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News
Next GLAS event
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
GLAS Events, Politics, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Mohamedou Ould Slahi (21.04.2021)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Mohamedou Ould Slahi was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay for 14 years, an innocent man held in a living hell courtesy of the United States as it prosecuted the so-called War on Terror. His gripping memoir, published as Guantánamo Diary, has been reissued as The Mauritanian with previously censored material restored. It coincides with a major film…
GLAS Events, Online, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Robert Jones Jr (08.03.2021)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Robert Jones Jr. has just published his stunning debut novel The Prophets to enormous critical acclaim. He was born and raised in New York City. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Essence, OkayAfrica, The Feminist Wire, and The Grio. He is the creator of the social justice social media community…
GLAS Events, Politics, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Mukesh Kapila (11.12.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Mukesh Kapila is one of the most influential voices on the world stage when it comes to humanitarian action. He is widely celebrated for raising his voice against the genocide in Darfur which led to his expulsion from Sudan, a rare fate for a UN country representative. His memoir about that experience Against a Tide…
GLAS Events, Music
John Spillane – Live online for GLAS – 03.12.2020
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
It has been a while since we offered you a musical evening and it is even further back in the pre-COVID past since that magical evening we enjoyed in the company of John Spillane in the Lutheran Evangelical Church here in Geneva. Generous sponsorship has made it possible to invite all GLAS members to join…
GLAS Events, Politics, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Mark Malloch-Brown (04.06.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
If there is one lesson that Lord Mark Malloch-Brown has learned in his years as a globe-trotting humanitarian and development specialist, it is that “democracy does not flow easily from the barrel of a foreigner’s gun.” An understandable sentiment from the man who founded the International Crisis Group and whose classic memoir The Unfinished Global…
GLAS Events, Online, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Christine Dwyer Hickey (28.05.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
The librarians of Dublin, the city associated with so many great writers, celebrate one book every year – Dublin, One City, One Book. These have included James Joyce’s Dubliners, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Roddy’s Doyle’s Barrytown Trilogy, and Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray. This year they have chosen a modern day classic, Tatty by Christine Dwyer Hickey,…
GLAS Events, Politics, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Patrick Cockburn (21.05.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
The renowned war correspondent Patrick Cockburn who forecast the rise of ISIS in 2014, will provide the GLAS Hour with a first taste of his new book War in the Age of Trump this Thursday evening at 20:00 CEST. The book is due out in July and promises to be a fascinating on-the-ground account of…
GLAS Events, Politics, Prose
The GLAS HOUR – Meet the Author: Kishore Mahbubani (14.05.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Could the US and China end up going to war? That is one of the questions we will put to the distinguished author, academic and former President of the UN Security Council, Kishore Mahbubani, when we talk to him about his fascinating new book Has China Won? during this week’s GLAS Hour, which comes to…
GLAS Events, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Kevin Barry (08.05.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
“If Roddy Doyle and Nick Cave could procreate, the result would be something like Kevin Barry,” according to one critic. The Limerick-born author exploded onto the international literary scene with his firecracker collection of short stories, There are Little Kingdoms, in 2007, and soon became a regular contributor to The New Yorker. Kevin Barry is…
Poetry, Prose, Review
That was the GLAS Hour with… Colm Tóibín
by Denis McClean •
The GLAS Hour presented viewers with a world exclusive last Wednesday when our guest Colm Tóibín read an extract from his work in progress, The Magician in which he promises to do for the life of Thomas Mann what he did so successfully for Henry James in The Master. Watch the interview in full here.…
GLAS Events, Online, Poetry, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Colm Tóibín (29.04.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Colm Tóibín is an award-winning author. He is also a professor of the humanities at Columbia University, New York. He was born in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, the setting for several of his books. His novels include The Master, Nora Webster and The House of Names. The film adaptation of Brooklyn earned three Oscar nominations in…
GLAS Events, Politics, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: James Shapiro (22.04.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
“Ultimately there rises the familiar suspicion that, for a country in love with the future, it’s always yesterday in America. Among all the fine words currently being spilled examining the American mess, James Shapiro has outshone many of our best political pundits with this superb contribution to the discourse. He upped the wattage simply by…
GLAS Events, Politics, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: John McEntee (06.04.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Anyone cocooned, marooned or feeling like some diversion can tune in to a conversation with one of Fleet Street’s finest foot soldiers next Monday. John McEntee’s devout mother once spent EUR 1,000 on having masses said in Catholic churches throughout Ireland for his salvation and the Hollywood actor Richard Harris sued him for libel following…
GLAS Events, Online, Prose
The GLAS Hour – Meet the Author: Padraig Rooney (30.03.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
We hope all our supporters, families and friends are staying healthy and well. Physical distancing should not mean social distancing, so we’ve decided to run an occasional series of online Meet the Author interviews over Zoom. Much depends though on the response to this first one and whether there is sufficient interest. It is intended…
GLAS Events, Theatre
Howie the Rookie (22.02.2020)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell shot to movie stardom after they featured in the cult hit, Intermission, written by Mark O’Rowe. O’Rowe’s masterpiece for the stage, Howie the Rookie, has been revived and is now on tour from Glass Mask Theatre in Dublin. It stars Stephen Jones and Rex Ryan, two of Ireland’s most outstanding…
Music, Review
Lisa Lambe lights up the Geneva night
by Denis McClean •
There are not many times in a professional singer’s life when she spontaneously yields the stage to a member of the audience. It happened Friday night when Lisa Lambe called young Molly O’Sullivan up on to the stage to sing the chorus of her song Hazelwood with the support of John McLaughlin on guitar and…
GLAS Events, Music
Lisa Lambe – A Winter’s Night (06.12.2019)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
For this year’s GLAS Christmas Concert, we are delighted to host Lisa Lambe, one of Ireland’s most sought-after performers. Lisa regularly works with Ireland’s national RTÉ Concert Orchestra. For several years she toured the world as one of the lead singers with “Celtic Woman”, playing such venues as Carnegie Hall and Radio City, New York.…
Review, Theatre
GLAS welcomes back Donal O’Kelly
by Denis McClean •
In the 14 years of GLAS, most people seem to recall one production more than others and that is Donal O’Kelly’s masterpiece Catalpa; so good we staged it twice. GLAS has also hosted his Fionnuala, Joyced (performed by his daughter Katie O’Kelly), and Little Thing, Big Thing. Donal’s return to the Geneva stage was long…
GLAS Events, Theatre
The Cambria (14.11.2019)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Many GLAS supporters will remember the tour-de-force that was Catalpa, performed by Donal O’Kelly, and so popular that we have staged it twice. Donal is coming back to Geneva next month with another celebrated work, The Cambria. The Cambria was a trans-Atlantic paddle-steamer. In August 1845 among the passengers on board out of Boston was…
Music, Review
Humour, heart and hope as Luka returns to Geneva
by Eoghan O'Sullivan •
Early on during his gig in Geneva last night, Luka Bloom said he was more inclined towards sad songs and somewhat suspicious of happy ones. That may be true, but the songs he sang for us filled the room with warmth and joy, albeit with a few bittersweet moments along the way. From the wry…
GLAS Events, Music
Luka Bloom (23.09.2019)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
“I used to worry a lot about songs, my career. I’ve stopped that now. I believe genuinely if I try to be true to myself and write my songs with a good heart, and sing them with a good heart, then I’ll be taken care of.” It is ten years since GLAS had the pleasure…
News
All you need is love and a little bit of cash
by Denis McClean •
From Denis McClean, in Darjeeling When I look at this photograph, it makes me think of a life-boat crammed with children. Watching and listening to them playing marbles or throwing a ball around, you would never guess the heartache and suffering that many have endured. Some had been sold into virtual slavery by their impoverished…
Music, Review
Another great night in the annals of GLAS
by Denis McClean •
Irish songwriters must be forming a disorderly queue to have Lisa Lambe record their offerings. Last night in Geneva she sang a song Paul Brady left unrecorded for thirty years before he offered it to her. She had to find one of those funny old cassette player things to listen to his rough cut of…
GLAS Events, Music
Songs from Ireland: Old and New (25.01.2019)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
GLAS is honoured to host “Songs from Ireland: Old and New 2019” featuring seven outstanding singers and musicians from Ireland whose work is inspired by the Celtic tradition. The show blends the traditional and the contemporary in an evocative and captivating performance. The show will take you on a musical journey featuring the expressive play…
Music, Review
John Spillane: was he brilliant or what?
by Denis McClean •
“There was a touch of magic here tonight.” That’s how one smiling punter summed up our evening last night with the great John Spillane in the simple setting of the Lutheran Evangelical Church in the heart of Geneva’s old town. The acoustics were great and you could savour every chord of his beautiful guitar playing,…
GLAS Events, Music
John Spillane (13.12.2018)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
For more than 35 years, the songs of John Spillane have provided a musical background to life in Ireland. They have been performed by such luminaries as Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon, Sean Keane and Mary Black, but it is John himself who brings these special songs to life in his memorable and moving live performances.…
Music, Review
Sharon Shannon plays up a storm
by Denis McClean •
GLAS suppporters got a real treat last night as Sharon Shannon and her band made their Geneva debut to a packed house at the Centre des Arts, on Ecolint’s La Grande Boissière campus. She surrounds herself with great musicians: Jim Murray (acoustic guitar), Sean Regan (fiddle, percussion and beatbox) and Jack Maher (electric guitar and…
GLAS Events, Music
Sharon Shannon (24.11.2017)
by Geneva Literary Aid Society •
Sharon Shannon has music at her fingertips….literally! The accordionist from Ireland has achieved legendary status throughout the world and has made the much-maligned accordion ‘cool’ in her home country. She is renowned for her collaborations, not just in Irish traditional music, but through all musical genres, hip-hop, cajun, country, classical and rap. The Geneva Literary…
Music, Review
Standing ovation for Luka Bloom
by Denis McClean •
Luka Bloom’s agent in Switzerland told me that in all the Swiss German towns Luka performed in before coming to Geneva last Saturday his songs were met with polite applause but an uncomprehending silence greeted his stories about the songs. Saturday night’s sold-out show for GLAS, packed with Irish and other anglophone expats, must have…