4th December 2006

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Two significant publications of creative writing by Professor Robert Welch, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ulster, will be launched at the Linenhall Library tonight. 

The reception and reading will mark the recent publication of Robert Welch’s stage debut Protestants and his fourth collection of poetry The Evergreen Road, both published by Lagan Press. 

Protestants, which was premiered by Ransom Productions to rave reviews in 2004, is a breakneck exploration of the social, political, cultural and theological impulses behind the idea and choosing of dissent.

Professor Welch said: “The play reaches back into Elizabethan times, and forward into the contemporary moment, bringing to the stage incidents of protestant decision or crisis. The drama celebrates the energy and directness of the Protestant faith, but does not shirk from portraying the violence which sectarian hatred can bring.” 

The award-winning actor Richard Dormer, best known for his tour-de-force performance as Alex Higgins in the play Hurricane, will perform extracts from the play at the event. 

Also being launched is Welch’s most recent collection of poetry The Evergreen Road.  The collection is marked by a belief in the value of the intimate, the domestic and the personal.  Reflections on landscape, childhood memories of the author's native Cork City, the perils of love, the exhilarations of friendship both personal and intellectual, mortality and the joys of fatherhood are all explored in the collection.  Professor Welch will read selected poems from The Evergreen Road at the launch.

The reception and reading will take place from 7pm in the Performance Space of the Linenhall Library, Belfast on Monday 04 December.  For further information contact the Cultural Development Office on: 028 7137 5658. 

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter