| The Saturday
night event for this years Athlone Literary
Festival features acclaimed award winning Irish
poet, Micheal Harding reading from his weekly
column in the Irish Times and is preceded by
Philomena Lynott discussing her astonishing
new biography ‘My Boy’.
The event opens in the Shamrock Lodge from
8pm and Athlone Literary Festival Committee
Member Ursula Daly explains why ‘My Boy’
is such a unique tale. “It is one of the
most extraordinary stories ever told. In 1949,
at the age of just 18, Philomena Lynott gave
birth to her first son, Philip Parris Lynott.
She was Irish, Catholic, unmarried and living
in Birmingham and her son was black. He grew
up to become one of the most important and influential
Irish musicians of all time with the legendary
Thin Lizzy. In 1995, she wrote My Boy, an astonishingly
intimate and moving account of her life with
the rock star son she loved – and of his
shocking demise. Acclaimed by critics and fans
alike, it went to No.1 in the best sellers.
We are delighted to welcome her to the festival
and I’m sure that her story will be of
great interest to music fans”. Philomena
will be joined by Hot Press Journalist, Jackie
Hayden.
Michael Harding's plays have been performed
by the Abbey Theatre and numerous other Irish
companies, he is an award winning author with
three books Priest, The Trouble with Sarah Gullion
and Bird in the Snow. But it is excerpts from
his weekly column in The Irish Times, Displaced
in Mullingar, that will feature in this years
literary festival. Harding is one of Ireland’s
most treasured poets, writers, performers and
social commentators and he will return to his
native midlands for this event.
Philomena and Michael Harding will be joined
by musician Ciaran Burke and friends. Tickets
are €15 and the price includes wine and
supper.
Athlone Literary Festival takes place on October
7th, 8th and 9th. A full festival programme
is available on www.athloneliteraryfestival.com
and the Festival can also be found on Facebook
and Twitter.
To make a booking, please contact literaryathlone@gmail.com
or phone/text 086 2282760.
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