where its newest Names collection is available, titled Lomán; the Irish word for rock of which only the summit is exposed.
One of Irish Design Shop’s Lomán necklaces, entitled ‘Niamh’
Forms are cast directly from rock surfaces around Ireland’s east coast to create truly unique earrings, necklaces, bangles and a brooch, each exquisitely rendered in sterling silver and gold-plated brass options. Prices start at €95. irishdesignshop.com
Craft one thing
From Carrickmacross lace and Aran jumpers to Irish tweed, wood turning and crios weaving, indigenous crafts are highly prized in a global sea of fast fashion and flatpack furniture.
Artisans – loath to see their skills disappear altogether, their techniques often handed down through families – are usually happy to share their expertise. Such as An Caoladóir Catach, aka The Curly Weaver (aka Diarmuid Ó hAlmhain), the host of willow basket-making workshops at Ballinlough Castle in Co Westmeath.
Willow basket-making workshops with An Caoladóir Catach, aka The Curly Weaver aka Diarmuid Ó hAlmhain
Today they’re making traditional round bread baskets, but their next session, on May 10, focuses on ciseàn uibhe – the asymmetric honeypot handle basket. Throughout the day workshoppers will learn about willow as a material, three different weave types and the tools and techniques used to make their very own basket to take home.
Classes are held 9am until 5pm in the Old Hay Barn and cost €165, including all materials, refreshments, snacks and a cooked lunch. Follow @the_curly_weaver on Instagram for a link to tickets.
Hear one thing
A new podcast, A Family History of the Irish Famine, reframes our understanding of the Great Hunger by rooting it in the intimate, meticulously reconstructed life of Macroom man, Archibald McKenzie.
Archibald McKenzie’s life story unfolds in a new podcast
Across four episodes, genealogist Jen Baldwin and Trinity historian Fiona Fitzsimons trace the perilous journey of Archibald, Baldwin’s ancestor, whose once-respectable start in life turned to poverty, criminality and economic migration.
Using digitised newspapers, parish records and court documents, the pair follow his path from Cork to Wales and onwards to the US via a less typical “chain‑migration” route. The result is a vivid, humane portrait of a man behind the statistics, that’s available on all the usual podcast platforms.
See one thing
The term “rewilding” was coined by environmental activist Dave Foreman in the early 1990s, but the concept didn’t go mainstream until the 2018 publication of Isabel Tree’s book Wilding, in which she documents the restoration of Knepp, the once arable and dairy farmland in West Sussex, and now an important habit for rare flora and fauna.
And while wildlife presenter Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh and garden designer Mary Reynolds understand that most of us don’t manage 1,400 hectares, they do insist we can all rewild our outdoor spaces, big or tiny.
Presenter Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh and garden designer Mary Reynolds
And so, over seven episodes of Réabhlóid ar Chúl an Tí, which premieres on TG4 on April 19 at 8pm, they present seven gardening projects, from a 120 metre sq patch in Inchicore, Dublin, to a secondary school in Donegal.
Each transformation is an opportunity not just for native Irish plants and wildlife to return, but also a renewed sense of community and accomplishment. tg4.ie
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