Things To Do: Take the road to god knows where, fear the mainland, dig the new newsletters

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First Fridays at MoLI

It is the start of April and as is often the case, on Friday 3 April, that means the Museum of Literature Ireland is holding its latest First Fridays event.

From 6pm, you’ll be able to head in to view the museum’s latest exhibition, Wild Ireland, which asks how poetry, storytelling and language offer a way to connect, or reconnect, with nature. Featuring more than 90 texts from the 6th century to the present, and celebrating writers like Amergin Glúingel, Jane Clarke and Paula Meehan, the exhibit demonstrates the varied representations of nature in Irish literature.

Then, at 6:30pm, poet and author Molly Twomey will be giving a reading from her latest collection, Chic to be Sad. And, at 8:30pm, the composer and artist David Donohoe will deliver a live immersive performance “at the intersection of instrumentation, synthesis, and field recording”.

For more information, visit the MoLI website here.

AS IF in Conversation with Donal Dineen

On Sunday, PhotoIreland is set to wrap up AS IF, its latest exhibition at the International Centre for the Image. Featuring the works of photographer Eamonn Doyle, artist-designer Niall Sweeney, and composer David Donohoe, their multimedia show brought together film, sound, painting, text and drawing to look at “the combined forces of an unstable material world and the inner world of its inhabitants”.

If you haven’t had a chance to view it yet, the afternoon of Saturday 4 April may be the perfect time, because at 2pm, the trio will be down in the centre to discuss their show with radio presenter and filmmaker Donal Dineen.

The conversation promises to offer insight into the “prolific and exciting process” behind their collaborative work, origins and influence.

Tickets for the talk are free, and can be booked here.

Guzzle, issue three

Guzzle, the new print publication, which tells tales to “tantalise your thoughts and tastebuds”, just dropped its third issue on Sunday.

This issue of the magazine turns its focus to the multi-layered, often contradictory ideas of home and its relationship with food. At a time when the concept of “place” feels difficult to define, contributing writers were invited to consider what home means through what we cook, consume and gather around.

Featuring short and longform essays, artworks and vignettes, Guzzle’s latest offering looks at Irish pubs overseas, a cookbook club in Copenhagen, growing up in Hanoi, and the idea that home is as much a feeling as a place.

Among the contributors to the magazine’s third issue are Sian Conway, Jasmin Jelley, Trà My Nguyễn Hoàng, Killian Fallon, Aoife Ward and Eve Woods.

For more information, and to grab a copy of the third issue, visit the Guzzle website here.

Carpark Sci-Fi EP launch

Back in February, songwriter and artist Gav Cowley, otherwise known as Carpark Sci-Fi, released his spacey lo-fi single "Wake Me Up", the first track from his new EP The Hundreds of Halves.

The EP officially dropped yesterday, and across six tracks, Cowley delivers an enchanting mix of fuzzy 1990s indie guitars, hauntingly looped folk-inspired compositions, and late-night lonesomeness expressed through old pianos recorded on grainy tapes.

Recalling the likes of Julian Cope, Pavement, Spacehog and The Good, The Bad and The Queen, The Hundreds of Halves is a dreamy and spectral work that deserves to be heard on a crackling record player. What luck then that it is not only available digitally, but also on 10-inch vinyl, which can be purchased here.

If you enjoy the EP, then it would be worth heading over to Curveball in Temple Bar on Saturday night 4 April where Carpark Sci-fi will be officially launching the release. The gig starts at 7:30pm, and support comes from Sneak Past Demons.

Tickets are €10 and can be purchased here.

Salon Rógaire: Newsletter

On Tuesday evening, 7 April, Salon Rógaire, the queer Irish-language literary salon, is returning to the Winding Stair bookshop on Ormond Quay.

Curated by poet, writer and musician Róisín Nic Ghearailt, this particular gathering will be the official launch of their newsletter – a regular bulletin issued to subscribers via email or post – and which promises to bring its readers bilingual and bisexual updates from Dublin and beyond.

To mark the occasion, Nic Ghearailt’s latest salon will feature some of the heavy hitters from Dublin’s Substack scene: Sian Conway of Bosca Macántacht; Emma Ní Chearúil of Gingeripod "ag spreagadh ár samhlaíocht" and Trà My Nguyễn Hoàng of A Woman About Town.

The event is BYOB, and all profits will go to Fighting Words, the literacy organisation that provides children and adults the “write to right”. Tickets are on sale here, and there are also five no-cost tickets which are available if you email roisinnee@gmail.com.

Alan Gilsenan Retrospective

From Wednesday, the Irish Film Institute will be running a new retrospective devoted to filmmaker Alan Gilsenan.

Featuring 10 of Gilsenan’s films, including two of his four feature-length dramas, the season will kick off with a screening of The Road to God Knows Where. Released in 1988, The Road creates a portrait of disillusioned youth during a period of unemployment, emigration and political crisis.

Running until 30 April, the films in this retrospective will be introduced either by Gilsenan or by his collaborators, such as Marsha Hunt, who will be attending for Marsha Hunt: Made in America (Sunday 12 April), and Stephen Rea and composers Jim O’Rourke and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh who will be attending the special advance preview screening of The Journey of Weather-Exposed Bones (Sunday 26 April).

Gilsenan will give a talk to close out the retrospective on Thursday 30 April at 6:30pm.

The Road To God Knows Where screens at 6:30pm this Wednesday. Tickets are available here, and to see what else is showing as part of the season, visit the IFI website here.

Few and Far Between by Jan Carson

Finally, next Thursday, 9 April, author Jan Carson will be launching her new novel Few and Far Between in Books Upstairs.

Set during the summer of 2017, Carson takes the reader to the Lough Neagh Archipelago as its last few residents face imminent eviction, because their homes are about to be flooded in order to combat a devastating algae outbreak. For its inhabitants, the Lough Neagh Archipelago was a kind of utopia, an escape from the Troubles on the mainland. As its central characters, Robert-John and Marion Connolly are forced to up and leave after living there for 47 years, they are confronted with the daunting prospect of life on the mainland, and questions of whether this home ever was truly a utopia?

To celebrate the release of this surreal novel about history, identity and redemption, Jan Carson will be in the store from 6:30pm to discuss the text with writer Neil Hegarty.

Attendance is free but booking is essential. Reserve a seat here.

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From live performances to visual art and community storytelling, it celebrates the richness and diversity of the area. Come along and experience a festival rooted in creativity, connection, and local pride.

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Santry Forum Quiz Night

Santry Forum will be holding its annual quiz night on Wednesday, 22 April at the Clonliffe Barriers Bar at Morton Stadium.

Entry for the quiz, which starts at 8pm, is €35 for a table of four if you book in advance, or €40 on the night.

For more information, follow Santry Forum on social media here or visit their website here.

BELIEVE Balbriggan

On Saturday, 11 April, the Flemington Community Centre will be hosting BELIEVE Balbriggan, a local expo that showcases the town’s sports clubs, cultural organisations, community groups, businesses, education providers, emergency services and agency partners.

Kicking off at 12pm, the expo is set to feature craft workshops, mindfulness, sensory space, music, sports, food, emergency services, a raffle and musical bingo, and more than 70 exhibitors.

For more information, visit the BELIEVE Balbriggan website here.

Did Daddy Laugh

Dublin's only dedicated night  of new sketch comedy returns to The Pearse Centre on 4 April, featuring never before seen sketches from some of Dublin's best comics.

Doors open at 7:30pm, and the line-up for the night will include Siomha McQuinn, Giles Brody, Eoin Potts, Saorla Rodgers, Shane Langan, Rory Connolly and Ross McCarney.

Tickets are available here.