Cúirt Labs – the shout-out

The Cúirt International Festival of Literature is in full swing in Galway at the moment, and the city is abuzz with theatre, poetry, art exhibitions, literary discussions, workshops, and readings.

The Cúirt Labs are the part of the programme directly targeted at a younger audience, which will take place in the Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street where three floors of gallery space will become custom-made spaces for inventiveness and imagination.

I’m going to be partisan and draw particular attention to some friends who are taking part:

Maeve Clancy: one of the best comic book artists in the country who also creates cut-out paper installations and has a background in music videoes.

Rhianna Pratchett: journalist, comic book writer, and ace video gamer writer who is responsible for the latest incarnation of Tomb Raider, as well as Heavenly Sword, Mirror’s Edge, and the entire Overlord series.

Celine Kiernan: popular young adult novelist of The Moorehawke Trilogy published by O’Brien Press, who has a background in feature film animation.

Julian Gough is an author, songwriter, and troublemaker, as well as the winner of the BBC National Short Story Award in 2007, and other literary prizes.

That’s just a small sample of the creative talent in Galway currently. If you – or your children – are interested in the creative arts, get them over to Galway this weekend.

The irony of it all is that I’ll be in Dublin for most of the weekend, soaking in the atmosphere at MCM Ireland Comic Con.