2016 Archive

Ardagh School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Family event: Year 6 takes place on Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th, Monday 31st at 3pm.

Visit the Forbidden Forest, take part in potions class and an art workshop and have lots more fun. Early booking advised (Extra morning sessions may be announced later subject to demand). Adults €5 (including tea/coffee), Children €8, Family of 4 €24 (2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children). Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com

Samhain on Brí Leith

According to legend Midir the proud was and is and will be at home in Brí Leith, a mountain until Eochaidh razed it to the ground. He is in charge of a special entrance to Tir na nÓg which can't be found because he mithers all who try to find it. It has been said that on Samhain he lifts the veil for a short time.
So will you venture with us up the hill to seek the entrance to the Otherworld on Tuesday 1st November?
Join us first for a lantern making workshop and Samhain tales from 4pm in Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre. €6 per person.
Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com

We will make our way from there through the village and towards Brí Leith at 6pm. Come in costume and join the otherworldly, lantern-lit procession up the hill. Who knows what we will find when we get there!

Samhain, the start of the Celtic New Year, marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. It was a time of celebration, a festival of the dead, involving feasts to welcome back ancestors and great fires lit on hills starting with Tlachtga (The Hill of Ward, Co. Meath) which has a connection with our legend of Midir and Etain.

See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain for more about Samhain.

More about Tlachtga here: www.druidry.org/library/tlachtga-and-ancient-roots-halloweensamhain

Lots more about Midir and Etain:
creativeardagh.blogspot.ie/p/midir-and-etain.html

A Gothic Evening

Wednesday 2nd November 7pm
Age 14+ and adults. €6 per person.
Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com
Join us for an evening of readings and discussion of classic Gothic Literature including Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.
We will look at the Gothic conventions and how the various authors have used and abused them, the popularity of the Gothic, how it has continued for over 200 years and modern day depictions of the famous characters. Bring along copies of the books if you have them.
Here's a nice short video clip to get you started:

Spooky art camp

Children: Art camp for one day only. 
Thursday 3rd November, 12pm to 5pm. €18 per child (4+).
Join us for some spooky fun. This year we are taking inspiration from the Nightmare Club books by Annie Graves (http://littleisland.ie/authors/annie-graves/)  Listen to some readings. Paint, draw, collage and print some scary pictures or build your own 3d scene or monster. Lots of time for some outdoor creations too, weather permitting.
Bring your lunch and a snack and dress for messy indoor and outdoor fun.
Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com
You can now pay online here but please contact us to let us know you have availed of this option. Thank you!

Literature for teens

Writing workshop with Ruth Frances Long
Teens (Ages 12+): Friday 4th November 3.00pm to 5.00pm
€15 per person
Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com

Ruth Frances Long writes dark young adult fantasy, often about scary fairies, such as The Treachery of Beautiful Things, A Crack in Everything, A Hollow in the Hills and the newly released A Darkness at the End. (O’Brien Press, 2016). As R. F. Long, she also writes fantasy and paranormal romance.

She lives in Wicklow and works in a specialized library of rare, unusual & occasionally crazy books. But they don’t talk to her that often.

In 2015 she won the European Science Fiction Society Spirit of Dedication Award for Best Author of Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Workshop details:

Finding the Fantastic in your Fiction
Award winning YA fantasy author Ruth Frances Long discusses aspects of storytelling and folklore, how they integrate with modern fiction and looks at the magic interwoven in the stories all around us. We'll explore how to use folklore, fairytale and supernatural elements in your fiction, from fantasy to contemporary and explore different ways of using myths and folktales to flesh out your writing and inject some magic.

http://www.rflong.com
@RFLong on Twitter
Facebook Page
The Treachery of Beautiful Things on Facebook
A Crack in Everything (O'Brien Press, 2014)

A Hollow in the Hills (O'Brien Press, 2015)
A Darkness at the End (O'Brien Press, September 2016)

Gothic Literature for adults

A writing workshop with author Joe Murphy

Adults. Friday 4th November, 7.00pm to 9.00pm. €15 per person. Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com

Explore the art of gothic writing with Joe Murphy:

• Styles, Genres and Interests

• The Role of Research

• Character and Plot Development

• Gothic Fiction - Form and Purpose

• Getting the damn' thing Finished

• Getting the damn' thing Published

Joe Murphy was born in 1979 in Co. Wexford, Ireland. In Enniscorthy Vocational College, he excelled at English, winning several awards and being shortlisted for Young Science Fiction Writer of the Year. Joe studied English at University College Dublin where he received 1st Class Hons and a scholarship to complete a Masters in Early Modern Drama. He went on to qualify as a secondary school teacher.

Joe has written two novels with Liberties Press, 1798: Tomorrow the Barrow We’ll Cross and Dead Dogs. His third, I am in Blood, was published by the O’Brien Press in 2015.

I am in Blood

A multi-layered, Gothic tale of obsession and bloodshed set in modern-day and Victorian Dublin.

Present day: Seventeen-year-old Nathan Jacob’s interest in real-life crime leads him to a series of horrific murders committed in Dublin’s red-light district, The Monto, in the late nineteenth century. As he delves deeper into this grisly mystery, someone – something – begins to speak to him through the pages of time. Something half-formed and dark; something that draws Nathan and his bloodline back to Victorian Dublin and the horrors that took place there.

1890: Sergeant George Frohmell of the Dublin Metropolitan Police is under pressure. His beloved, bedraggled city has become the hunting ground for a faceless monster, a creature that preys on the poor and vulnerable, leaving them butchered in back alleys. As the death toll increases and the violence moves ever nearer to his own heart, Frohmell must find his man – or lose everything.

www.obrien.ie/i-am-in-blood

Enjoy a relaxed evening with local author Lorne Patterson including readings from his latest book Hour of the Witch

Adults. Thursday 3rd November from 7-9pm. €6 per person.
Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com

The witch-hunts failed. Now it’s their time.

Now it’s their turn.

A police probe into the strange death of a sexual predator leads Detective Sergeant Jamie McFadden, ex-Army hard man and now a divorced, isolated burn-out, to Haven. To the outside world the secluded Scottish clinic is a place of physical and spiritual recovery, but as McFadden soon discovers, Haven’s history runs deeper and darker than anyone could possibly imagine…

‘Hour of the Witch’ is a story of the witch-hunts told from ‘the other side of the hill’, that is, viewpoint of the persecuted. Against a historical back-drop of religious atrocity and the lingering gender malice and injustice still pervasive today, it a tale of obsessive, timeless vengeance - and its consequences. 

 

‘Hour of the Witch’ is an e-book out on Kindle (free through the Kindle Library system until Halloween). Link to Amazon page:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hour-Witch-Lorne-Patterson-ebook/dp/B01JH2CV6W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1471078329&sr=1-1&keywords=hour+of+the+witch

Lorne is a Co Longford-based psychiatric nurse and community educator who has worked in a number of countries, including Britain, the United States, South Africa and Russia. A past runner-up in the Sean Ó Faoláin short-story competition, he has been included in several anthologies, and his novella on mental illness and its treatment, Bad Blood (Wordsonthestreet Publishers, Galway) published to critical acclaim. 

Author Panel

Saturday 5th November 11am
Ages 12+ and adults
€4 per person
Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com
We are delighted to be able to facilitate this Author Panel this year. The Question and Answers discussion  will give all attendees a chance to glimpse the writing process from the other side.
Come along and get some tips from authors Ruth Frances Long, Joe Murphy and Lorne Patterson. These three wonderful writers will tell us about their books, and chat about what they love about writing. If you have any questions you would like to forward in advance let us know at creativeardagh@gmail.com.

The Nightmare Club

Saturday 5th November 2pm
Children and families
€3 per person
Bookings: 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com
Local story teller Maggi McKenna will enchant her audience with tales from The Nightmare Club by Annie Graves. Followed by the children's flash fiction awards.

"The Nightmare Club is not for, like, just ANYBODY. People who bring their teddies had better keep them well hidden. Only the spookiest, scariest stories get told here, and if you can't take it ... well, tough!
And take your thumb out of your mouth right now, or the bat nests in your hair."
http://littleisland.ie/books/the-nightmare-club-bundle/

Photography exhibition

Image from the 2015 photography exhibition

A selection of photography from County Longford students with Shelley Corcoran.
The exhibition will be open during all Ardagh Fright Fest events.

Shelley's students have delved deep into their imaginations to create a conceptual and haunting photography exhibition to launch Fright Fest. The dark, gothic and frightening images show a world that is somewhere between reality and somewhere we may be to in fear to venture. These images depict narratives that draw you in and let you become part of the obscure world that these artists have created. Immerse yourselves in this creation and feel the potency of the images that will stay with you long after you have departed.

It will run in conjunction with other events throughout the week.

Open for viewing: 
4pm to 5.30pm: Saturday 29th October;
4pm to 5.30pm: Sunday 30th October;
4pm to 5.30pm: Monday 31st October;
4pm to 5.30pm: Tuesday 1st November;
7pm to 9pm: Wednesday 2nd November;
10am to 5pm and 7pm to 9pm: Thursday 3rd November;
3.30am to 5pm and 7pm to 9pm: Friday 4th November;
11am to 5pm: Saturday 5th November.

Events

Events

Flash Fiction

Frightful Flash Fiction Competition
Creative Ardagh are delighted to present a Frightful Flash Fiction Competition in association with this year's Ardagh Fright Fest.

Get your creative juices flowing and send us in your scariest, spookiest or most twisted tales.
All genres welcome: gothic, fantasy, mythology, sci-fi, reality etc. The only rule is that you stick to a maximum of 300 words.

The awards ceremony will take place on Saturday 5th November. Adults and Teens awards at 1pm following the Author Panel discussion (11am) while children's awards are at 4pm following The Nightmare Club Storytime with Maggi McKenna (2pm).
Award winners will be notified in advance.
Maximum words: 300
All winning stories will be published online here on ardaghfrightfest.blogspot.ie and http://www.virtualwriter.ie

In addition to these prizes the Longford Leader have kindly agreed to publish a story from each category randomly selected from the Longford entries the week before Ardagh Fright Fest!!! #LongfordLeader and we will be publishing a small booklet with a large selection of the entries this time next year!

Send entries by email to: creativeardagh@gmail.com or by post to Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre, Ardagh, Co. Longford to reach us not later than

5pm on Monday 24th October

Incude your name, address and contact details on a separate sheet.
Fees can be paid online here or by cheque/money order made out to Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre.