Who is Mister O'Kelly?

Join Ballad Tours Dublin and the Bowsie workshop as they explore the life and secrecy of the great unknown poet Seumas O’Kelly.

One of Ireland's least celebrated but perhaps one of its best 20th century writers, Seumas O’Kelly is long overdue a resurrection. Seumas O’Kelly wrote the internationally celebrated novella ‘The Weavers Grave’, a widely acknowledged masterpiece.

A journalist and ‘gentle revolutionary’ Seumas wrote with a familial mysticism.

A believable magic underscores his earthy writing on the rural life of Loughrea Co. Galway. The homeliness of his writing explores the moral life and character of real people while retaining a sense of the inherent mystery of what lies within life and beyond death.

Teacher and great fan of Seumas O’Kelly, Ms Mairdhia Ni Mhurchu together with Singer Seán Fitzgerald set out to discover the legacy of Seumas O’Kelly in his home town of Loughrea Co. Galway.

This documentary, directed by Ben O’Connor of Bowsie Workshop emulates a Seumas O’Kelly story, with humorous characters from the town appearing, sometimes reproving and sometimes acclaiming the work of Seumas O’Kelly.

Seumas was not proclaimed a prophet in Loughrea either in his time or our time. Though to many he is considered the prophet of Loughrea.

Artists: Sean Fitzgerald, Mairdhia Ní Mhurchú
Film Maker: Bowsie Workshop
Commissioned by St. Patrick's Festival