I spent this evening doing a site visit and some field recordings for a new project I'm working on as part of House Taken Over, a weekend of talks, performances and artist responses within a historical home in South Belfast, curated by Hickey + Hickey.

House Taken Over is presented as part of the Sonorities Festival organised by the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s which this year has as its focus techno-human encounters and matters such as machine listening and audio coding, and forms of listening, sounding and voicing embodiment and affect.

The exhibition and events programme takes place from 20th - 22nd April 2018. Viewing is by appointment only. For more information, to book an event or to view the exhibition please email: [email protected]

 I'm very pleased to have been chosed to be one of the participants in the XBorders: Accord project. XBorders is an Irish Writers Centre initiative supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. I will be part of a group of 18 writers, including:

Sue Divin
James Patterson
Kate Ennals
Marie O’Halloran
Marcel Krueger
Therese Kieran
Susanne Stich
Eli Davies
Remie Clarke
Rory Duffy
Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan
Fionn Murray
Orla McAlinden
Jessamine O Connor
Guy Le Jeune
Jane Robinson
Dominique Cleary
Sarah O'Brien
(& me)

Together we will attend three seminars in Dublin, Derry and Belfast led by Professor David Landy, acclaimed community relations worker Michael Doherty and Patsy Horton from Blackstaff Press, along with workshops with the very amazing Maria McManus, local poet and one of the innovators behind Belfast's first poetry jukebox.

I'm very inspired to be in such stellar company - and really pleased to be able to work with Susanne again in a new context (we previously worked together on Verbal Arts Centre's Reading Rooms project) and to meet Orla, who is a fellow Women Aloud-er. The project begins on Sat 20th January...and we need to bring some writing along...so less blogging, more thinking / writing ahead...