L is for The Linen Hall
The Linen Hall is thrilled and honoured to announce that UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage will make an exclusive Belfast visit to the library when he embarks on the next ‘L to M’ leg of his ten-year tour of the UK’s libraries. The Linen Hall has been selected as one of the libraries representing the letter ‘L’ and will be the finale of the 2025 tour.
Each spring this decade, Simon Armitage will give readings in libraries across the UK, from the flagship libraries of big cities to the smaller ones that serve rural and remote communities. Using the alphabet as a compass, his journey will celebrate the library as one of the great and necessary institutions.
On 11 March Simon Armitage will read with special guest Leontia Flynn, described as ‘a poet who is not only one of the best writers of her generation but who seems, more and more, to be the voice of that generation’ (John McAuliffe, Irish Times). For the occasion, The Linen Hall, which is renowned for its Irish collections, will reflect the alphabet theme of the tour by displaying its unique Robert McAdam Comparative Lexicon (c. 1885), handwritten volumes of Irish words and their equivalents in twenty-eight other languages, from Scottish to Manx Gaelic to Sanskrit.
Julie Andrews, Director of The Linen Hall says: ‘It is an honour to welcome UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Leontia Flynn to The Linen Hall, a place that has always been a home for poetry in Belfast and has attracted the support of poets such as the late Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Sinéad Morrissey and many others.
The Linen Hall holds one of the largest collections of Robert Burns’ outside of Scotland, and significant poetry archives spanning from Sir Samuel Ferguson, Louis MacNeice, and Robert Greacen to the trailblazing Word of Mouth Women’s Poetry Collective, and contemporary poets such as Moyra Donaldson.’
Of the Laureate’s Library tour, Simon Armitage says: ‘My experience of reading and writing began in the village library where I grew up, then in the nearby town library, then in libraries at various places of study and teaching. For many people they are an invaluable aspect of everyday life, giving access not just to books but to services, learning, conversation and creative thinking. I want to pay my respects to these unique institutions. By planning readings up to a decade in advance I’m being optimistic about the future of our libraries and challenging those authorities who would consider closing them down.’