The UK’s 2023 Women’s Prize has been awarded to Barbara Kingsolver for Demon Copperhead, her retelling of Dickens’ David Copperfield set in modern-day Appalachia. She is the first author to win the prize twice, after winning in 2010 for The Lacuna. Kingsolver also received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Demon Copperhead. She was … Continue reading “What the Dickens? 2023 Women’s Prize Winner”
Although these days people tend to think of Halloween as an American holiday, its origins are Celtic (brought to the U.S. by Irish and Scottish immigrants). Ireland wants to make sure that people know about its Celtic roots, and these videos and recipes are a great way to have your pupils discuss Halloween from a … Continue reading “Ireland: Home of Halloween”
An evening at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris will provide lots of insights on Northern Ireland, a nation with a still fluctuating identity and status 101 years after its creation. Activist art, thought and song will all combine on 8 June. The Government of Ireland Act that came into force on 3 May 1921, … Continue reading “Everything You Wanted to Know about Northern Ireland”
The trailer and the featurette for Belfast are both used in our Ready-to-use resource on the film. Trailer Featurette
Belfast is the story of nine-year-old Buddy growing up in the Northern Irish capital in a friendly, working-class community until the Troubles brutally disrupt his life in 1969. The film and these activities will help the students discover more about the Northern Irish conflict and its human consequences. It is actor-director Kenneth Branagh‘s most personal film … Continue reading “Branagh’s Belfast”
Belfast is actor-director Kenneth Branagh‘s most personal film yet. It’s the story of nine-year-old Buddy growing up in Belfast in a friendly, working-class community until the Troubles brutally disrupt his life in 1969. Belfast is set in 1969, when what were called “the Troubles” went from protests to violent riots in the space of a … Continue reading “In the Streets of Belfast”
If you are studying Much Ado About Nothing with your LLCER students, or anything about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, you’ll want to download this long-form interview with actor-director Kenneth Branagh from BBC Radio 4. In the first of a new series called This Cultural Life, presenter John Wilson had a 45-minute conversation with Branagh … Continue reading “In Conversation with Kenneth Branagh”
The Dinard British Film Festival is over for another year. But before it closed, the juries announced the winners of the various prizes. Here is a rundown. Limbo by Ben Sharrock won both the Hitchcock d’Or Ciné + and the feature-film audience prize. The film was selected for the 2020 Cannes Festival (which didn’t take … Continue reading “Winning Films at Dinard”
The Dinard British Film Festival is a wonderful event, and this year you can enjoy it even if you can’t make it to Normandy between 29 September and 3 October. A large number of the films selected are also available to watch online. There are dozens of films, fiction and documentary, in categories such as … Continue reading “Get Your Fill of British Film!”
1921 has been described as a year of anniversaries in Northern Ireland, marking 100 years since the partition of Ireland which led to the creation of Northern Ireland. But nobody seems sure which dates to mark or celebrate, or indeed if they should be marked at all. A century after the border was created, and in … Continue reading “100 Years Ago: Northern Ireland Came into Existence”
