Kevin Toolis, author of ‘My Father’s Wake’ in conversation with David McGowan of McGowan’s Funeral Directors.
For twenty years, writer and filmmaker Kevin Toolis hunted death in famine, war and plague across the world before finding the answer to his quest on the island of his forebears. In his memoir, My Father’s Wake, he gives an intimate, eye-witness account of the death and wake of his father, and explores the wider history of the Irish Wake. With an uplifting, positive message at its heart, My Father’s Wake celebrates the spiritual depth of the Irish Wake and shows how we too can find a better way to deal with our mortality, by living and loving in the acceptance of death.
David McGowan is a Ballina funeral director striving to ‘protect the living and maintain the dignity of the deceased’ during the Covid-19 crisis. The Easkey native has been in the funeral business for more than 30 years. He operates funeral homes in Ballina and Sligo, as well as a state-of-the-art embalming facility in Collooney.
He was recently the subject of a compelling documentary by GMarshTV for RTÉ, ‘The Funeral Director’.
Mr McGowan has been an outspoken figure during the Coronovirus outbreak and has railed against what he views as ‘scaremongering’ when it comes to carrying out a funeral in these turbulent times.
Wednesday 14 October, 8pm, Online
Please note that this event will be streamed live on the Ballina Fringe Festival Facebook page.
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