This Saturday, May 29th at 8pm online, a virtual livestream will be broadcast by the National Concert Hall exploring Ireland's mother and baby home institutions.

This special evening of words and song from the stage will present personal responses from a range of leading Irish writers, musicians and artists to the ongoing legacy of the religious-run institutions.

Until alarmingly recently, religious orders and the Irish state operated a network of institutions for the concealment, punishment and exploitation of women called ‘fallen’ and ‘offenders’, a secretive system that forcibly separated families. Through breaking silences and sharing testimonies, survivors of Ireland’s religious-run institutions have become catalysts of change.

In the search for answers, their voices must continue to be heard. Working with generational survivors of the institutions, this one-off event is curated by acclaimed author of Republic of Shame, Caelainn Hogan.

'Breaking the Silence' is presented by the International Literature Festival Dublin alongside the National Concert Hall.

Poet, novelist and playwright Elaine Feeney, Director of the Tuam Oral History Project, will appear on the night as well as Terri Harrison, a musician and survivor who was forcibly separated from her son through the religious-run institutions.

Loah (Sallay Matu Garnett), an artist of Irish and Sierra Leonean origins who starred as Mary Magdalene in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar, will also perform.

Also set to appear is actor, writer and adoption right activists Noelle Brown, who co-wrote and performed in the play Postscript about searching for her origins; singer and writer Jess Kav, who speaks about the generational impact of the institutions, and Dundalk folk group The Mary Wallopers.

Writer and academic Philomena Mullen, who grew up in Ireland’s institutional system and is working on a book for Skein Press, will be present alongside Majella Moynihan, author of A Guarded Life. Majella was forced to give her son up for adoption, charged with breaching Garda regulations for being pregnant outside of marriage.

Award-winning and internationally-renowned glass artist from Co. Down, Alison Lowry, will also be a guest, with more special names due to be announced ahead of time.

Breaking the Silence is an evening of words and song live-streamed from the National Concert Hall @NCH_Music. Presenting new creative responses to the ongoing legacy of Ireland’s mother and baby home institutions.

Book now 🎟👉 https://t.co/yYXssUqIBehttps://t.co/QVHybuazcA

— International Literature Festival Dublin (@ILFDublin) May 24, 2021