Conference 2018 highlights

Glenn Patterson is the author of three works of non-fiction and ten novels, most recently his 2016 book Gull. He is the co-writer of Good Vibrations, with Colin Carberry, for BBC Films, which the pair adapted for stage at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. He has written plays for Radio 3 and Radio 4. With composer Neil Martin, Glenn wrote Long Story Short: the Belfast Opera in 2016. He is the director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Born in Galway, Irish poet and playwright Rita Ann Higgins was one of 13 children in her family, and left school aged 14. She began to write poetry in her twenties after being hospitalised with tuberculosis. Her work often tackles issues such as social inequality and combines passion, conviction and wit. She has published 11 books of poetry including Tongulish, Ireland Is Changing Mother and Throw in the Vowels: New & Selected Poems.

Laura, a champion of socially engaged art practices, was the president and executive director of the Queens Museum in New York until January 2018. At the museum she oversaw an ambitious programme of exhibitions, events and activities. She is currently writing a book about neutrality in museums and will discuss this at the Belfast conference. Laura spent a decade at Dia Art Foundation, where she was the deputy director.

Belfast 2018

Belfast 2018

Belfast 2018

Belfast 2018

Belfast 2018

Belfast 2018

Belfast 2018