Listowel Writers Week

Festival Programme 2014

The talking is over, the planning is done, the events finalised and we are  delighted to unveil details of our annual literary festival, which will take place as always in the historical and intimate surroundings here in Listowel, Co. Kerry from 28th May to 1st June 2014.

We are now entering our 43^rd year, proud of it and will continue to be known as the festival long renowned for bringing together local and international novelists, poets, playwrights and audiences in what is now widely regarded as the Literary Capital of Ireland.

This year’s international authors include IMPAC winner Gerbrand Bakker, Jim Crace, Tishani Doshi, Douglas Kennedy, Dinaw Mengestu and Aminatta Forna. Ensuring Irish fiction remains robust and continues to flourish are new literary sensations, Booker and IMPAC nominee Donal Ryan, Goldsmith’s Winner Eimear McBride and Belfast’s inaugural Poet Laureate, Sinead Morrissey.

The festival will celebrate Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney in a special Poetry Aloud event, where gifted, young award-winning students will read from the poet’s best-loved work.

We will also be remembering that 2014 is the 100^th Anniversary of World War 1 and the 20^th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide with a Panel Discussion featuring BBC foreign correspondents Fergal Keane and Andy Kershaw, and Army Officer and author Tom Clonan.

The National Children’s Literary Festival at Listowel Writers’ Week will run in conjunction with the main Festival and is jam-packed with events for children of all ages and their families. It will feature an alternative cultural school tour, “authors in schools” day, workshops, picnics, book clinics and most importantly, Chocolate! Starring at the Festival will be celebrated children’s authors John Boyne, Alan Early, Siobhán Parkinson, Sarah Webb, Steve Simpson, Claire Hennessy and 12 year-old author Joe Prendergast.

A recent initiative, Operation Education: A Teen Focused Arts Festival for Transition and 5^th Year Students, is now entering its second year.  One of its objectives is to introduce the students to a poet who will be on their Leaving Cert course as well as stimulating and enthusing students with a varied programme of events.
The New Writers’ Salon will continue to showcase the best and most exciting emerging poets and prose writers in Ireland today, with the opportunity for budding writers to read their work at an open-mic session.

All this and much, much more…

Speaking of this year’s festival, the Chairman, Sean Lyons, said “Less than a year after man first walked on the moon, a group of visionary people gathered to plan the first Listowel Writers’ Week. Since then, only a dozen people have walked on the moon but tens of thousands have thronged the streets of Listowel to share in a celebration of Irish and international culture and literature. This year, while the moon is deserted, we will bring an exciting and varied programme of events to Ireland’s Literary Capital, here in the heart of north Kerry.”

And when you’ve mingled ‘till you’ve tingled and absorbed the Magic that is Listowel, you can bed yourself down in the newly established Festival Glamping Site; perfectly located in Listowel’s beautiful park in the heart of the town full details here;

http://www.killarneyglamping.com/listowel/

or Call: 087 9750110

Tickets for all events at this year’s festival are now available online and open for booking on www.writersweek.ie/festival-programme