The 2026 Yeats Sisters Symposium

Overview

The fourth annual Yeats Sisters Symposium will focus on a principal theme:

Official Opening of the Symposium by our

Special Guest: Dr Éimear O’Connor, Interim Director, National Museum of Ireland

Our opening session will explore the many strands of individual creativity that contributed to establishing the reputation of the Cuala Industries:

The Yeats Sisters and Modernism.

• Dr Joseph McBrinn, Ulster University.

Eileen Colum and the working women.

• Professor Margaret Kelleher, UCD

Sing in the Quiet Places of my heart: the life and work of W.M Letts.

• Bairbre O’Hogan, historian and author.

The symposium sessions will be chaired by:

Martina Devlin, award-winning novelist and journalist

Full details of paper titles/abstracts and detailed itinerary to follow later in May.

Early afternoon session

14.00:

Irish premier of ‘Unquiet Dreams’

A short film by Cyrus Rosen & Joe Nugent, featured in the recent exhibition:

Collaborating in Conflict: The Yeats Family and the Public Arts,

at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College.

The film explores ‘the ancient, elemental landscape of county Sligo that provided reassurance and life-long inspiration’ not only to Lily and Elizabeth, but that is woven in the fabric of all the Yeats’ artistic lives.

with an introduction by Professor Joe Nugent, English Department and Irish Studies Program, Boston College.

Two separate afternoon events:

14.30-16.00

Live Printing with the National Print Museum

Interested in experiencing the craft of letterpress printing as practised by the Elizabeth Yeats? Join the National Print Museum for live printing. This is a unique opportunity to pull a bespoke letterpress keepsake in celebration of the Cuala Press and experience the beauty of traditional printing in action.

or

A Guided walking tour (14.30) of Yeats’ life in Churchtown/Dundrum with local historian, John Lennon, and in collaboration with dlr Dundrum Library, which will host an exhibition, in partnership with the Irish Guild of Embroiderers, of a series of contemporary individual pieces reflecting on the iconic work of Lily Yeats, and the Church of Ireland Taney parish.

Closing session.

16-15- 17.00:

Early-career Researchers’ Platform (tbc)

The platform affords a student (Undergraduate and Postgraduate) an opportunity to highlight their work in researching a dissertation study. The work must be within the realm of Irish cultural or women’s history, and hold a connection to either Lily or Elizabeth Yeats, the period they lived and worked in, Dun Emer or Cuala Industries, or the wider themes of the arts and crafts movement and/or the Irish cultural revival.

Audience Q&A and discussion.

Close: 17.00

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