Arise in 2015 to celebrate the ‘wild Atlantic poet’

Followers of Irish literature will not want to miss next year’s national and international celebration marking the 150 years since the birth of WB Yeats, one of the country’s greatest literary figures.

The year-long Yeats 2015 event will celebrate and commemorate the life, works, influence and achievements of the poet, dramatist, Nobel-prize winner and Irish national treasure, who was born on 13 June, 1865.

The celebrations will be rooted in Sligo on Ireland’s wild Atlantic coast – Yeats’ ‘spiritual home’ – and connect with Dublin, Galway and other counties as well as international cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo, Toronto and New York. Key events are being lined up for venues such as Coole Park, IT Sligo, the National Library of Ireland, the National Concert Hall and the British Library. They will showcase Yeats’ and Ireland’s inspiring creativity with a celebratory cultural programme in genres including poetry, literature, drama, music, fine art and craft.

Given the poet’s connections all around the world, from societies to festivals to a strong academic following, the Yeats 2015 programme is set to draw literary fans and poetry aficionados from locations as diverse as Japan, North America and the UK.

There will be not-to-be-missed opportunities to celebrate the man and connect with his legacy, like-minded people and the land of literature itself. Widely considered the greatest poet of the 20th century, Yeats was awarded his Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923 for his “always inspired poetry, which, in a highly artistic form, gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation”. His lyrical poetry has long been a favorite with musicians and he is regularly referenced in popular culture.

Quotes from one of his best-loved poems, the ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’, have appeared in films such as Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, and in the science fiction TV series , Fringe. Many of the poems speak of the beauty, mythology and distinct character of the Sligo countryside, which was also home to his wider family.

The Sligo area inspired not only WB Yeats, but also his brother and painter, Jack, who was one of the most important figures in Ireland’s 20th century visual art scene. Such was the family’s influence in the area, the breathtaking and varied scenery of mountains, woodlands and coast is now known as ‘Yeats Country’, a stimulating stop along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.

The poet left instructions that he should be buried ‘under bare Ben Bulben’s head’, Ireland’s ‘Table Mountain’ which dominates the Sligo skyline. Yeats’ grave is in a churchyard in the village of Drumcliffe and a pilgrimage there forms part of a tour through Yeats Country which attracts thousands of visitors to the region each year.