WHAT'S ON AT THE LINEN HALL

LINEN HALL LIBRARY LAUNCHES 2010 MICHAEL MCLAVERTY SHORT STORY COMPETITION

The popular biennial Michael McLaverty Short Story Award, administered by the Linen Hall Library, is once again looking for new writing talent. Entrants must have been born in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland and be over 18 years of age. The prize is £2,000 and the writer’s work will be published by the Linen Hall Library.

The competition will be adjudicated by Northern Irish writer Glenn Patterson and Anne Tannahill, freelance editor and former MD at Blackstaff Press.

Click HERE for further details.

Closing date for entries is Wednesday 30 June 2010.

EXHIBITION

Fired with the Enlightenment spirit of their times, the son of an Ayrshire tenant farmer has his first collection of poems published, while across the water, a group of artisans here come together to form the Belfast Reading Society. That Ayrshire poet was Robert Burns and that Reading Society became the Linen Hall Library. In celebration of these shared origins, an exhibition of the Library's Burns and Burnsiana Collection will be on display for Burns Day 2010.

The key item will be the Belfast edition (1787) of his first collection (the first outside Scotland). Discover why the national bard of Scotland is universally popular at home and abroad.

LANGUAGE CLASSES

Introductory Ulster-Scots with Gary Blair
An 8-week course for beginners in the Ulster-Scots language.
Supported by the Ulster-Scots Agency.
Every Tuesday from 4.15-5.15pm
2 Feb - 23 Mar

Advanced Irish with Dr Stiofán Ó Direáin
These ongoing classes are for those with conversational Irish who want a regular opportunity to increase their skills and further explore the Irish language.
Every Thursday from 4.15-5.15pm
4 Feb - 25 Mar

Beginners’ Irish with Niall MacLochlainn
An 8-week beginners' Irish language course.
Supported by the Ultach Trust.
Every Friday from 4.15-5.15pm
5 Feb - 26 Mar

All classes are free and on a weekly basis and
everyone is welcome.

STORYTIME

Everyone is welcome at the Linen Hall Library and you're never too young for your first visit through our iconic door on Donegall Square North.

Our popular series of children's storytimes are a great introduction to the Library. Children will hear some of the favourite stories from our collections, read by our librarians. Sessions are suitable for 4 to 7 year olds and run for about half an hour. Adults are welcome to browse the bookshelves or relax in our café.

READING GROUP

A Far Cry From Kensington - Mrs Hawkins, a fat young war widow, worked for a mad, near-bankrupt publisher in 1950s London. Looking back on shady literary doings and a deadly enemy, anonymous letters, blackmail and suicide, the now thin and successful Mrs Hawkins recalls how she came through it all.

The Reading Group meets on the last Thursday of each month, and all are welcome to come along and discuss the book chosen for that month.

PERFORMANCE

The Great Yeats! Remarkable Father of a Remarkable Family
By Sam McCready
Directed by Joan McCready

Born in Co. Down in 1839, John Butler Yeats is best known as the father of poet, W.B. Yeats, and painter, Jack B. Yeats. He was in fact an outstanding painter in his own right and a brilliant conversationalist; the best of his generation, according to G.K. Chesterton. Despite this talent, he struggled to make a living and his family lived in near destitution. Belfast-born and internationally respected actor Sam McCready explores with wit and pathos the complex relationship between Yeats and his family, and finds a loveable and enigmatic man who was the remarkable father of one of Ireland's most remarkable families.

Frequent collaborators, Sam and Joan McCready recently produced A Time to Speak, which was described as the "most poignant event" of the 2009 Belfast Festival (Jane Coyle, Irish Times).

Please note: Running Time 60 minutes (no interval) / Doors open: 6.45pm, Show starts: 7pm
Places limited. Booking recommended.

PERFORMANCE

The Great Yeats! Remarkable Father of a Remarkable Family
By Sam McCready
Directed by Joan McCready

Born in Co. Down in 1839, John Butler Yeats is best known as the father of poet, W.B. Yeats, and painter, Jack B. Yeats. He was in fact an outstanding painter in his own right and a brilliant conversationalist; the best of his generation, according to G.K. Chesterton. Despite this talent, he struggled to make a living and his family lived in near destitution. Belfast-born and internationally respected actor Sam McCready explores with wit and pathos the complex relationship between Yeats and his family, and finds a loveable and enigmatic man who was the remarkable father of one of Ireland's most remarkable families.

Frequent collaborators, Sam and Joan McCready recently produced A Time to Speak, which was described as the "most poignant event" of the 2009 Belfast Festival (Jane Coyle, Irish Times).

Please note: Running Time 60 minutes (no interval) / Doors open: 6.45pm, Show starts: 7pm
Places limited. Booking recommended.

BELFAST SOCIETY LECTURE

Recent Excavations in Belfast: An Overview
By Ruairí Ó Baoill

This talk is part of the Belfast Natural History & Philosophical Society Lecture Programme 2009/2010.

Lectures take place at 6.30pm in the Linen Hall Library. They are free and non-members are welcome.

The Annual General Meeting will take place on 10 March 2010 at 6pm.

STORYTIME

Everyone is welcome at the Linen Hall Library and you're never too young for your first visit through our iconic door on Donegall Square North.

Our popular series of children's storytimes are a great introduction to the Library. Children will hear some of the favourite stories from our collections, read by our librarians. Sessions are suitable for 4 to 7 year olds and run for about half an hour. Adults are welcome to browse the bookshelves or relax in our café.

READING GROUP

Nineteen Eighty-Four - "It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen." Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities.

The Reading Group meets on the last Thursday of each month, and all are welcome to come along and discuss the book chosen for that month.

READING GROUP

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

The Reading Group meets on the last Thursday of each month, and all are welcome to come along and discuss the book chosen for that month.

READING GROUP

The Sea, the Sea - The sea: turbulent and leaden, transparent and opaque, magician and mother...When Charles Arrowby, over sixty, a demi god of the theatre- director, playwright and actor - retires from his glittering London world in order to 'adjure magic and become a hermit', it is to the sea that he turns. He hopes at least to escape from 'the woman' - but unexpectedly meets one whom he loved long ago. His Buddhist cousin, James, also arrives. He is menaced by a monster from the deep. Charles finds his 'solitude' peopled by the drama of his own fantasies and obsessions.

The Reading Group meets on the last Thursday of each month, and all are welcome to come along and discuss the book chosen for that month.

READING GROUP

Beloved - It is the mid-1800s. At Sweet Home in Kentucky, an era is ending as slavery comes under attack from the abolitionists. The worlds of Halle and Paul D. are to be destroyed in a cataclysm of torment and agony. The world of Sethe, however, is to turn from one of love to one of violence and death - the death of Sethe's baby daughter Beloved, whose name is the single word on the tombstone, who died at her mother's hands, and who will return to claim retribution.

The Reading Group meets on the last Thursday of each month, and all are welcome to come along and discuss the book chosen for that month.