Leading Irish writer Frank McGuinness at Hewitt Summer School

FRANK McGuinness is considered one of Ireland’s greatest living writers, and the John Hewitt Society is delighted that, at long last, he has agreed to take part in this year’s John Hewitt International Summer school for two daytime events at the Market Place Theatre, Armagh, on Thursday 27 July.

Although he is best known as a playwright, he started out as a poet and is highly regarded as such. So there will be two opportunities to see and hear the Dublin-based writer when he takes part in both a Poetry Reading and an In Conversation event when he will talk about his playwriting career.

Frank McGuinness is a globally renowned Irish playwright and regarded as one of Ireland's leading dramatists. Since 1982, when “The Factory Girls” was produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, he has become one of the most prolific and widely respected playwrights working in the Irish theatre.

The 1985 production of his World War 1 play, “Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme”, again premiered at The Abbey Theatre, before transferring to London and confirming his reputation as a playwright of importance. It won numerous awards including the London Eveing Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright for McGuinness and the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize.

Among McGuinness’s many other acclaimed plays are “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me”, “There Came a Gypsy Riding” and “Dolly West’s Kitchen”, which was once produced by Armagh Theatre Group at the Market Place Theatre Another of his palys, “The Factory Girls” was seen by Armagh audiences in another ATG production at the Orchard Leisure Centre many years ago.

His most recent original play, ”Dinner With Groucho”, imagines a fictional dinner date between comedian Groucho Marx and writer T.S. Eliot. It was premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in October 2022 and was also seen at the Belfast International Arts Festival in 2022, before transferring to the Arcola Theatre in London.

McGuinness has also adapted and written new versions of classic drama including plays by Lorca, Chekhov, Brecht, Strindberg, Pirandello and Sophocles, and his version of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House won a ‘Tony’ award in 1997.

His most recent adaptation was his version of the 17th century classic, Molière’s “Tartuffe”, was given an audacious contemporary makeover in a critically acclaimed Abbey Theatre production in Dublin, before touring Ireland.

He wrote the screenplay for the film “Dancing at Lughnasa”, adapting the Tony award-winning stage play by fellow Ulsterman, Brian Friel. And McGuinness’s versatility as a writer was confirmed with the publication of two novels, “Arimathea” in 2013 and “The Woodcutter and His Family in 2017.

The Gallery Press published McGuinness's first poetry anthology, “Booterstown” in 1994, and since then have published six more of his poetry collections, including “The Stone Jug”, “Dulse” and “The Wedding Breakfast”, and several of his poems have been recorded by Marianne Faithfull.

The most recent collection, “May Twenty Second”, celebrates and mourns our times, alert to their secrets and their strangeness, their perils and passions, with unforgettable images.

A member of Aosdána, Frank McGuinness is Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing in UCD which honoured him with the UCD Ulysses Medal in 2019, awarded to individuals whose work has made an outstanding global contribution

For his interview at JHISS on 27 July at 1.30pm, Frank McGuinness will be In Conversation with Aideen Howard, Director of The Ark Cultural Centre for children in Dublin, has worked for over two decades as an artistic director, producer and commissioner of new work.

Tickets for both Frank McGuinness events are on sale at the Market Place Theatre Box Office on 03300 561 025 and online at boxoffice@marketplacetheatre.com.