Hugo Hamilton, author of The Speckled People, Sad Bastard and Headbanger.

The evening features a reading by novelist and memoirist Hugo Hamilton, followed by traditional and original Irish music of The Narrowbacks – Terry Winch, Jesse Winch, Brendan Mulvihill, Linda Hickman and Eileen (Korn) Estes – who will be joined at times by step dancers from the  Caulkin School of Traditional Irish Dance.

The event, a fundraiser for HoCoPoLitSo, will feature a raffle of three different baskets*, two Irish themed and one themed for the upcoming Blackbird Poetry Festival (April 26). Among the raffle items: two tickets to attend brunch with Mr. Hamilton and the HoCoPoLitSo board the following morning. This year’s evening also features the return of ‘the bar’, an intermission drink selection including Guinness, Harp, and Irish coffee.

Read Columbia Flier critic Mike Giuliano’s preview article of the occasion.

NEW LOCATION:  Note the location of this year’s Irish Evening differs from recent years. Directions to Smith Theatre can be found here.

*Items may vary slightly than those listed in the linked image.

Terrance Hayes, Monteabarro Hall, October 2011

Congratulations are in order for Terrance Hayes who was recently chosen for President Barack Obama’s new National Student Poets Program (NSPP) panel. “Hayes is one of four literary leaders who will judge students who received a National Scholastic Art & Writing Award for poetry. Five high school students will be selected to serve for a year as national poetry ambassadors.” He is a wonderful choice for the task.

In October of last year, Terrance Hayes joined Tara Betts on stage at Howard Community College’s Monteabarro Hall to launch HoCoPoLitSo’s 2011-12 season with our inaugural Lucille Clifton Poetry Series reading. In 2010, Hayes won the National Book Award for his 4th poetry collection Lighthead. He is currently on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

• CMU press release: http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2011/december/dec7_hayespoets.html

Tóibín’s list of achievements is long, his talent, vast. He is known and awarded for his novels and short stories and for his journalism and literary criticism, as well. This was his second appearance for HoCoPoLitSo’s Irish Evening.

Belinda McKeon reading the Form and Structure issue of Little Patuxent Review.

Playwright and novelist Belinda McKeon’s debut novel Solace, published last year, has won the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book of the Year (2011) and Ireland’s Sunday Independent recognized her with its Best Newcomer Award.

The annual Irish Evening is a perennial favorite and a highpoint to each HoCoPoLitSo season. This year a reading by memoirist and novelist Hugo Hamilton will be followed by the Irish music of the Narrowbacks accompanied by traditional Irish step dancers on Friday, February 17th at Smith Theater on the campus of Howard Community College in Columbia. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets online.

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Watch the episode: http://www.howardcc.edu/Visitors/hcctv/programming/writinglife.html

Scheduled to read at the event are Melinda Abbott, JoAnn Balingit, Dylan Bargteil, Ann Bracken, Susan Gabrielle, Stephanie Gibson, Jen Grow, Clarinda Harriss, Kathleen Hellen, Alan King, Michael Salcman, Lauren Schmidt, Jill-Ann Stolley, James Toupin, Susan Turner-Conlon and Patricia VanAmburg.

Copies of the issue, which also features an interview with Martin Espada by another HoCoPoLitSo board member, Susan Thornton Hobby, will be available for sale ($10).

Details:

When: Saturday, January 28th, 2pm
Where: Oliver’s Carriage House, 5410 Leaf Treader Way, Columbia, MD 21044

Unable to make the event, track down a copy of the issue online.

For some, Super Bowl Sunday is all about the commercials, for others it might be the nachos. There are those, of course, who savor the taste of one of the two gridiron sides in fierce competition for the sport’s most prestigious trophy. Just who will the champ be? Fans of the Patriots and the Giants will have their eyes glued to the action, hoping and hollering in support.

For us, the real celebration this special day incurs is a trip to Frederick to take in a reading. That’s right, a reading. You didn’t really expect us to put down our literary-mindedness completely, did you? Rest assured, it won’t get in the way of any Super Bowl activities, none at all. We promise to chip crunch, commercial watch and holler with the rest of the country. But first…

Diane Ackerman

Very excited! It’s time for the Burr Artz Poetry Series reading again.  The series, held Super Bowl Sundays (February 5th this year), is a perfect cultural compliment to the day’s sporting. It starts at 2pm at the Weinberg Center in Frederick and ends well before party and game time. It’s a great series that’s brought Billy Collins, Nikki Giovanni and Robert Hass to the gorgeous venue. We’re excited to learn this year Diane Ackerman is featured.  Plus… it’s free. (And, for us, it is a literary event we are not hosting, so we can sit back and just enjoy!)

Diane Ackerman, a literary force for decades with her work as an essayist, poet and naturalist, has authored some two dozen books, among them are eight volumes of poetry, more than a dozen non-fiction works and two children’s stories.  There are many favorites in the list; perhaps the most renowned is A Natural History of the Senses (1990). Her most recent work, from just last year, also non-fiction, is One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing. In 2007, her novel The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story captivated reader attention around the world.

Mark your calendars and save a little time on Super Bowl Sunday for Diane Ackerman, it will compete as a treat on a day that otherwise tends to be just about football.

• Diane Ackerman’s website
• Diane Ackerman on wikipedia
• Event details:
  • February 5th, 2pm. Free admission
  • Weinberg Center directions
  • As we understand, the event is underwritten by the C. Burr Artz Trust and is presented in partnership with the Weinberg Center, the Frederick County Public Library and Frederick Reads.

Bills Buddies present scenes from a range of The Bard’s work in a lively manner that often finds audience members up on stage and ‘into the language’. As their study guide suggests,

Shakespeare’s plays still contain timeless situations you might see played out in the halls of your school everyday: miscommunicating your feelings, fights between friends, and problems within families, just to name a few. Watch Bill’s Buddies bring Shakespeare’s words to life as they perform at your school, and decide for yourself if Shakespeare’s language is worth a chance!

The engaging performances open the eyes and ears of students to the relevance of the work now centuries on, letting it speak to their generation. There’s magic in the web of it.

While you are here, consider making a tax-deductible end-of-the-year donation supporting HoCoPoLitSo. It’s the easiest of ways to help ‘make HoCoPoLitSo happen’ and launch us forward into a new year of achievement. Just click the PayPal Donate button and off you go. Thank you so very much for your support.

HoCoPoLitSo’s annual Evening of Irish Writing and Music returns with a reading by Hugo Hamilton and performance of traditional and original Irish music by the Narrowbacks.

Dublin born novelist Hugo Hamilton will read from his work. The central character in two of his Ireland-based novels, Pat Coyne, is considered one of the most original figures in contemporary Irish literature.  In 1992 Hamilton won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature for The Speckled People as a ‘book for our times and perhaps for all time’.  It won the prestigious Prix Femina Etranger in France, and appeared on The New York Times notable books list.

Reading will be followed by a concert of traditional Irish music performed by the Narrowbacks – Terry Winch, Jesse Winch, Brendan Mulvihill, Linda Hickman and Eileen (Korn) Estes – and traditional step dancing with performers from the Caulkin School of Traditional Irish Dance. Music from harpist Jared Denhard will open the evening.

The event will be held at Howard Community College’s Smith Theatre in the Horowitz Performing Arts Center. Note change of venue.

Tickets are now available online here.