Maeve Bancroft
Maeve Bancroft
A Gift of Stone
10 September to 13 October 2018.
Studio open to the public on Friday and Saturday
For her residency at Uillinn, Maeve will create new work in response to the Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger exhibition for her novel-in-progress, A Gift of Stone. The novel combines historical and twenty-first century narratives and explores themes of migration and displacement. The novel is inspired by her interest in the experiences of the Irish during the Great Hunger as they travelled across the Atlantic in search of a better life, as well as the on-going displacement of people. She is interested in the experiences of people where events are out of their control.
Maeve carries out historical research to ground her fiction in fact. However, for inspiration she looks to landscape, literature, art and conversations. Therefore, as part of her research she carries out immersive, site-specific research and walks some of the routes of her characters. She seeks to be in the physical place; to see, hear, smell and touch what they might have.
During her residency Maeve will give an Illustrated Talk about her practice discussing her process, her methods of research and the challenges of writing historical fiction on Saturday 29 September at 12 noon. Booking: Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre at 028 22090 and info@westcorkartscentre.com
She will also run creative writing workshops for community groups both on site at Uillinn and outreach - the writing will be in response to the Coming Home exhibition, developing a collaborative piece of prose / poetry with the visitors to open studio.
Maeve Bancroft is a writer based in West Cork, Ireland. She is a qualified nurse, midwife and massage therapist and has worked in Ireland, England and Canada. Maeve returned to education in 2013 and completed a MA in Creative Writing at University College Cork. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing at the same university with the aid of a scholarship from the Dept. of English, UCC. Her creative practice is informed by history, art, literature, landscape, walking and conversations. She records responses in-situ through notes, haiku, photography and found objects and then expands upon the first impressions when back at the desk.
Image: Louisburg, courtesy of Maeve Bancroft
West Cork Arts Centre is proud to be supported by the Arts Council and Cork County Council.
