“The black cloud is a happy portent for dwellers in the drylands?waiting for the monsoon.”
THESE words taken from John Hewitt’s poem For a Moment of Darkness Over the Nations form the inspiration for this year’s John Hewitt International Summer School.
“Even in darkest times, John Hewitt could try to extract some cheer. In our present crisis can the arts help us to see a brighter present and better future,” says Tony Kennedy, chairman of The John Hewitt Society.
In response to the current Covid-19 pandemic the 33rd festival goes virtual, with a host of events and workshops taking place online, being renamed The John Hewitt Digital Festival of Literature & Ideas.
The festival will be in two parts, with creative writing workshops as well as free-to-view talks, readings and panel discussions.
“We had a full summer school planned with an environmental theme, which we have postponed until next year. But there is a huge demand out there for artistic output and we were pleased with the responses we got from contributors keen to take part in our virtual festival,” says Tony.
He is particularly looking forward to hearing award-winning journalist and historian Misha Glenny’s talk on The Four Horsemen of the Modern Apocalypse.
“Misha is a former BBC Eastern European journalist and author and his ancestors are from Ireland. He's going to talk about the challenges that are facing us today – climate change, coronavirus, environmental degradation. He will also question the capacity of our current international political leaders to deal with the crises that are facing us. It’s going to be quite controversial.”
The John Hewitt Society has been able to attract top-level contributors and among the literature highlights are American poet Terrance Hayes and Irish novelists Donal Ryan, Eimear McBride and Marita Conlon-McKenna.
The discussion After Lockdown – Can the Arts return to health without a vaccine? on July 30 reflects upon the current crisis within the arts sector and features an All-Ireland panel of guests. These include: Roisín McDonough, chief executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Maureen Kennelly, director of the Arts Council Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon; Mary Nagele, chief executive of Arts & Business NI and BBC Northern Ireland’s economics and business editor John Campbell.
“It’s important for us to get an insight into what people are doing and planning to do to react to the current circumstances. The arts cannot limit themselves to a geographical area, so we need to look to both sides of the border,” says Tony, who is also optimistic about the future. ?
"One of the advantages of desperate times is they do force you to think of new ways of doing things and next summer we will look at having a physical summer school meshed with some sort of virtual input."
The John Hewitt Society has also been updating its YouTube channel and every Monday will be uploading two poetry readings from poets who have appeared at past John Hewitt Summer Schools.
Thankful to its funders, ABC Council and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the society is asking audiences to consider making a donation for watching the free digital content to help it to continue its work, or to consider joining their newly formed Friends scheme.
“These are hard times for the arts and it's not right to ask artists to appear for nothing when it's their livelihood, so the festival does come at a cost to us.
“Our Friends scheme asks supporters to make a regular donation of £5 a month and this will also entitle them to a 10 per cent discount on stock books from our partner, No Alibis bookshop.” ?
Another highlight of this year’s digital festival is sure to be the discussion Out of My Time: John Hewitt on Brexit, Covid, shifting borders and altered identities.
Belfast poet and academic Gerald Dawe, novelist Heather Richardson and Ballycastle poet and critic Cahal Dallat will discuss what Hewitt poetry tells us about community, identity and the importance of the arts in our own fraught times.
“Hewitt wrote very clean, straightforward poetry. He was a man of all time, because his ideas are still very much important in today’s world," says Tony.
“He had a love of nature, a desire to be anti-sectarian and viewed his identity as being Ulster, Irish, British and European. He wanted people to realise we are all a mixture of something and we have a lot in common."
And what does he believe John Hewitt would have to say about our present day circumstances?
“He wasn't known for suffering fools gladly, so I think he would have some fairly scathing comments about the current political situation both here and internationally.”
:: For full programme and to book workshops and events, visit Johnhewittsociety.org
