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Writers in Residence
LEONTIA FLYNN AT THE PRINCESS GRACE IRISH LIBRARY
The young Belfast-born poet and Ireland Fund of
Monaco writer-in-residence at the Princess Grace
Irish Library in Monaco meets students from the Lycée
Albert I
My Time as a Writer-in-Residence >
Leontia Flynn recently met pupils* and English teacher
Elisabeth Gondeau from the Lycée Albert I
in Monaco at the Princess Grace Irish Library which
functions under the aegis of the Fondation Princesse
Grace. Firstly, the eager students — who had
studied Leontia’s book of poetry These Days — asked
questions during a debate** about her poetry and,
a few days later, took part in a writing workshop.
For this first experience of writing poetry in English,
the pupils showed remarkable literary flare and their
enthusiasm is evident in the comments they wrote
in English:
• Wima Stefanutti, Manon Blanqui,
Jonathan Riccardi : “In the beginning when we met Leontia
Flynn, we had some trouble understanding her because
of her Irish accent but later we got used to it.
We enjoyed working with her in the workshop because
this gave us the opportunity to share the magic of
Irish poetry. She has plenty of knowledge which helped
us to discover a new form of poetry. She explained
to us how to write a sestina [***] which emphasizes
six particular words, nouns or verbs which are repeated
in each stanza. First our poetry was hesitant but,
little by little, we improved our technique even
though we were a little shy in the beginning. We
found out that Irish poetry is quite different from
French poetry, so we played with the sounds and the
rhythms of a foreign language.”
• Marjorie Vial, Marine Vanco, Anaïs
Governatori : “Leontia is very open-minded
and we found communicating with her really easy.
This great opportunity enabled us to discover the
world of poetry, how to write a poem, and the difference
between French and Irish poetry. She asked us to
write a sestina using the words ‘sun, sea,
sand, hot, fly and holidays’. Leontia was pleased
to share her knowledge with us and that helped us
improve our technique. What we gleaned during the
workshop will be very useful since we plan to continue
our literary studies.”
• Sara Steiner, Candice Mazzolini,
Bianca Cimatti : “Meeting Leontia Flynn, author of
the poetry collection These Days, has taught us to
understand poetic techniques. She was easy-going
and passed to us her passion for poetry.”
• Alessandra Jadoul, Manon Blanqui,
Betty Casazza : “Leontia Flynn is a hip accessible
young woman. It was really great meeting her because
she made us use our sense of logic and our imagination.
Poetry in English and poetry in French aren’t
quite the same given that the rhythm and the rhyme
are different. The writing workshop gave us a new
vision of contemporary literature.”
Leontia Flynn commented : “I was very impressed
by the students from the Lycée… the
fluency of their English; the intelligence of their
questions, and the energy with which they tackled
the workshop exercise. There was real insight and
thought in some of the issues they raised about poetry.
I wish everyone made it so easy.”
Elisabeth Gondeau concluded : “My pupils greatly
enjoyed their second meeting with Leontia Flynn.
It was the first time they took part in a writing
workshop, moreover poetry… an activity completely
different from what we’ve done before at the
Library and the two hours went by too fast. This
inspiring experience allowed them to understand and
appreciate the literary talents of writers and poets
and the difficulties with which they are often faced.”
| My time as writer-in-residence at the Princess
Grace Irish Library |
Prince Rainier had
been admitted to the hospital two weeks before
I arrived in Monaco as writer-in-residence at
the Princess Grace Irish Library but, at first,
I wasn’t aware of the seriousness of the
situation. Then, towards the end of my first
week, it was made clear that I might be visiting
Monaco at a particularly historical time. This
was Good Friday, when I stayed on the Rock after
the library closed to watch the procession of
the Dead Christ. For the occasion, the lights
on the lampposts were hooded in dark blue, and
I still associate the remainder of my stay in
the Principality with the ceremonies of grief
and mourning on show amid the neat springtime
beauty of the place.
Every morning – or afternoon – my bus to the library passed the cardiothoracic
centre with its pack of reporters outside. At lunchtime the square in front of
the Palace too was often busy with press. And yet Easter passed with no further
bad news: progress bulletins were delivered to my desk every morning, and there
were occasional expressions of hope that the Prince was rallying. When Pope John
Paul II died on the second of April, I learned that Monaco, as a Catholic State,
was to pay official respect. Watching on the Principality’s TV channel
an evening Mass given for the pontiff at the Cathedral round the corner from
where I sat in the library, members of the Royal family in attendance were, I
recall, clearly showing signs of the strain of the Prince’s prolonged illness.
The flags were already at half-mast for the Pope when Prince Rainier died the
following morning – 6 April 2005.
Every morning now the streets on the Rock, particularly around the Palace, would
be un-passable for media reporters and, eventually, for Palace Security. The
journalists looking for quotes would occasionally ask, in French, if I was local – a
question I answered concisely by failing to understand it. Expressions of Monegasque
grief were, anyway, unmistakable. It wasn’t just the black ribbons which
were now tied around the red and white flags of the Principality, or the framed
photographs of Rainier, draped with black silk ribbons, which were placed in
the windows of shops. The girls in the boulangerie seemed sad; the women in the
restaurants and market seemed uncertain of the future. My mother, with unnerving
intuition and technological adeptness, text messaged me after watching news reports
at home to say only, “He was well loved”.
As the Palace prepared for the Prince’s Lying-in-State and funeral, the
library became an emptier place, and one, for me, increasingly remote from the
activities taking place outside its window. In the last week, I found myself
both wanting to take note of the atmosphere around me and, cursing my usual,
truly disquieting, talent for bad timing, continuing with my own work. In these
days, the weather – previously brilliantly blue - became unseasonably poor.
The boats in the harbour below the Rock sat on listless grey water; the sky was
grey behind the bulk of the aquarium building, and lead down to an indistinct,
greyish horizon. Outside the Palace, tourists came and went diffidently now,
and press sat in La Pampa Café, treated warily by the local people who,
in the days before the funeral, still went about their business. I think I felt
as though I fell somewhere between these factions as I slipped away before the
Prince’s funeral ceremonies. I had been the grateful enjoyer of the facilities
of the library which is home to Princess Grace’s personal collection of
Irish books and music, and the hospitality of the Monegasque people — the
accidental observer, of and intruder on, the grieving of a bereaved people. |
_________________________________________________
* Lower sixth littéraire, European section
** A 2-minute film of Leontia and the students can
be seen on http://www.libello.com/webkit/jsp/actu_article.jsp?idArt=3619&idCat=32
(click on voir la video)
*** The sestina is a challenging form in which, rather
than simply rhyming, the actual line-ending words
are repeated in successive stanzas in a designated
rotating order. A sestina consists of six 6-line
stanzas, concluding with a 3-line “envoi” which
incorporates all the line-ending words, some hidden
inside the lines. The prescribed pattern for using
the 6 line-ending words is: 1st stanza 1 2 3 4 5
6 / 2nd stanza 6 1 5 2 4 3 / 3rd stanza 3 6 4 1 2
5 / 4th stanza 5 3 2 6 1 4 / 5th stanza 4 5 1 3 6
2 / 6th stanza 2 4 6 5 3 1 / envoi 2–5 4–3
6–1. Like the sonnet, the sestina dates back
to the Middle Ages, was adopted by the Italian poets
of the Renaissance (Dante & Petrarch) and is
often used by contemporary poets. |
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