Yesterday at the Dialogues Through Literature Readers’ Symposium in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim Fermanagh Writers celebrated the launch of Tuesdays At Charlie’s. We had already launched the book in Enniskillen in May. But since two of our members live in Co Leitrim we also wanted to celebrate the book in Co Leitrim. The book was on sale at the event and was well received by readers.
Helen Osborne, Northern Ireland Libraries, introduced members of our group who read excerpts from the book and she commended the book to the audience.
Angela McCabe and her stepson read two of her poems. The pieces clearly evoked a sense of these places that are important to Angela.
Anthony Viney read one of his prose pieces, a chilling story entitled Friends Re-united.
borders and of crossing them to establish dialogue through the medium of literature. On the day that we attended, we shared a platform with Booker Prizewinner, DBC Pierre, who explored the concept of borders in his presentation as well as reading extracts from his book concerning the US-Mexico border. Later we had a presentation from Tony McAuley, about his childhood in Belfast, how social and political borders were inculcated in him from a young age, through prejudice, fear and bigotry. He spoke about how he crossed those borders and began a lifelong commitment to breaking down barriers here in Northern Ireland, bringing people
together through literature. He emphasised that people have much more in common, than what they have different. These presentations and following discussions have inspired us to further develop our commitment to do more cross-border work and to challenge barriers that still exist in Fermanagh. At the event, we met with people from both sides of the border and exchanged ideas and we discovered a mutuality of interests and potential for future cross-border co-operation.
