A couple of years ago, Banter ran a series of events under the title of Living for the City. Covering everything from transport, migration and housing to cafes, alternative spaces and supermarkets, Living for the City was a great way to look under the bonnet of living, working and playing in the capital in the 21st century. Over the course of 2020, we’re going to go back to some of those themes – and look at a couple of other pertinent topics too.
For our first event, we’re going to look again at how the media cover the city and follow-up some of the ideas and themes which were initially raised in April 2014. How do various media organisations cover the city? Does the stuff which gets covered reflect what’s really of interest to those who live in the city? What issues remain uncovered and why?
The details: Banter on how the media covers the city will take place at the Singer’s House at Lost Lane (enter via Nassau Street entrance) on Wednesday January 29th. Doors open at 6pm and the event will kick off at 6.30pm sharp. Tickets are now available here and all proceeds will go to the Peter McVerry Trust.
As has become the norm, Banter opens the new year by joining our good friends at the mental health arts festival First Fortnight.
This year, we will be joined by football pundit, psychotherapist and award-winning author Richie Sadlier for a conversation about his life and brilliant book, Recovering.
Recovering is a story of the highs and lows of one of our most trusted voices in both the sporting and mental-health arenas. It tells us about the former Ireland and Millwall player’s life on the pitch, but this deeply personal, raw and rare tale really takes off when he turns the spotlight on himself.
The event takes place at The Workman’s Club (Wellington Quay, Dublin 2) on Tuesday January 14th. Doors open at 6.30pm and the event will commence at 7pm sharp. Tickets are available here.
There has been one constant with Banter to date and that is the Review of the Year. We’ve done it in 2009,2010 , 2011, 2012,2013,2014, 2015,2016 , 2017 and 2018. Sometimes, we even make headlines with what’s said on the stage so you never know what is going to happen.
The format is simple: we invite a panel of news makers and news observers to talk about the stories of the last 12 months which have resonated with them. From Boris to, uhm, Brexit, we have an action-packed selection of stories to go through with our guests. We go high and we go low, we remember stuff which happened home and away, we remind you of the stories which made us all go “ooooh” (or “uuuuugh”). We also throw in some names who made headlines that everyone has totally forgotten about a few months later.
Our Banter Review of the Year panelists rewinding the events of 2019 are Carole Coleman (presenter RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week), Gavan Reilly (political correspondent Virgin Media News and host of On the Record on Newstalk), Una Mullally (writer, journalist, broadcaster and the most frequent Banter guest ever) and Eamon Ryan TD (leader of The Green Party).
We’re chuffed to announce that this Banter will be taking place at the Singer’s House at Lost Lane at the bottom of Grafton Street in the heart of the capital city. Big thanks to Una Molloy and all at the venue for their help to date.
We’ll be undertaking a winter/spring residency at the venue from January, where we’ll be looking at living, working and playing in Dublin in 2020.
The details: Banter’s Review of the Year takes place at the Singer’s House at Lost Lane (enter via Nassau Street entrance) on Wednesday December 4th. Doors open at 6pm and the Bantering gets underway at 6.30pm-ish. Tickets are now available here and all proceeds go to the Peter McVerry Trust.
If it’s the first weekend in December (ish), it means Banter heads to the most southwesterly edge of the country (ish) to hang with the good folks at Other Voice. As has been the case in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016,2017 and 2018, this has always been one of the highlights of our year. We’d like to say GRMA to the good people at Foxy’s and all at Other Voices for putting with us over the last few years.
The formula is simple: we take over the back-room of Foxy John’s in downtown Dingle for the weekend, we light the fire and we’re joined by a cast of talkers, makers, activists, do-ers and players for some conversations and music.
Paul has been a member of the Kerry senior inter-county football team since 2011 and plays for Dingle. With the county, he has won All-Ireland, Munster and National Football League titles and has two All-Star awards
Caelainn is a journalist and writer who has reported across Europe, the Middle East and Africa for National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, The New Yorker (online), VICE Magazine, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Irish Times and The Dublin Review. She is the author of the recently published Republic Of Shame: Stories from Ireland’s Institutions for ‘Fallen Women’
Jennifer is a Departmental Lecturer in Global Governance and Diplomacy at the University of Oxford. She was previously diplomatic attaché for the Department of Foreign Affairs at the United Nations in New York and the European External Action Service to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Saoirse was the Green Party’s candidate in the 2019 European elections in the Midlands Northwest constituency. The Achill Islander will stand for the party in Mayo in the next general election.
Conor is a lecturer in the School Of Law and director of the Child Law Clinic at UCC. He has just been appointed Special Rapporteur on Child Protection by the Irish government for a three-year term.
Andrea is the founder of Tropical Popical and the co-host of the United Ireland podcast and she’ll be joining us for the annual Banter Other Voices Pop Culture Review of the Year
Susan is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster from Derry. Her books include Bear in Mind These Dead and Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People. She writes for the Irish Times, the Guardian, the London Review of Books, and the New York Times.
We’ll be open for business on Saturday November 30th and Sunday December 1st, things get underway at 2pm on each day and admission is free (the room is small so don’t be late). We’ll announce the list of musicians who’ll be joining us nearer the time.
For the second year in a row, Banter is heading to the Sunset Strip in west Hollywood. Massive thanks to Buzz and Deirdre at Ireland Week for putting up with us again.
Ian Maleney is the author of Minor Monuments, a debut collection of beautifully haunting essays on memory, belonging and the meaning of home. Ian has also worked as a freelance arts journalist and web developer.
Teddy Pendergrass was one of the giants of soul and r’n’b. After starting out as a drummer, he initially found success as the lead singer of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Their hits like “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” showcasing how that strong, emotional baritone of his was the icing on the cake when it came to the outfit’s slow jams.
After becoming frustrated in the band, he hit the solo route. Many of his hits were written by the songwriting and production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, with the Philadelphia International duo providing a smashing backdrop of lush strings and big-band disco for that voice.
On the verge of true superstardom, Pendergrass was left paralysed from the waist down after crashing his Rolls-Royce in Philadelphia in 1982. A year later, he was back singing and onstage again. He worked with people like Whitney Houston and Nile Rodgers and played the Live Aid concert in 1985. He died in 2010 at the age of 59 from colon cancer.
Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don’t Know Me is the story of the rise and fall of the great soul singer. Directed and produced by Olivia Lichtenstein, the film features interviews with Pendergrass’ family and friends, as well as industry legends, including Stevie Wonder, and rarely seen archival footage.
Lichtenstein has produced and directed several award-winning documentaries including the BAFTA-award winning The Silent Twin: Without My Shadow. As former editor of BBC’s television documentary strand, Inside Story, she also directed Tongue-Tied, which won The Grierson Award. In 2012, she joined as partner of Storyvault Films and projects she has directed include Broadmoor for ITV and Melyvn Bragg: Wigton to Westminster forBBC2.
Join us at The Sugar Club on Wednesday April 2nd for a screening of Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don’t Know Me preceded by a Banter conversation with Olivia Lichtenstein about the making of the film. Doors open at 8pm and tickets for the event are now available here.
For the sixth year in a row, we’re very pleased and proud to be involved in the First Fortnight mental health arts festival. It’s a superb initiative which puts the focus firmly on challenging mental health prejudice through arts and cultural action at the very start of the year.
We’re joined for this event by All-Ireland winning hurler Seamus Hennessy. He will be talking about his life in hurling and his experiences growing up dealing with the traumatic experience of his mother’s suicide.
It is time for one of the most treasured rituals of the Banter year. We do this every December and we always have a blast. We did it in 2009 and 2010 and 2011 and 2012 and 2013 and 2014 and 2015 and 2016 and 2017. Every year, before the Christmas madness begins in earnest, we review the previous 12 months.
The format is simple: we invite a panel of news makers and news observers to talk about the stories of the last 12 months which have resonated with them.
As is always the case, we have an action-packed selection of stories to go through with our guests. We go high and we go low, we remember stuff which happened home and away, we remind you of the stories which made us all go “ooooh” (or “uuuuugh”). We also throw in some names who made headlines that everyone has totally forgotten about a few months later.
Our Banter Review of the Year panelists for 2018: Christine Bohan (acting editor The Journal), Conor Behan (GCN columnist, DJ, radio presenter, freelancer writer and pop music enthusiast), Jeanne Sutton (writer) and David Kenny (Professor of Constitutional Law at Trinity College Dublin).
The details: the Banter Review of the Year takes place at The Liquor Rooms (and big thanks to Beibhinn and her team for putting up with us for another year) on Tuesday December 11. Doors open at 6pm and we get the review underway at 6.30pm-ish. Tickets are available here and all proceeds will go to Threshold.
For a start, it’s a blooming Young Hearts’ joint innit. It’s always a blast to join Siobhán Kane and her crew for one of their events.
For another, it’s part of No Idle Day, their occasional festival. We have fond memories of interviewing Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh at the last festival in 2016 in The Yacht. It was a colourful occasion.
But most of all, this event is one of the ones which marks 10 years of Young Hearts Run Free shenanigans. Banter recently marked 200 events so we know what it takes to stay in the game this long and it ain’t easy. That Siobhán and co have survived and thrived over 10 years of high jinks, gigs, venue hassles, festivals, events, readings, mini-festivals, happenings, escapades and what-have-yous is something to be applauded.That they’ve raised oodles of cash for SImon Community is also worth mentioning. And, even though she’ll blush, it’s worth saluting that mighty Mayo woman at the heart of it all – she has single-handedly elevated and enriched the capital’s arts and culture landscape with these events.
And so to the matter at hand….this will be a comvesation with the great Johnny Rogan about the art of the biography. He’s the don at this game, the man who has written the definitive word on such acts as The Byrds (“Timeless Flight”), The Smiths (“Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance”), Van Morrison (“No Surrender”), Neil Young (“Zero To Sixty”), Ray Davies (“A Complicated Life”) and many, many more.
A Banter conversation with Johnny Rogan takes place at The Fumbally on Sunday December 9 from 3pm. It’s the first part of Lost In the Library, an event which also includes the first Irish screening of The Library Music Film, an interview with Martin Green and Jonny Trunk and music from The Bonk. Tickets are now available here and all proceeds go to the Simon Community.
Hello Dingle! As we’ve done (deep breath) in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, Banter heads to the Kingdom for Other Voices. Hot take: this means we’ve been in Kerry more often than Sam Maguire in the last few years.
Anyway, as always, we’ll take over the back-room of Foxy John’s in downtown Dingle for the weekend. There, we will be joined by a fine cast of talkers, makers, activists, do-ers and players for some conversations and music by the fire. We’ll be open for business from 2pm to 6pm on Saturday December 1st and from 1pm to 6pm on Sunday December 2nd. We’d like to say GRMA to the good people at Foxy’s and all at Other Voices for putting with us over the last few years.
Here’s who we have joining us this year
Tony Connelly – the only man in Europe who knows what the hell is going on with Brexit before it happens. RTÉ’s Europe Editor, author Brexit & Ireland and co-presenter of the Brexit Republic Podcast
Carole Cadwalladr – we’re delighted to welcome The Observer reporter and 2018 Orwell Prize recipient to Banter to tell us about what happened when she decided to do some digging into Vote Leave, the Brexit referendum, Aaron Banks, Nigel Farrage, Cambridge Analytica and other characters.
Annie Mac – raving we’re raving with the BBC Radio One queenpin and Other Voices presenter.
Pat Collins – a conversation about all kinds of things with the film-maker behind such sublime works as Song Of Granite, Silence, Living In A Coded Land and many, many others
Michael Keegan-Dolan – the man from Teac Damsa talks dance, theatre, Swan Lake (Loch na hEala) and everything in-between.
Ellen Coyne – the Times Ireland senior reporter is one of our favourite journalists and winner of the Political Story Of the Year at the 2017 Journalism Awards.
Maeve O’Rourke – a welcome return to Banter for the human rights lawyer, senior research and policy officer for the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and legal adviser to the Justice for Magdalenes Research and the Clann Project
Amy O’Connor – the awesome journalist behind a rake of your favourite stories joins us to review the year in pop culture and everything else
Alison Spittle – the funniest person in Dingle this weekend
Music acts to be added shortly
Please note that venue capacity is limited so get there early if you want to join us
We’re delighted to join forces with Dress for Success Dublin to hold a special discussion panel around equality as part of their #WorkEqual campaign month.
Founded by our old pal Sonya Lennon, Dress for Success Dublin is a not-for-profit organisation which aims to promote the economic independence of women by providing career development tools and a support network. It’s an affiliate of Dress for Success Worldwide, an international not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of women in 145 cities across 23 countries.
This Banter event will look at the area of equality in the workplace and the gender pay gap. But instead of airing and articulating the usual problems around this issue, we want to focus on possible solutions – is it possible to fix this?
The details: Banter’s Dress for Success event will take place at The Liquor Rooms (Wellington Quay, Dublin 2) on Tuesday November 13. Doors open at 6pm and the event gets underway at 6.30pm followed by an audience Q&A. Tickets are now available here and all proceeds will go to Dress For Success Dublin.
The details: Banter in Los Angeles takes place at Pearl’s Restaurant & Bar (8909 W Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood) on Friday November 2nd from 6pm. Tickets are available here.
They said it couldn’t be done. In fairness, we also said it couldn’t be done. But, sure, look it, we’re here now and we might as well keep going.
When Banter kicked off in July 2009, there was no way on earth that we thought we’d still be here nine years and 199 events later. We didn’t think we’d last the summer, to be honest, after Banter #3 attracted two tourists who didn’t speak English and the proverbial one man and his dog, all of whom were there to shelter from the rain. But we kept going. And going. And going.
Banter has now hosted 200 events in a huge number of different venues, spaces and festivals up and down the country and overseas too. We could highlight some events and some guests, but that would be unfair.
Instead, some general thank yous. All the people mentioned on this page deserve a huge round of applause and a big thanks for agreeing to take part in one of our events. All the people who’ve ever turned up, paid good money and sat out front while we did our thing onstage deserves a shout out. All the brilliant people who’ve worked with us on these events – from booking us for their festival to making sure we sounded right on the night – deserve high fives.
I’m going to name two people here as they’ve put up with a lot (they’ve also put up with me): Eoin Cregan, who was the first Banter producer, and Jack Gibson who now looks after all of that. Without those two, Banter simply would not have happened or kept going for as long. They’re the ones to blame.
So, here we are. For Banter 200, we’ve rounded up some of our favourite guests from the past to join us again for a very special night.
The man who won the World Cup for Ireland – a conversation with the one and only Brian Kerr
Music from the superb Slow Moving Clouds whose new album “Starfall” will be released on September 21.
The details: Banter 200 takes place at The Workman’s Club (Wellington Quay, Dublin 2) on Wednesday October 17. Doors open at 6pm and the evening begins at 6.30pm. Tickets are now on sale here and all proceeds go to Women’s Aid.
Culture & Me will see a number of guests talking about the role of arts and culture in their lives and work. It could be a book, a film, an album, a piece of visual art or all of the above: we want to know about the art which turns them on – and why.
An array of evolving dramas have ensured that the EU and its fate have not left daily discourse in a long time. Structural instability, member states eroding the rule of law and the persistence of populism and far–right rhetoric are among the many forces which have undermined certainties citizens have taken for granted for a generation. And look, we didn’t even mention Brexit.
Banter wants to ask how much do we actually know about the European project and what currently ails it?
Helping us to answer that question will be Deike Potzel (German Ambassador to Ireland), Hannah Deasy (Communications Director at the Institute of International and European Affairs), Dr Karen Devine (Lecturer in International Relations & EU politics at DCU) and Jack Good (Paddy Wants To Know Brexit podcast).
The details: Banter on the EU will be held at The Liquor Rooms (Wellington Quay, Dublin 2) on Tuesday September 25. Doors open at 6pm and the discussion begins at 6.30pm-ish. Tickets are now available here and all proceeds from the event will go to Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
After last year’s debut in the wilds of Co Meath, we’re delighted to be returning to Another Love Story at Killyon Manor on Friday August 17.
As with 2017, we’ll again be hosting Banter Stories at the festival, a series of one on one interviews with some very special guests. We’ll be talking to these folks in The Library between 9pm and midnight on the night.
John Connellis the author of The Cow Book, one of our books of the year. This lovely heartsore memoir captures a season on his family farm in Co Longford as he returns from the flim-flam of a modern world to a place where tradition continues to hold sway as it has always done. Between charting man’s 10,000 year history with cattle and rubbing a finger over the charts of his own family bloodlines and relationships, Connell produces a work of considerable honesty and majesty.
Ruth McGowan is the festival director of Dublin Fringe. She’ll join us to tell us how they ended up in that gig, what a day in the life of a festival director looks like, her preview of this year’s event and her views on the current comings and goings in Irish culture.
Fuchsia MacAree is the Clare-born Dublin-based illustrator who is one of the country’s foremost craftswomen when it comes to creating iconic, accessible, colourful and deadly maps, characters and visuals. We’ll be talking to her about her heroes, working methods, ambitions and fondness for deadlines.
We’re back at The Beatyard for the third year in a row. Just like we did in 2016 and 2017, we’ve rounded up some fascinating folks for you to hear from, with themes and topics covering sport, politics, media, film, dance music, culture, food, fashion and legends. Here’s what we have in store for Banteryard 2018
2pm – Is local media really dying (and would anyone care)?
Curated by our pals at Dublin Inquirer. A discussion on the health of Ireland’s local and regional press. Who reads it? What role can local newspapers play in rebuilding trust with readers? How have changes in distribution and the rise of online affected them? Is greater consolidation the only way forward? Featuring David Burke (Editor, The Tuam Herald), David Lynch (Editor, Dundalk Democrat) and Stephanie Costello (Centre for Critical Media Literacy, Dublin Institute of Technology) and hosted by Lois Kapila (Editor, Dublin Inquirer)
3pm – Irish feminism after Repeal
Curated by Jeanne Sutton (writer, former deputy editor of STELLAR magazine and currently completing a MSc in Science Communication in DCU while working in non-profit communications). Where are we going to see the energy we saw during the campaign go? Featuring Emily Carson (Body & Soul festival, Dublin Digital Radio and freelance writer and marketer), Sinéad Mercier (primary researcher for the Green Party, a SIPTU just transition activist and a member of Not Here, Not Anywhere grassroots group), Rachel Watters (Belfast-based reproductive justice activist, student and Deputy Chair of Project Choice at Queen’s University Belfast Students’ Union and Women’s Officer of NUS-USI) and guests
4pm – Censor sensibility
A conversation with Subset, Cian O’Brien (Project Arts Centre) and Grace Dyas (playwright and activist) about art and censorship
A discussion on Irish food culture in the company of With Relish podcasters Harry Colley and Aoife Allen
2pm – The high cost of fast fashion
Fast fashion brings catwalk styles quickly and cheaply to the High Street, but it’s a process which comes at a huge human and social cost. A conversation with Alacoque McAlpine (DIT) around her recent piece for RTÉ Brainstorm on this topic
3pm – Streetwear Supreme
The current state of the streetwear game from drops and celebrity co-signs to vintage comebacks, the Supreme bubble, authenticity, the appropriation of streetwear by high fashion and what comes next. With Grace Enemaku (Enemkau), Katriona Flynn (DIT) and James Fagan (Coffee & Kicks).
4pm – The Second Captains’ story
Co-founder Eoin McDevitt on the who, what, why, how and when of Second Captains, Irish media’s buccaneer shape-shifters
5pm – The life and times of Orbital
Before they go onstage to headline The Beatyard, Paul and Phil Hartnoll roll back the years.
As is always the case with festivals, all times subject to change on the day because someone has gone to the wrong stage despite the map at the top of this page!
It’s 100 years since Irish women first received the right to vote. While the intervening century has seen many other wins and advances across different parts of Irish life, there’s still a lengthy to-do list to be enacted to bring about real equality for women in our society.
As part of the Vótáil 100 series of events to mark a centenary of women’s suffrage and representation in the Houses of the Oireachtas, this special Banter discussion curated by the Irish Research Council will examine where the road goes from here and the challenges which lie ahead.
What are the priorities on that to-do list and why? Are future changes the preserve of parliamentarians or will they come about through sustained people pressure? What can we learn from the experiences of other countries? Indeed, what can we learn from our experiences at the ballot boxes here in 2015 and 2018? And will the day a woman Taoiseach steps up in Dáil Éireann be the day to say the job’s done?
The details: this Banter event will take place at The Liquor Rooms (Wellington Quay, Dublin 2) on Thursday June 28 with Ailbhe Smith (Co-Director of Together For Yes and Convenor of Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment), Sarah Robinson (UCC School of Psychology PhD candidate and current Irish Research Council awardee), Alison O’Connor (journalist, columnist and broadcaster), Síona Cahill (incoming president Union Of Students In Ireland) and guests. Doors open at 6pm and the discussion begins at 6.30pm. Tickets are now available here and all proceeds go to Women’s Aid.
About the Irish Research Council: the Council was formed in 2012, is an associated agency of the Department of Education and Skills, and operates under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority. The core function of the Council is to support excellent frontier research across all disciplines and all career stages. The Council promotes diverse career opportunities for researchers by partnering with enterprise and employers. The Council also has a particular role in supporting research with a societal focus, and has established partnerships across government and civic society. Further information: http://www.research.ie, @IrishResearch, #LoveIrishResearch
It is 20 years since Bell X1 came our way. As they note on their website, lots can happen in 20 years. There has been a rake of great albums in this time from the band – for our money, “Arms”, the “difficult seventh album” from 2016, stands tallest – and they continue to forge onwards and upwards.
Given that the band are marking 20 years of Bell X1 with a run of sold-out shows up and down the country, we thought it would be a good idea to bring lead singer Paul Noonan to Banter for a discussion about life, work, music and all the rest of it as part of the Wellington Weekender at the Workman’s Club on Saturday June 30.
