What the Press say
The Gerard Manley Hopkins International Summer School
Back to School
By Louise Holden, The Sunday Tribune, Sunday, 25 June, 2000
THIRTEEN years of the Hopkins Festival in Monasterevin, Co Kildare, has brought to maturity one of Europe's most exciting cultural forums. Each year, the number of Irish people attending grows, as does the cohort of overseas visitors . . .
Read this lively preview of Hopkins 2000 and other Irish Summer Schools
Best festival yet
By The Nationalist, July 28, 2000
THE 13th annual Gerard Manley Hopkins festival got underway on Saturday last with an art exhibition by sculptor James McKenna. The festival continues until the end of this week with lectures and social events going on in the town every day and evening.
See why HOPKINS 2000 was the best festival yet
Monasterevin celebrates being a cultural capital
By James Healy, The Leinster Leader,Thursday 3 August 2000
For seven days the town became the capital of the cultural world as delegates from 23 countries gathered to celebrate the genius of poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Read the full account
This was HOPKINS 2000l work among bigfBy James Healy, The Leinster Leader, Thursday 3 August 2000
In 2000, McKenna's huge wooden horse was a major talking point
This year's Hopkins Summer school had as one of its main talking points a huge McKenna sculpture displayed outside the front door of the assembly building. The work showed a larger than life horse and ride and was titledOisin Caught In A Time Warp.
Read all about Oisin in a Time Warp
Hopkins Festival becomes a Network of the Friendliest, most talented regulars
By James Healy, The Leinster Leader, Thursday 3 August 2000
Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the International Summer School at Monasterevin are the regulars. By regulars I mean the enthusiasts an poets who arrive year in year out and bring with them a friendliness and informality that makes each gathering very special.
Read about the Hopkins Summer School regulars, enthusiasts
Death of Irish Stone Sculptor, James McKenna
By Aidan Dunne, Art Critic, The Irish Times, October 11, 2000
The sculptor, playwright and poet, James McKenna, has died at his home in Kildare. He was 67. One of the foremost Irish figurative sculptors of the 20th century, he is best known for . . .
Read the full report
James McKenna,Sculptor, playwright and poet with a total commitment to the arts
By Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, October 14, 2000
James McKenna, who died 3, on October 10th aged 67, was a genuine Renaissance man. A highly regarded sculptor, he was also a noted playwright, poet and occasional polemicist,
Read critical assessment of James McKenna, Sculptor
Death of one of Ireland's best artists
By Elaine Murphy, The Nationalist, Friday, October 20, 2000>
An account of the life and death of James McKenna, sculptor, who died on October 10, 2000
The Hopkins Society Tribute to McKenna
