Margaret Atwood is leading Galway 2020's Wild Atlantic Women programme.

This weekend,  Galway 2020 is marking International Women’s Day by looking out into the world, celebrating women’s achievements and continuing to strive for a more equal, enabled world - with world-renowned author and poet Margaret Atwood headlining the weekend’s events. On Saturday March 7, ‘always a Derry Girl’ Susan McKay and ‘newbie’ Derry Girl Siobhan McSweeney will chat at An Taibhdhearc on Middle St about eye rolling nuns, tongue in cheekery and the state of the North in a winding conversation through Siobhan’s life as an actor on stage and screen and her inspirational views on the world at large. On Sunday March 8 Galway 2020 will open International Women’s Day with RAGADAWN, a unique outdoor sunrise performance by international poet and sound artist Caroline Bergvall. This multisensory composition for two live voices, a dawn chorus of multiple recorded languages, alongside a special vocal work for soprano by Gavin Bryars, invites audiences to follow the slow rising of day. The piece will be a powerful and moving voice performance that reconnects audiences to time, place and each other and will take place on board the LE Niamh, captained by LT Claire Murphy and which has been involved in humanitarian missions in the Mediterranean Sea. Later on International Women’s Day, recent winner of the EU Prize for Literature, Jan Carson, will be in discussion about her exhilarating new novel The Fire Starter with Galway’s own Elaine Feeney. Wowing critics with its magic realist take on modern-day Belfast, it has been hailed as ‘gripping, affecting and surprising’ (Lisa McInerney), ‘the best book I’ve read all year’ (Joseph O’Connor), ‘spectacular’ (Donal Ryan) and ‘exhilarating’ (Roddy Doyle). This event is made possible through the support of the EUPL and Doubleday Ireland. To conclude, Galway 2020’s special guest Margaret Atwood remarks upon her remarkable career, and the inspiration for her extraordinary new book, The Testaments. Hosted by Susan McKay, Atwood’s conversation will round out a full programme of International Women’s Day events by Galway 2020, bringing the weekend to an inspirational finish. “On March 7 and 8, we shall bring together unique voices in a local, national and international celebration of the lives of women. We want everyone to join us for a celebration of International Women’s Day with diverse voices from the West and further afield," Galway 2020 CEO Patricia Philbin said. "We are especially proud to welcome Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid’s Tale has become an international symbol of women’s struggle against oppression and we can think of no better voice to inspire and educate”.