The 17th Edition of Culture Night on Friday September 23rd is the biggest national cultural event in Ireland.  This year, it has over 1,700 events taking place around the country, along with some new venues open late into the night.  The Taipei Representative Office and the Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning in Ireland put together an event entitled "Painting, Poetry and Intercultural Dialogue" that has attracted almost 100 registered guests . 

The event invited Irish poets, a singer, Taiwanese and Cantonese to recite Irish classical and modern poetry in 6 languages: Irish, English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka and Cantonese.  It wouldn't be a proper Taiwanese event without some bubble tea, snacks from Taiwan such as pineapple cakes, mochi, and garlic and chili peas!  During the first half of the event, five classic poems and songs: Thomas Moore's "The Last Rose of Summer ", Oscar Wilde's "Requiescat", and W. B. Yeats' "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven", Partick Kavanagh "Wet Evening in April" and "Digging" by Seamus Heaney were recited. 

In the second half, two Irish new-generation poets read their wonderful works, namely "Leftovers", "Candle", "Aching on Return" by Eva Griffin, and "This is it", "Cold Light" and "Video of you"  by Laura-Blaise McDowell.  These poems brought the Taiwanese closer to Ireland.  Evan Furlong said reading these poems in Hakka was quite challenging but she learned a lot about her roots too.  Eva Griffin's dad said "Thank you for this evening, it was great to see my daughters work translated into other languages".   

The English poems were read by Luiza Vasiliu.  The Taiwanese were read by Wendy Chen, the Hakka language was read by Evan Furlong, the Mandarin was read by Ambassador Yang and the Cantonese were read by the Irish Hong Kong community. The event also displayed eleven acrylic paint paintings created by Taiwanese painter Clement Yang in conjunction with the eleven poems. The poems, paintings and readings have brought Taiwan to Ireland again.