Galway City will be hosting a special festival to celebrate the great works of Ireland’s literary greats, Oscar Wilde, taking place between Friday and Sunday, 5th to 7th September. The Oscar Wilde Festival is now in its second year and is the only festival dedicated to the writer in Ireland.
Wilde was a regular visitor to the West of Ireland, which was a region he went on to describe as ‘majestic’ and so, fittingly, Galway has been chosen as the venue to celebrate the many wonderful works of this revered Irish writer.
The 2014 festival will be launched by RTE presenter and fashion designer, Brendan Courtney on Friday, 5th September, at the Harbour Hotel in Galway City. The launch event will consist of a talk outlining one of the Wilde’s connections with the west of Ireland.
The festival will be welcoming performers from the across United Kingdom and the United States including some notable speakers from NUI Galway.
The focus of Saturday’s schedule will be a discussion on how Wilde is perceived in contemporary society in the UK, US and Ireland. This will be followed by a talk on Wilde and Dress. Saturday will conclude with a performance about Wilde’s mother called Jane who is often referred to as “Speranza” in literary circles.
One of the key objectives of the festival is to highlight new Irish writing, inspired by Wilde. At lunchtime on Sunday afternoon, there will be a debut performance of a stage documentary entitled Kicking Oscar’s Corpse by Galway writer, Brendan Murphy.
Whether you’re enjoying a literary tour of Ireland or just want to experience something a little different during your Ireland vacation and join the celebrations while exploring the life and works of Oscar Wilde.