The Gerard Manly Hopkins Festival

The 20th International Hopkins Festival ended on Friday last, after a busy and varied week in Monasterevin. During the festival, the attendees got the opportunity to visit places where Hopkins had spent his time while in Kildare, as well as analysing his contribution to poetry. Festival organiser Viv Abbott said: “We were very happy - we had huge attendance at all events and our youth programme has continued to grow and develop in all ways. We also had a very helpful group of volunteers during the week.”


A Victorian poet, Hopkins was an Englishman who spent some time in Monasterevin throughout his life. He even described it as “one of the props and struts of my existence”.
The organisers of the festival promised it was to be the best festival yet, and with a huge range of activities on offer, it’s fair to say they weren’t wrong.


The events include an Irish music concert, art exhibitions, a festival club with performances and singing, poetry readings and lectures. There was also a field-trip to Newbridge, where the highlight was the presentation of the O’Connor Literary Award to Japanese scholar, Hikaru Kitabayashi during a special banquet hosted by Newbridge Silverware.


This year’s festival may be over, but work has already begun on next year’s event.