Monday 18th November: Gerry Harrison on his Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ lecture as part of the ‘Beatles in 12 Movements’ series at Dublin’s Trinity College. Presented by Seán Rocks.
Wednesday 20th November: Peter Landesman, writer of the film ‘Parkland’ which recounts the events at Dallas Parkland Hospital the day JFK was shot. Presented by Seán Rocks.
Thursday 21st November: Barry Norman on his book ‘See You In The Morning – The life, love & loss of my wife, Diana’. Also, reviews of the films ‘The Family’ starring Robert De Niro, Parkland starring Zac Efron and Billy Bob Thornton and ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’. Presented by Seán Rocks.
On 22nd November Arena will launch a collection of poems, short stories and song lyrics. The book is called New Planet Cabaret and it will be published by New Island. The collection will include the work of regular contributors to Arena and writers who took part in our recent on-air creative writing course, which was taught by performance poet Dave Lordan. Many of the contributors come from backgrounds where access to the arts is not traditional.
This is in keeping with our policy of supporting new, upcoming artists who were trying to get their work noticed. Writers who have contributed to the programme – and to the book – include poets such as Colm Keegan, Sarah Clancy, Elaine Feeney and Karl Parkinson. Musicians include Temper-Mental Miss Elayneous (rap) and Eoin Glackin (singer/songwriter).
Like all who want to make a living from the arts, most of them struggle to cover their costs. Nevertheless, they have all agreed to give their contributions to this book free of charge. Proceeds from the book will be donated to the Writers in Schools Project run by Poetry Ireland. Those who submitted their work as part of the creative writing course have also agreed to waive a fee. The design of the front cover was decided by competition and, here again, the artist is donating her work.
The event will take place at the Gutter Bookshop in Temple Bar. All of the contributors will be invited to the event and some of them will perform their work – including music, poetry and short story. The launch will be broadcast live in the Arena slot.
RTÉ Radio 1, Friday 22 November, 7-8pm