Artist – Elizabeth Rose Murray
Arts for Health & West Cork Literary Festival
Bantry Day Care Centre
Since 2023, Arts for Health has partnered with West Cork Literary Festival to bring the joy of the festival to Bantry Day Care Centre.
Starting life as a fringe to the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the Literary Festival has grown into one of the most anticipated weeks of summer in Bantry. Every July, an array of Irish authors arrive in the town to speak about new releases, share stories, and offer behind-the-scenes insights into their work.
In 2023, writer Elizabeth Rose Murray invited author Jon Gower to co-facilitate a storytelling and poetry session at Bantry Day Care Centre as part of the festival’s new collaboration with Arts for Health. The relaxed event included both writers sharing excerpts from their work, reading some of their favourite poems, and talking about the power of story in poetry and prose. John also shared some songs and poems in Welsh. In turn, participants shared personal anecdotes about reading and learning poetry, and the comfort that brings.
The partnership continued the following year when Elizabeth invited festival guest, Jan Carson, to the day care centre to share her love of storytelling. The writers spoke with participants about where ideas come from, and how life and story influence each other. Jan read a selection of Postcard Stories, and from her most recent collection, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses. Later, Elizabeth read from her Nine Lives Trilogy, and shared two poems written by Arts for Health participants as part of a joint project with visual artist Sarah Ruttle at Bantry General Hospital, St. Joseph’s Unit, and Skibbereen and Schull Community Hospitals.
Click the links to read more about the 2023 and 2024 events.
Arts for Health is looking forward to partnering with West Cork Literary Festival again in 2025!
Images provided by Elizabeth Murray.