A festive celebration to commemorate the life and work of novelist, broadcaster and short stories writer Sam Hanna Bell took place in Castlereagh Civic Offices from 15th to 20th August. The red thread of the festival consisted of a celebration of Joey Tomelty’s work, a great Northern Irish character actor and playwright, who worked in film, television, radio and on stage.
A Poetry Night with Moyra Donaldson and Maureen Boyle was held on 15th August, with the two local poets performing excerpts of poems and explaining their work, their source of inspiration and their motivation to the audience. Maureen’s pieces had an autobiographical feel, while Moyra’s pieces were chosen to highlight different inspirations, such as dreams and 18th century curiosities. The atmosphere was very relaxed and enjoyable.
A Writers’ Surgery followed on Tuesday 16th with writer Anne Harris as ‘surgeon’ ready to operate in Forestside! That was a great opportunity for writers to have their work viewed and to receive some hot tips about how to progress in writing, offering insights on a one-to-one basis. Anne cajoled and teased out some nice ideas with writing enthusiasts.
A Fiction Night took place on Wednesday 17th August, with guests David Lewis, Sheena Wilkinson and Bernie McGill, all awardees of the Arts Council NI ACES Programme. Each of these brilliant writers read a chapter or a short story from their books or recent published collections, followed by Q&A at the end. They also explained how they became writers, what led them to follow the creative path and let the literature fill up their lives. Bernie read an excerpts from her book The Butterfly Cabinet, followed by David who read a couple of his short stories, and Sheena reading her latest book Taking Flight – which had a great success at the Bistro Children’s Book the Year Award in Dublin, winning the Bistro Honour Award for Writing and the Children’s Choice Award. 
On Friday and Saturday Festival Lectures about Joe Tomelty and Sam Hanna Bell concluded the Festival. Roma Tomelty discussed her fathers’ achievements and legacy. The McCooeys, one of the most famous families in Belfast history, made an appearance too!
Saturday opened with a rehearsed reading of Tomelty’s The Elopment performed by Richard Millis, Roma Tomelty, Alex McClay, Hannah Devlin and Conor Maguire. It is a powerful piece of writing, with love, death, insanity and much more. Hannah’s ‘Molly’ was engaging and sympathetic; Richard Mills gave a sterling performance as a slippery, sleazy ‘no floostering’ Kilty, Roma’s cold-hearted Rebecca was unrelenting, while Alex delivered a haunting Uncle Matthew. Q&A with Roma Tomelty and a lecture by Sean McMahon, writer of Joe’s biography, followed. The Festival was brought to an end with a lovely reading from Joe’s only novel. 
Let’s hope the Festival continues and grows in terms of participation next year!
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