Kings and Queens of the Road takes centre stage at Inniskeen Festival
School journey stories celebrated at Inniskeen Road: July Evening Festival
Late last year, Robert Burns and Museum of Childhood Ireland launched a new publication, Kings and Queens of the Road, to critical acclaim and the book and an associated art exhibition will be the focus of the opening evening of this year’s Inniskeen Road: July Evening Festival in Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan, taking place between 10th and 12th July.
This richly illustrated book gathers personal memories of childhood journeys to school from across Ireland and beyond, spanning the 1930s to today. The collection captures how streets, lanes and public spaces shaped children’s independence, imagination and sense of community.
Created by Robert Burns and the Museum of Childhood Ireland, with illustrations by Molly Buí Hennessy, the book invites us to reflect on our past experience around movementand listen to children in order to better understand the societyand public spaces we are creating.
Robert Burns’ original idea and story of his own school journey inspired the project. He writes about his experience cycling home from school with his friends from Ballynagearn National School in Magheracloone, County Monaghan when he was 10 years’ old. The title of Robert’s story, Kings and Queens of the Road, which became the title for the book, is inspired by a line from Patrick Kavanagh’s famous poem, Inniskeen Road: July Evening.
The paintings by brilliant young artist, Molly Buí Hennessy, will be exhibited during this year’s Inniskeen Road: July Evening Festival and copies of the book will be for sale, with Robert on hand to speak about the book and read his own story. A number of other story contributors will attend the event and read from their own stories.
In advance of the upcoming event, Robert Burns commented, “These stories show how our everyday journeys shape who we are and, as we look to the future,it’s important to recognise that every design choice we make reflects the kind of society we want to be, and how we think about freedom, safety and inclusion.”
On the event taking place in Inniskeen, he added, “It’s great to be able to hold this event centred on Kings and Queens of the Road, which has been a passion of mine for the last four years, in my home county and it’s a privilege to be part of the Inniskeen Road: July Evening Festival, which is a great community-led festival now firmly established in cultural calendar in Co. Monaghan.”
In advance of this event, Robert has donated copies of the book to public libraries in the north east, in counties Monaghan, Cavan, Louth and Meath, with a view to sharing these stories to a wider audience and, hopefully, rekindling in the reader reminiscences of their own school journeys.