The John Hewitt International Summer School returns to celebrate ‘diversity and a shared future’ through the arts

THIS year’s John Hewitt International Summer School will be the 37th time the literary event has paid tribute to the late great Belfast poet, curator, critic and political thinker with a packed programme of literature, culture and arts events.

The 2024 Summer School will run from Monday July 22 to Friday July 26 at the Market Place Theatre in Armagh and promises “a varied selection of inspirational and creative speakers who wield the power of language across the disciplines of literature, poetry, art, drama, music, and politics”.

The Summer School is curated and produced annually by the John Hewitt Society and always inspired by Hewitt’s ideas and ideals. Taking inspiration from Hewitt’s 1966 poem The Search, which includes the line “It is a hard responsibility to be a stranger”, this year’s festival theme is ‘To Live Among Strangers: Diversity and a Shared Future’.

This year’s opening talk will be delivered by Professor Audrey Osler, Professor Emerita of Citizenship and Human Rights Education at the University of Leeds, with other speakers including Professor Elaine Farrell, Professor Leanne McCormick, Sorcha Pollak and Professor Mary M Burke.

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Armagh writer Stuart Neville will host the annual Crime Fiction Special with international bestselling writers Chris Brookmyre and Liz Nugent. Other celebrated authors featured this year include Kit de Waal in conversation with Paul McVeigh, Ingrid Persaud in conversation with Raquel McKee, and Elaine Feeney in conversation with James Conor Patterson.

Nuala O’Connor will be in conversation with Maureen Boyle, while Jan Carson will host a conversation with Kevin Barry and will introduce debut novelists Aimée Walsh and Orla Mackey.

As a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the publication of John Hewitt’s Rhyming Weavers, John Hewitt Society chairman Dr Frank Ferguson will host a discussion with Dr Carol Baraniuk and Dr Kathryn White at a launch event for a new edition of the collection.

To mark the festival’s new collaboration with Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann, their chair Catherine Dunne will introduce the Ukrainian writer and journalist Anna Romandash to speak on “War, Identity, and the Process of Reconciliation”.

The poetry programme line-up includes Paula Meehan, Theo Dorgan, Rachael Allen, Susannah Dickey, Adam Lowe, Mícheál McCann, Nithy Kasa, Martina Evans, Dawn Watson and Scott McKendry.

Evening entertainment will include a Chamber Music Concert, Songs from the Last Page, composed and performed by Armagh-born, composer Gareth Williams, where each song takes the last lines of a beloved book and transforms them into brand-new ‘literary chamber pop’ songs.

From the melancholy mastermind of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes to the crescendo of Molly Bloom’s soliloquy at the close of Joyce’s Ulysses, Songs from the Last Page finds new musical beginnings where these famous stories ended.

“By focusing on the last lines, we are right where the story has almost run its course, “explains Williams, who is based in Scotland.

“All that remains is one last beat - and those beats are often tragic or poignant or wistful, or romantic, joyous and exhilarating. I set myself the challenge as a songwriter to try and hold on to these final moments for just a few extra minutes, to try and sustain the spell that they cast.”

With the accompaniment of violin, cello and Gareth himself on piano, this constantly evolving song cycle has already been performed at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at various book festivals across Scotland.

Also on the evening entertainment programme will be the acclaimed autobiographical one-man show Five Days, written by and performed by Joe Nawaz, The Mysterious Case of Kitsy Rainey, written and performed by Mikel Murfi, and Becoming Marvellous with Cathy Carson.

The annual creative writing classes return, three of which are supported by The Open University. These help to develop new generations of aspiring writers, some of whom will give readings during a showcase event at the end of the Summer School.

Visual arts will be well represented this year by events including The Peace Wall, an exhibition of photographs by Bruno Patron at the Market Place Gallery, and Re-Imagining Diaspora, an exhibition of paintings and scenes by Ciaran Harper which will be on display on the Foyer Walls.

Dr Dickon Hall, art dealer and consultant, will also give a talk on the relationship between the painter John Middleton and John Hewitt.

No Alibis bookstore in Belfast will again provide their popular pop-up book stall during the week-long Summer School where you will be able to find the latest books by all the featured writers on sale.

“This year promises to be a fantastic mix of local and international speakers, poetry, drama, music and writing workshops,” says Dr Frank Ferguson of The John Hewitt Society.

“There is something for everybody and we look forward to welcoming old and new friends to the events.”

Full details of The John Hewitt International Summer School programme are available online at johnhewittsociety.org or at, visitarmagh.com/marketplacetheatre. Tickets can be purchased from the Market Place Theatre box office in person, by phone on 0330 056 1025 or online.