This month we a joined in the attic by poets Mary O’Donnell and Jean O’Brien.

This month on the Attic Sessions we have a performance special with appearances by The Poetry Divas and Tommy Keyes.

The Divas – Kate Dempsey, Barbara Smith and Maeve O’Sullivan – perform a unique set of poems about family, friends and the ‘odd’ terms we use for female appendages. Tommy Keyes performs a song called ‘Surprised by Joy’ from his album Some Of These Stories Are True.

In the first of our profile films about Irish writers, poet Seamus Cashman reads from his long poem The Sistine Gaze.

This month we thought we’d try something completely different and report from one of Ireland’s most inspiring Summer Schools, The John Hewitt Society International Summer School in Armagh City.

Now in its 29th year, the John Hewitt Summer School features talks, readings, theatre, performances, discussions and workshops in a unique blend of culture and creativity.

In The Attic Sessions this month, we talk about the poetry scene in Northern Ireland.  Belfast poets Maria McManus and Stephen Connolly talk about the experience for poets now compared with twenty years ago and the issues around anthologies and read from their own work.