‘Immrama’ Lismore Writers Festival June 13-16 - an opportunity for Tipperary arts lovers

Bill Power brings the Blackwater to Immrama

The River Blackwater, The Irish Rhine but to add another “The Blood River” for the river is a vein of life from a Kerry Mountain to the Atlantic Ocean. Bill Power, historian and international award-winning photographer who spent two decades exploring the Munster Blackwater has published his book “The Blackwater – History and Images from the Irish Rhine” captures the history, spirit and beauty of the river Blackwater. 

At Immrama, Bill will bring us on a wonderful, historical and aesthetic trip down the Blackwater, a journey not to be missed.

Bill said “Out of the thousands of photographs that I have taken, it was a difficult task to whittle them down for inclusion in the book. In the end, I decided to select them on how they would help tell the overall story.” 

Bill will narrate how the river was life support to many, for centuries, it was a means of transport, settlements, villages, town, church, cathedral, mills, fishing and prosperous agricultural land. All this “blood” seeped from that vein into the land and people.

Donald Brady on Gerald Villiers Stuart 

Donald is a historian and author of numerous historical books which include Hansard’s History of Waterford and Smith's History of Waterford. Some of his more recent books are W.E.D. Allen & Other Essays and A Study of the Life and Work of Regina Maria Roche.  

Donald’s detailed research on local history in West Waterford gives us excellent insight on passed historical figures in the locality.  This year he will be speaking on Gerald Villiers Stuart (1869-1951): Author, Politician and Businessman. Donald has delivered a paper at every festival since 2005 and has a very loyal following.

Become a Published Author with this exciting workshop

John Dwyer will run a workshop at Immrama on online publishing: “Become a Published Author”.

John Dwyer is a seasoned writer who has published four books and gained the necessary knowledge and experience to help others do the same. He has helped many writers become published authors who shared their beautiful work with the world. In this workshop, he will use free tools and provide easy to follow steps to take your writing and publish it on Amazon, the biggest bookstore on earth. 

The workshop will cover topics such as editing, paperback formatting, ebook formatting, cover design, and marketing. Learn in five hours what it takes years to learn in this excellent workshop!

You don’t have to have any writing to benefit from this workshop so what wait? Book your ticket now before they are sold out as places are very limited! John will run the workshop on Saturday, June 15, 9.30 – 14.30pm. A brilliant opportunity for writers to gain the skills and knowledge needed to publish.

Join Dom Joly travelling the Conspiracy Trail

Dom Joly went to high school in Beirut and he once told a newspaper that a pupil brought in a severed head to show the class. This would be an unstoppable anecdote for most, except that Bin Laden happened to be strolling the halls as a student in the very same school. 

Dom would first rise to fame for being the star of “Trigger Happy TV” in 2000. Dom has always been fascinated by travel to dark places. Early experiences left him with a profound loathing for the sanitized experiences of the travel industry and a taste for the weird. 

Dom has most recently been immersed in the strange world of conspiracies. For his new book, he met conspiracy theorists galore, some famous, someless so. Conspiracy theories used to be a bit of a laugh. Did we really land on the moon? Nowadays, however, in the aftermath of Trump, a pandemic and the influence of social media, they are a massive cause of division and mistrust. 

Come along to see Dom speak at Immrama on Friday June 14 at 8pm in the Courthouse Theatre Lismore.