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What they said about the 2011 festival:
"Strokestown is a rather special festival... the prize is just being
there." ~ Pat Winslow
[read
Pat
Winslow's blog ]
Thank you very, very much for putting together this
wonderful festival. I loved every minute of it... I really enjoyed the
mingling of Gaelic and English in the reading sessions, it worked
brilliantly. It was great to feel the seriousness and commitment to poetry
of all the participants, and the fun of it at the same time. ~
Susanne Erhardt
...I am wondering how to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone involved
in the Strokestown festival for a marvellous weekend. It is a unique
gathering, and I felt greatly honoured to be among so many fine poets and
warm-hearted people, sharing our love of poetry with a wonderful intensity
and commitment... can't wait to be back!
~
Elisabeth Rowe
The festival was wonderful... all the talk and excitement
that seems to happen EVERY year from what people say. And meeting READERS
- that's what I value so much. So many people have read and talked about
and come to own the poems and find meanings in them for themselves; it's
what you'd hope for your writing, but Strokestown is the only place I've
known this happen; it's both humbling and inspiring. To say nothing of the
betting... You made the weekend very special, adding John and Patsy's
music to the mix. And then Martin Dyar's play AS WELL - it was such a treat,
the whole weekend. ~ Jane Routh
"Many thanks for a lovely long weekend....I feel I've had a welcome
injection of poetry which will vaccinate me for a while against day-job
tedium!" -
Matthew Barton
"A most enjoyable and dynamic weekend. In an age when the capacity to
listen is diminishing, when, even if you have it, cacophany denies you,
the festival was an oasis of attentiveness. Very many thanks."
-
Tim O'Leary
"Once again, many thanks for a truly memorable festival..." -
Peter Goulding
"I had
a wonderful time and I hope to be back next year..." -
Siobhán Flynn
Read more of what they said about the
festival 2011...
...And about previous festivals:
"If you did not already exist it would be impossible to invent you...
Thank you all for one of the best weekends of my life." -
Martin Parker
"…My
wife [the poet Gerda Stevenson] having previous commitments, is very
disappointed not to be joining me, to what we both agree is the greatest
poetry festival on earth!" - Aonghas
Macneacail
"Your festival is the
most generous and convivial I have attended in many years, characterised
by high seriousness and a serious sense of fun."
- Hilary Davies
"...A
marvellously successful festival… Strokestown is the
most convivial and congenial of poetry festivals - literally a fireside
gathering." - Dennis O’Driscoll
"...A majestic achievement."
- Sebastian Barker
"...A
marvellous festival in a place that comprises one big house and two small
streets like a pair of crossed pencils..."
- George
Szirtes
"How
do I begin to describe my most enjoyable literature festival experience to
date?
A small town, with a big
repossessed manor house in which to host events – ceilings
two floors
high; windows from floors to those ceilings; old oak panelling; roaring
fires. Generously provisioned reception parties at either end.
An astonishing number of talented poets – from both Gaelic and English
traditions - reading in the space of just three days...
"
-
Ros Barber
"...I have never
before encountered such a warm and inclusive atmosphere as I did in
Strokestown... I was bowled over by the sense in which the involvement of
the local community was integral to the event."
-
Chrissie Charvill
Read more.... |
