Seán Hewitt — Open, Heaven - with Andrew Dolan

This event is in partnership with Solas Nua.Set in a remote village in the north of England, Open, Heaven unfolds over the course of one year in which two teenage boys meet and transform each other's lives.James --a sheltered, shy sixteen-year-old --is alone in his newly discovered sexuality, full of an unruly desire but entirely inexperienced. As he is beginning to understand himself and his longings, he also realizes how his feelings threaten to separate him from his family and the rural community he has grown up in. He dreams of another life, fantasizing about what lies beyond the village's leaf-ribboned boundaries, beyond his reach: autonomy, tenderness, sex. Then, in the autumn of 2002, he meets Luke, a slightly older boy, handsome, unkempt, who comes with a reputation for danger. Abandoned by his parents --his father imprisoned, and his mother having moved to France for another man --Luke has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle on their farm just outside the village. James is immediately drawn to him "like the pull a fire makes on the air, dragging things into it and blazing them into its hot, white centre," drawn to this boy who is beautiful and impulsive, charismatic, troubled. But underneath Luke's bravado is a deep wound --a longing for the love of his father and for the stability of family life.Open, Heaven is a novel about desire, yearning, and the terror of first love. With the striking economy and lyricism that animate his work as a poet, Hewitt has written a mesmerizing hymn to boyhood, sensuality, and love in all its forms. A truly exceptional debut.PURCHASE BOOK HERE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593802847?ic_referral=L-AdzwB8wIw-UK64kF_6AhO8zEZOhiVpbN-DlHIPtlUwMxAzvd1ji-FncsUt2i_xn_ojFala6MXZrBAgf1VmZqUfghyX9UOXElGw5G3VXJiQOtVrwlD-nENaU_mvHffVW14SZQSeán Hewitt's debut collection of poetry, Tongues of Fire, won the Laurel Prize in 2021, and was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, and a Dalkey Literary Award. In 2020, he was chosen by The Sunday Times (London) as one of their "30 under 30" artists in Ireland. His memoir, All Down Darkness Wide, is published by Jonathan Cape in the UK and Penguin Press in the United States (2022). It was shortlisted for Biography of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards, for the Foyles Book of the Year in nonfiction, for the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and for a LAMBDA award, and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2022. Hewitt is assistant professor in literary practice at Trinity College Dublin, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.Hewitt is in conversation with Andrew Dolan. Dolan is the Executive Director of Solas Nua, Washington D.C.'s leading Irish Arts organization. Andrew is an accomplished multidisciplinary performance artist and producer whose work has premiered in the U.S. and Ireland. He has been a guest artist at Fairfield University and Century College, and has worked with Teatr Biuro Podrozy, Rude Mechs, Town Hall Theatre, Red Eye Theater, Sandbox Theater, Six Points Theater, The Playwrights' Center, and many others. As an arts leader, he previously served as a Co-Artistic Director at Red Eye Theater, Associate Director of Development for The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts, and Venue Manager for Bedlam Lowertown. Across these organizations, he's co-produced/co-presented 250+ theater and dance productions, concerts, and special events. He graduated with an MA in Performance from the University of Galway, and holds an MFA in Directing and Public Dialogue from Virginia Tech.*recorded 4/13/2025