We recently learned about a fascinating lunchtime lecture series happening in Derry, Northern Ireland, beginning this Thursday and continuing over the next few months. If you’re able to attend, we’d love to hear about your experience — especially since we don’t live in Ireland ourselves!
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Derry City and Strabane District Council is hosting Island Voices 2025 — three free lunchtime lectures exploring the life and work of C.S. Lewis, with a special focus on his Irish and Ulster-Scots heritage. The talks will look at how these cultural influences shaped his imagination and how his writing continues to resonate with readers worldwide.
If you live nearby and would like to attend, you can book a spot by phone or email using the contact information here (admission is free).
If you’re in or near Derry and can make it to any of these events, please let us know! We’d love to hear first-hand accounts and maybe even share photos or reflections from the series on NarniaFans.
Lecture Schedule
Listening to Lewis’s Irish Voice: Narnia Re-visited
With Dr. Sharon Jones
📅 Thursday, 25 September 2025, 1:00 pm
📍 Green Room, Guildhall
☕ Light refreshments available from 12:30 pm.
C.S. Lewis — the imaginative giant who gave us Narnia — was an Ulsterman who always considered himself deeply Irish. Dr. Sharon Jones will explore how Lewis’s academic life as a medievalist offered rich insights into Ireland’s story and how his overlooked Irish roots inspired and informed his writing.
About the speaker:
Dr. Sharon Jones grew up in Coleraine and lives and writes in County Antrim. She studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University and completed a doctorate in literature and theology at Ulster University. Sharon’s writing has featured in The Irish Times, Irish Studies Review, and Journal of Inklings Studies. Her poetry has been published in a variety of journals, and has been commissioned for live performances and BBC Radio 4. Sharon teaches at Stranmillis University College and is a member of New Irish Arts. In 2023 she was awarded an inaugural Fellowship of the Inklings Project, University of Notre Dame, for curriculum development on the life and work of C.S. Lewis.
The Road to Nairnia
With Antain Mac Lochlainn
📅 Thursday, 23 October 2025, 1:00 pm
📍 Green Room, Guildhall
☕ Light refreshments available from 12:30 pm.
This talk dives into Lewis’s place within Irish literature and the fascinating challenges of translating the Narnia books into Irish (And no, “Nairnia” is not a typo.). Even the titles can be tricky! No Irish language knowledge is needed — just curiosity and a love for storytelling and wordplay.
About the speaker:
Antain Mac Lochlainn is an Irish language writer and translator, born and raised in Coleraine but now living in Dublin. He has translated two novels in the Narnia series: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy (An Leon, an Bandraoi agus an Prios Éadaigh and An Capall agus a Ghiolla, an Gúm (2014 & 2019). He is currently working on a translation of Prince Caspian, scheduled for publication in 2026. His most recent books include a novel for teenagers, Éanna Corr (Leabhar Breac 2024), and an Irish translation of the French language novel Petit Pays by Gaël Faye, published by Barzaz under the title Tír Bheag (2024).
Onwards to Narnia and Hame by the Sandy Loanen
With Dr. Frank Ferguson
📅 Thursday, 27 November 2025, 1:00 pm
📍 Whittaker Suite, Guildhall
☕ Light refreshments available from 12:30 pm.
Dr. Frank Ferguson will trace the Ulster-Scots influences that shaped Lewis’s life and imagination — from his childhood home in East Belfast to the halls of Oxford and Cambridge. This talk uncovers how Lewis’s Ulster-Scots background surfaces in surprising ways throughout his work and life.
About the speaker:
Dr. Frank Ferguson is the Research Director for English Language and Literature at Ulster University. An experienced researcher in literary studies, he has written and edited a number of publications on Irish and Northern Irish literature including, ‘Ulster-Scots Writing, an Anthology’, (Four Courts, 2008), ‘Revising Robert Burns and Ulster: literature, religion and politics, c.1770-1920’ (Four Courts 2009) and John Hewitt, ‘A North Light’ (Four Courts, 2013). He has managed a number of major literary and educational projects. He is the Chair of the John Hewitt Society, a Governor of the Linen Hall Library, and Chair of the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund.
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