irish voices / ierse stemmen / guthanna na héireann
A new edition of the popular literary gathering in which we celebrate the literature of a country or language community. This time, we turn to Ireland’s exceptionally rich literary heritage.
Price
Programme
this programme is accessible to people with reduced mobility.
language
voices
Working in collaboration with the Mechelen-based non-profit organization Cultural Bridges in Belgium (CBIB), in recent years we welcomed, among others, Spanish, Hungarian, Russian, Arabic and Walloon ‘Voices’. Each time with great success. Writers and poets read from their own work in their mother tongue while translations are projected onto a large screen – a tried-and-tested formula, especially when combined with live music from the relevant linguistic region.
the cream of the crop
For the eighth edition of Voices, we turn our attention to Ireland, Europe’s green outpost, which all too often stands in the shadow of its big brother, England. Éire, a land of singers, but also of poets and writers. With four Nobel Prize winners in Literature, no one can match the Irish. And although they haven’t won any Nobel Prizes yet, with Marina Carr, Colin Walsh, Ferdia Lennon and Rónán Hession, we have certainly drawn the cream of the new literary crop.
presentation and music
Journalist and radio presenter Nicky Aerts will be in conversation with the authors. The bilingual presentation will be led by bibliophile Steven Van Ammel, who writes for De Standaard der Letteren and works as a bookseller at Passa Porta Bookshop. The a cappella trio Celticanto will provide the musical accompaniment. Three classically trained baritones will perform a highly original take on Irish traditional songs. During Irish Voices, you’ll get to hear not only (Irish) English, but also Gaelic! Bookshop De Zondvloed will have a stall featuring a carefully curated selection of Irish literature.
about the authors
Marina Carr (b. 1964, Dublin) made a name for herself as a playwright with works such as By the Bog of Cats, Woman and Scarecrow, The Mai and Marble. Carr is the winner of major awards, including the E.M. Forster Award and Hennessy Literary Award. Her work, characterized by a mythical, poetic writing style, features female protagonists who grapple with relationships and traditional gender roles.
Rónán Hession (b. 1975, Dublin) is known in Ireland as a man of many talents. His alter ego, Mumblin’ Def Ro, is a well-known blues musician who has toured with bands such as Rinty, Boxcar and the Critters. Since 2019, he has been pursuing a parallel career as a writer, publishing under his own name. His debut novel Leonard and Hungry Paul was shortlisted for no fewer than six literary prizes and has been translated into Dutch, Spanish, German, Italian and Turkish. The title characters, likeable underdogs, were picked up for a popular BBC series. Hession, who also reviews fiction for The Irish Times, cemented his reputation as a master storyteller with Panenka (2021) and Ghost Mountain (2024).
Ferdia Lennon (b. 1988, Tallaght) scooped the prestigious Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2024 with his bestseller Glorious Exploits. A trained classicist, he set his historical novel in ancient Greece, but told the story through a contemporary narrator. Combining classical erudition, playful irony and stylistic bravura, he has been hailed as a great promise, not only in Irish literature but across the entire English-speaking literary world.
Colin Walsh (b. 1986, Galway) made his breakthrough in 2017 with a series of short stories that earned him the Francis MacManus Short Story Prize and Hennessy Literary Award. After travelling the world, Walsh landed in Belgium in 2013 to study philosophy at KU Leuven and to work quietly on his debut novel. The result was Kala, published in 2023. In this novel, three men are reunited after many years around the lifeless body of a mutual childhood friend. The Guardian and Goodreads were full of praise for the narrative tension and characterization in this acclaimed debut novel.
portraits: marina carr © tom honan, ronan hession © ger holland, ferdia lennon © nic donovan, colin walsh © rein de wilde
Our partners for this event
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