Readings and Risings: The rising the morning after

A night to remember’ is the way the NEICN seminar of St Patrick’s Day has been described.

As with all NEICN seminars in the past, the evening was a fantastic success and proceeded without a problem, a record number of students and community members attended to hear the guest speakers deliver their spectacular papers- an intellectual hot potato of debates ranging from topics regarding the Bald Robert Emmet and his heroic rebellion to W. B. Yeats and his passion for all things oriental and Seamus Deane and his love of all things Gothic, dark and looming. These papers were concluded with open questions from all, followed by a presentation of a bottle of champagne and a Shamrock cake, in order to celebrate a fantastic night and the award of Leverhulme bid by Alison O’Malley- Younger and John Strachan.

Once this event concluded matters turned to making sure everyone was dressed and presented fabulously in order to show NEICN at its best.

At The Bonded Warehouse, the chosen venue, things started fantastically with live music and singing from Emma Callaghan and Mark Bushell, which was later followed by Alison O’Malley- Younger, Colin Younger, Dave Lucas and the other members of Aos Diana (the gifted ones)- the music and the merriment continued until the early hours of the morning allowing all those who attended a chance to mingle and enjoy the night to it’s fullest.

Gemma Hughes, a Postgraduate student, commented that; ‘ it was a brilliant night, I enjoyed the music and the atmosphere- it was a fantastic that so many student turned up to support NEICN and the team.’

Emma Callaghan, a community member and local musician, said that ‘I loved the crowd I loved the mix of people, from students to lectures to those local people from Sunderland. Overall a fantastic event, looking forward to more.’

Call for Papers: Re-imagining Ireland (s)

Re-imagining Ireland(s)

Following the success of its last five international conferences: Representing-Ireland: Past, Present and Future, (2003) and The Word, The Icon and The Ritual, (2004), Lands of Saints of Scholars, [2005], Ireland: Renaissance, Revolution and Regeneration, (2006) and Ireland at War and Peace (2007) the University of Sunderland, in association with NEICN, is soliciting papers for an interdisciplinary conference, which will run from 14-16 November 2008.

The conference organisers hope to represent a wide range of approaches to Irish culture from academics and non¬-academics alike. Performances, roundtables, collaborative projects, and other non¬-traditional presentations are encouraged in addition to conference papers. We particularly welcome proposals for panels. As with previous year’s conference, we welcome submissions for panels and papers under the thematic headings of: Re-Imagining Ireland(s), in the following areas: Literature, Performing Arts, History, Politics, Folklore and Mythology, Ireland in Theory, Gender and Ireland Anthropology, Sociology, Geography, Tourism, Art and Art History, Music, Dance, Media and Film Studies, Cultural Studies, and Studies of the Diaspora. North American and other international scholars, practitioners in the arts, and postgraduate students are all encouraged to submit proposals to the conference organisers.

We also welcome proposals for papers in absentia for delegates who wish to participate but may find it difficult to attend the event.LENGTH – Papers should not exceed 2,500 – 3,000 words/20 minutes’ deliveryDEADLINES

Enquiries and submissions should be submitted by 30th July, 2007 to the conference coordinators-
Dr Alison O’Malley-Younger – alison.younger@sunderland.ac.uk
Professor John Strachan – john.strachan@sunderland.ac.uk

All papers must be copied to the conference administrator, Ms Susan Cottam – susan.cottam@sunderland.ac.uk