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West Cork Literary Festival

Sunday 6th - Saturday 12th July 2008

The festival aims to bring the best and most inspiring literary figures to an audience in West Cork with events that allow the maximum involvement between the writers, the local community and the many visitors who come each year to the festival.

10TH ANNIVERSARY PROGRAMME ANNOUNCED

The West Cork Literary Festival’s 10th anniversary is being marked by an
exciting programme, with a variety of new events being added to those
which have made the Festival so successful to date. There is an extra day
this year, making six full days of Readings, Workshops, Seminars,
Children’s Events, Exhibitions and Music.

The celebrations begin with the official Festival launch by Senator Eoghan
Harris on Sunday 6 July at 18.00 in Bantry Library, to which everyone is
welcome.

Joseph O’Connor, Colin Dexter, Colum McCann, Dervla Murphy and Paul Durcan
lead the stellar line-up of more than 50 authors who will be taking part
in this year’s Festival.

The number of five-day Workshops for aspiring writers has been increased,
with twelve for adults, including The Thriller, Writing for the Big
Screen, The Novel, The Short Story, Poetry, Writing for Women, Playwriting
and Songwriting.

The scope of the Afternoon Seminars has been broadened to encompass a
Masterclass with Colum McCann and talks that merge the arts, by Matthew
Sweeney on the connection between poetry and film, and the Sculptor Rowan
Gillespie on how the written word acts as a source of inspiration to the
artist.

The Children’s Programme has five-day Workshops for ages from 4-14, timed
so that parents can attend their own events. And for the first time there
will a Reading every afternoon by different children’s authors, such as
Marita Conlon-McKenna, Oisin McGann and Derek Landy.

A continuing feature of the Festival is the large number of free Readings
– at 11.00 each day in Bantry Bookshop, and twice daily at 13.00 and 17.00
in Bantry Library, the hub of the Festival.

“The week of the Festival is when Bantry becomes the Writing Republic of
West Cork, a time when readers and writers can come together in an
atmosphere of fun and learning”, says Festival Director, Clem Cairns.

The Festival is run with support from Cork County Council Library & Arts
Services and The Arts Council, and is part of West Cork Music.