What the Wild Atlantic Way has done for the west coast a new set of cultural routes could, its creators hope, do for the “fifth province” of the island of Ireland: its literature.
As the first stage of its Northern Literary Lands project, Arts Over Borders, the organisation behind the Beckett Biennale and the Ulysses European Odyssey, among other events, has created nine “Literary Ways”.
The web of routes criss-cross 11 Border counties as they highlight the “constellation of extraordinary writers” who make up the region’s literary heritage, from WB Yeats and Seamus Heaney to Nell McCafferty and Lisa McGee.
Winding through villages and small towns, mountain ranges and coastal and rural landscapes, the routes cover almost one-third of the island of Ireland, from counties Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal in the northwest to Armagh, Down and Louth in the northeast.
Northern Literary Lands was conceived by the founders of Arts Over Borders, Seán Doran – one of the early authors of The Rough Guide to Ireland, who is now working on an independent guidebook to the new routes – and his late creative partner, Liam Browne.
As part of the project, Arts Over Borders plans to petition the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to make the Border counties the world’s first Unesco “region of literature”, to sit alongside its 63 cities of literature, which include Dublin, Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro.
In the meantime, Doran hopes that Northern Literary Lands will make the Border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – “and, by extension, the UK and Europe” – “a binder, rather than a divider, in the name of literature”.
These are the nine Literary Ways.
1. The Northwest Dramatic Way
Writer Lisa McGee in front of a Derry Girls mural in Derry. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA
Derry/Londonderry: Home town of the dramatist George Farquhar, writer of The Recruiting Officer and other Restoration comedies, and Lisa McGee, writer of the television series Derry Girls. The playwright Brian Friel was educated and taught in Derry, and wrote Philadelphia, Here I Come! and Freedom of the City here. It was also the base of Field Day, the theatre company he founded with the actor Stephen Rea.
Buncrana, Co Donegal: Birthplace of the playwright Frank McGuinness, whose plays Carthaginians and Factory Girls, among others, carry strong local resonance.
Glenties, Co Donegal: This village in the shadow of the Blue Stack Mountains inspired Friel’s plays Faith Healer and Dancing at Lughnasa. Its courthouse is being developed as the Brian Friel Centre.
Killyclogher, Co Tyrone: Friel’s birthplace.
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh: Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde were boarders at Portora Royal School. Both writers took inspiration from the town’s island location and the surrounding Fermanagh lakelands.
2. The Nobel Way
WB Yeats’s grave in Drumcliffe cemetery, Co Sligo. Photograph: Getty Images
This route highlights significant locations in the lives of three of Ireland’s four Nobel laureates in literature.
Drumcliffe, Co Sligo: The poet WB Yeats is buried in a graveyard at the base of Ben Bulben mountain. Its headstone bears his own epitaph: Cast a cold Eye / On Life, on Death. / Horseman, pass by!
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh: Samuel Beckett was a boarder at Portora Royal School in this historic island town (as was Oscar Wilde).
Bellaghy, Co Derry: Seamus Heaney’s hometown, where an impressive literary centre in his name attracts visitors from across the world. His wife, Marie, describes the surrounding countryside as his Eden.
3. The Novel Way
The hills and mountains surrounding Glenties. Photograph: Finbarr O’Reilly/New York Times
Strabane, Co Tyrone: Birthplace of the satirist Flann O’Brien. It hosts the annual International Flann O’Brien Conference.
Omagh, Co Tyrone: Birthplace of the writer and broadcaster Benedict Kiely. The Benedict Kiely Literary Weekend is held annually in the town.
Glenties, Co Donegal: Birthplace of the journalist, poet and novelist Patrick MacGill, “the navvy poet”. A memorial statue stands on the town bridge.
Augher, Co Tyrone: A thatched cottage here is the childhood home of William Carleton, the distinguished 18th-century novelist.
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh: Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde were boarders at Portora Royal School in this historic island town.
Ballinamore, Co Leitrim: Childhood home of the acclaimed novelist John McGahern, whose work is rooted in his native lands.
Cavan, Co Cavan: Birthplace of the writer, newspaper columnist and playwright Michael Harding. The novelist, playwright and poet Dermot Healy, who has been described as a Celtic Hemingway, grew up in Cavan.
Clones, Co Monaghan: Birthplace of the double-Booker Prize nominee Patrick McCabe, whose dark novels are set in small-town Ireland.
4. The Poetic Way
The mantelpiece in the birthplace of Francis Ledwidge in Slane. Photograph: Cyril Byrne
Slane, Co Meath: Birthplace of the first World War poet Francis Ledwidge. The cottage where he was born houses a museum in his name.
Inniskeen, Co Monaghan: Birthplace and burial ground of Patrick Kavanagh, one of Ireland’s finest 20th-century poets. The Patrick Kavanagh Centre is in the town.
Creggan, Co Armagh: In its churchyard are buried some of Ireland’s greatest Gaelic poets. Visitors can take waymarked walks along the Poet’s Glen and the Poet’s Trail.
Moy, Co Tyrone: The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, critic, librettist, academic, lyricist and playwright Paul Muldoon grew up here.
Garvaghey, Co Tyrone: The childhood home of the poet and short-story writer John Montague, who in 2010 was made a knight of the Légion d’Honneur, France’s most prestigious French order of merit.
Cookstown, Co Tyrone: Birthplace of the award-winning poet, novelist and screenwriter Nick Laird.
Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone/Desertmartin, Co Derry: Fivemiletown and Desertmartin are the titles of two fine poems by the essayist, editor, playwright, poet and lecturer Tom Paulin.
Bellaghy, Co Derry: Home town of the Nobel laureate in literature Seamus Heaney. Location of the Seamus Heaney HomePlace.
5. The Singers’ Way
Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal
Derry-Londonderry: Home to many renowned singers and composers, including the punk band The Undertones; Dana, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1970; and the songwriter Phil Coulter.
Strabane, Co Tyrone: Home town of the acclaimed singer, musician and songwriter Paul Brady, a former member of Planxty.
Gweedore, Co Donegal: This town in the Donegal Gaeltacht is the home place of the family group Clannad and their sister/niece, the singer-songwriter Enya.
Kincasslagh, Co Donegal: Home town of the country singer Daniel O’Donnell.
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh: Teenage home of the singer-songwriter Neil Hannon, aka The Divine Comedy.
Ballyhaise, Co Cavan: Home town of the traditional singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill.
Dundalk, Co Louth: Home town of the family folk-rock band The Corrs.
6. The Spiritual Way
The winter solstice at Newgrange. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Newgrange, Co Meath: This Stone Age monument in the Boyne Valley is an important prehistoric site. Decorative petroglyphs evoke the cycles of the natural world and devotion to a sacred landscape.
Monasterboice, Co Louth: The ninth- or 10th-century Muiredach’s High Cross is located inside a ruined monastic settlement. Like several nearby high crosses, it is a fine example of early medieval Irish stonework.
Rostrevor, Co Down: CS Lewis’s vision of Narnia was the view of the Mourne Mountains from Rostrevor, where he spent childhood holidays. The Narnia Trail leads through Kilbroney Park.
Armagh, Co Armagh: The ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, with two cathedrals dedicated to St Patrick. Dean Jonathan Swift was a frequent visitor. The Armagh Robinson Library contains an early edition of Gulliver’s Travels.
Downpatrick, Co Down: St Patrick’s grave is in Down Cathedral.
Saul, Co Down: Along the Strangford road is the church at Saul, the site of St Patrick’s earliest place of worship. A hilltop monument to the saint is a place of pilgrimage.
Coney Island, Co Down: Van Morrison’s raga-infused song Coney Island has a haunting, spiritual beauty, echoing the mysterious world of Strangford Lough.
Nendrum, Co Down: A ruined fifth-century monastic settlement, overlooking Strangford Lough, is the location for Jim Andrews’s adventure tale The Bell of Nendrum.
Bangor, Co Down: St Columbanus arrived at Bangor Abbey around AD 558 to study under the abbey’s founder, St Comgall. Over a period of 30 years, he composed poetry that often focused on nature and the universe.
7. The Critical Way
Omagh town, Co Tyrone. Photograph: iStock
Derry-Londonderry: Birthplace of the poet, novelist, critic, historian and Booker Prize nominee Seamus Deane (who was also a director of Field Day). The journalist Nell McCafferty, an outspoken feminist voice in modern Irish criticism, was born and raised in the city.
Omagh, Co Tyrone: Birthplace of Benedict Kiely, critic, satirist and broadcaster. Regular contributor to RTÉ’s Sunday Miscellany radio programme.
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh: Home of another Portora Royal School alumnus, the literary critic Vivian Mercier. He coined the famous judgment on Waiting for Godot: “Nothing happens, twice.”
8. The Warring Way
The bank of the Boyne River in Trim, Co Meath. Photograph: Alan Betson
River Boyne: The dramatist and poet George Farquhar wrote On the Death of General Schomberg, his ode to a commander of King William III’s forces, who was killed at the Battle of the Boyne.
Slane, Co Meath: In the riverside town of Slane is the cottage where Francis Ledwidge, the first World War poet, was born.
Cooley Peninsula, Co Louth: The setting for Táin Bó Cúailnge, Europe’s oldest vernacular epic. Commonly known as The Táin, it tells of a war against Ulster by Queen Medb and her husband, King Ailill of Connacht.
Crossmaglen and Kingsmill, Co Armagh; Warrenpoint, Co Down: The “killing fields” of the Troubles. Many literary responses to the tragedies of those years.
Emain Macha, Co Armagh: Near Armagh city is Navan Fort, the setting for the myth of Cuchulain, the defender of Ulster. The Navan Centre is a rich source of Celtic folklore.
9. The Wilde Romantic Way
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. Photograph: iStock
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh: A Walk on the Wilde Side is a walking tour inspired by Oscar Wilde’s story The Happy Prince. The route is marked by 150 golden swallows installed on buildings around Enniskillen. From his dorm at Portora Royal School, Wilde could see the famous Cole’s Monument, which is believed to have prompted his tale of the gilded statue of a prince, who instructs a swallow, perched at his feet, to strip him of his riches and distribute them among the poor.