Library hosts blend of literature and music
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Poet and short story writer Amy Abdullah Barry recently curated an unforgettable mixed-media literary event at the Aidan Heavey Library, Athlone. Blending live music with evocative poetry and a powerful fiction reading, the evening brought together to a lively audience.
The event featured a compelling lineup: poems from D’Or Seifer living in Limerick, Catherine Ronan from Cork, and Amy Abdullah Barry herself were interwoven with musical interludes. Vocalist Liadh and guitarist Patrick Stefan delivered soulful performances.
The second half of the evening featured Canadian novelist Matthew James Jones, currently based in Paris, reading from his latest novel, Predators, Reapers and Deadlier Creatures. A best-selling, award-winning author and veteran of the Afghanistan conflict, Jones's searing narrative explores the brutal reality of drone warfare and its dehumanising impact—on both the victims and the operators.
Jones’s work, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, sheds light on how modern conflicts increasingly rely on remote-controlled technologies that distance perpetrators from the devastation they inflict. “I wrote it as a shrine for all the friends who came home from war and took their own lives.” At the heart of this unflinching critique of modern warfare lies a deeply moving love story.
Marking the final stop on his promotional tour across Ireland—organisd by Amy Abdullah Barry—Jones emphasisd his dual devotion: “I worship two gods: the first is art; the second, peace.”
Predators, Reapers and Deadlier Creatures is now available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Predators-Reapers-Deadlier-Creatures-Matthew-
Amy Abdullah Barry extends her heartfelt thanks to the Aidan Heavey Library for hosting this extraordinary event and to all who attended in celebration of literature and music.