Irish Fest Camden adds an element of Irish culture and literature with its new event: Irish Authors Reading and Open Mic Night on Thursday, Feb. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Books on Broad.
The event will feature Irish poets Adrian Rice and Irish-American author and USC professor Dr. Ed Madden.
The community is invited to participate in Open Mic by sharing a favorite poem, story, or song. Irish and Celtic themes are encouraged for each performance. Participants may sign up by calling Books on Broad at (803) 713-READ [7323].
Adrian Rice is from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He graduated from the University of Ulster with a BA in English & Politics, and MPhil in Anglo-Irish Literature. He has delivered writing workshops, readings, and lectures throughout Europe, Russia, and the U.S. His poems first appeared in Muck Island (1990), a collaboration with leading Irish artist, Ross Wilson. Copies of this limited edition box-set of poems and images are housed in The Tate Gallery, and The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Mason’s Tongue (1999) was shortlisted for the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Literary Prize, nominated for the Irish Times Prize for Poetry, and translated into Hungarian by Thomas Kabdebo. Adrian was Visiting Writer-in-Residence at Lenoir-Rhyne University in 2005.
Rice’s family has settled in Hickory, from where he commutes to Boone for Doctoral studies at ASU, and to teach on the First Year Seminar Program. He has also teamed up with Hickory-based and fellow Belfastman, musician/songwriter Alan Mearns, to form “The Belfast Boys,” a dynamic Irish Traditional Music duo. Their debut album, Songs For Crying Out Loud, regularly airs across the Carolinas. Adrian’s latest books, The Clock Flower (2013), and Hickory Station (2015), are both published by Press 53. A poem from Hickory Station, “Breath,” was a Pushcart Prize nomination. Adrian’s new book is The Strange Estate: New & Selected Poems 1986-2017, also from Press 53.
Ed Madden is a professor of English and director of the Women’s & Gender Studies program at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches creative writing and Irish literature. He is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Ark. His poems have appeared in journals both here and in Ireland, as well as in Best New Poets 2007, The Book of Irish American Poetry, and Hard Lines: Rough South Poetry. He was a 2010 research fellow at the Centre for Irish Studies at the National University of Ireland in Galway and the 2017 Neenan Visiting Research Fellow at Boston College Ireland in Dublin. In 2015, he was named the poet laureate for the city of Columbia.
For more information visit www.irishfestcamden/openmic.
Irish Fest Camden Pub Crawl, Friday March 1, 7-11 p.m.
Irish Fest Camden announces its first pub crawl on Broad Street in downtown Camden on Friday, March 1 from 7 to 11 p.m.
Irish food and drink specials will be featured at Sam Kendall’s, Steeplechase Sports Bar & Grill, Salud Mexican Kitchen, The Venue, and “the restaurant formerly known as” Hifalutin. Featured musicians are Casey O’Reilly of Belfast, Ireland; Seldom Sober of Savannah, Ga.; Trip Rogers of Charlotte, N.C.; Camden native Anna Lynn Ferris, now of Nashville, Tenn.; and Camden’s own Bothar Tombfield. Fun and free swag giveaways by event sponsor Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits. Wear your most festive green attire and join in the fun at the Irish Fest Camden Pub Crawl. Visit www.irishfestcamden.com/barcrawl to print the Pub Crawl BINGO.
