Yeats Marathon

Yeats Day, June 13th 2015, marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of W. B. Yeats. Many events were held in Sligo to honour the anniversary of the famous poet. On the day, Sligo Drama Circle performed a unique event – a marathon reading of the entire poetic works of W.B. Yeats.

The event was held in the beautiful surroundings of the Digital Hub in Stephen Street, home of OmniScience Design Digital Agency (OSD). We are grateful to Catríona and the OSD team for allowing us to use the unique venue for the venture and for the technical back-up. Thanks also to Ray Duffy for organising the sound. We are also grateful to the Yeats 2015 organisation for their support and encouragement.

The event was also streamed across the internet via a Google Hangout and more than 200 people joined us at various times during the day via the internet. Many people joined us in person throughout the day, dropping in to listen to a few poems and leaving again to catch another Yeats-themed event.

378 poems were read by a dedicated team of 17 readers. Commencing at 12 noon, the entire event took almost eight and a half hours to complete, a feat we believe has not been attempted before. The readers, in order of appearance were:

• Micheál Kearney (no.s 1-8)
• Meadhbh Murtagh (no.s 9-14)
• David Byrne (no.s 15-19)
• Meadhbh Kenneally (no.s 20-30)
• Killian Filan (no.s 31-61)
• Evanne Kilgannon (no.s 62-76)
• Stephen Mc Gurrin (no.s 77-90)
• Colin Gilligan (no.s 91-118)
• Harry Conway (no.s 119-148)
• Catherine Bell (no.s 149-181)
• Paddy Curley (no.s 182-213)
• Máire Hynes (no.s 214-245)
• Fintan Whelan (246-278)
• Siobhán Dooney (no.s 279-309)
• Michael Leyden (no.s 310-333)
• Orla Mc Sharry (no.s 334-358)
• Averyl Dooher (no.s 359-378)

The event was also supporting two great local charities – North West Hospice and Sligo Cancer Support Centre. The amount raised has not yet been finalised.

View a Gallery of images of the event HERE