Aspects Festival is delighted to host a series of events which will celebrate and support new writers and new publications. This year’s festival takes place in Bangor from 27 September – 7 October.
Join authors Fionola Meredith and Olivia Fitzsimons in North Down Museum on Thursday 5 October, as they discuss their new books with Nuala McKeever. The Stamp of Beauty is Fionola Meredith’s debut novel. Fionola is a writer, broadcaster and commentator, based in Belfast. She is a long- established contributor to the Irish Times and to BBC Northern Ireland and writes a weekly opinion column in the Belfast Telegraph. Set in modern-day Ireland, The Stamp of Beauty is an unsettling novel that charts the course of an unlikely and deeply dysfunctional ‘age-gap’ relationship to its inevitable conclusion.
The Quiet Whispers Never Stop is Olivia Fitzsimons‘ first novel and was shortlisted for the 2022 Butler Literary Award. The book is set in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s, and is a story of love, obsession and escape, an uncompromising, lyrical tour-de- force that marks the arrival of an extraordinary new voice in Irish fiction. Olivia’s writing has appeared in numerous publications including The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly, Banshee, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
Glenn Patterson’s latest book Two Summers is a pair of novellas, set over two pivotal summers in the lives of two young men from Belfast as they recall the constraints of the place where they were born and the times in which they are living. Capturing the innocence of adolescent boys, their passion, confusion and yearning, Two Summers is for anyone who has ever been young.
Professor Glenn Patterson is an award- winning writer, screen-writer and broadcaster. He has been the Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast since 2017. Join Glenn at his event in Bangor Castle on Friday 6 October.
On Saturday, 30 September, author Maggie Doyle will lead a creative walk along Bangor’s beautiful Coastal Path. Maggie will read from her new book Mountain Notes, A Nature Diary for inspiration as the group walks, take notes, pause for readings, sketching and stories.
Speaking about the events, Festival Director Patricia Hamilton said: ‘We are delighted that Glenn Patterson will be reading from his newly launched book at Aspects this year. New writing has always been important to the festival and we are pleased to be hosting fiction events with Fionola Meredith and Olivia Fitzsimons. Maggie Doyle will also join us and read for a unique festival event where we will walk along the coastal path and use nature to inspire our writing.’
Aspects Festival runs until from 27 September to 7 October at various locations around Bangor. For further information on the programme and to book tickets see: aspectsfestival.com