Easky - Culture

Culture

Jack Harte (Irish writer) was born in the Easkey townland of Killeenduff, where his father was the local blacksmith. He draws on his experience growing up in the area, and ultimately being torn away from it as his father was forced to move in search of work, in his novel In the Wake of the Bagger. Another novel, Reflections in a Tar-Barrel is also set in the area. Harte also draws on Easkey, its people and mythologies, in many of his short stories.

The sculptor Fred Conlon was born and grew up in Killeenduff, Easkey.

The mother of Irish playwrights Martin McDonagh (director of the film In Bruges) and John Michael McDonagh (director of The Guard) comes from Easkey. In a recent interview, John Michael McDonagh revealed that he has written a new script, a comedy-drama about a priest called 'Calvary' that Irish actor Brendan Gleeson has signed up for. McDonagh stated that: "I've written it for a county called Sligo, and the reason it's there is there's a town called Easkey where my mother is from, and it's one of the Top 10 surfing scenes in the world because of the rips they get. I wanted again a widescreen backdrop, surfers, there's sort of a meditative quality about the sea rushing in." It is unconfirmed whether or not the drama will be filmed in the Easkey area.