Line-Up for Book Festival Announced

Clare Champion, Friday, 15th June 2007

Award winning novelist Roddy Doyle and Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, will participate in the second annual Ennis Book Club Festival 2008, details of which have just been announced.

The writers will be joined in the county Clare capital from 29th February to 2nd March 2008 by a number of other internationally renowned writers including Joseph O’Connor, Dermot Bolger, Lorna Landvik and Thomas Lynch. The three-day festival is expected to attract hundreds of book club members and book lovers from all over Europe.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr. Joe Reidy welcomed the announcement and described it as a wonderful addition to the national festival calendar. “The event will not only serve and reflect the reading passions of many in the country, but once again provide a significant boost to the local tourism sector”, explained Mayor Reidy.

Meanwhile, the Ennis Book Club Festival Committee confirmed that it had already received bookings for the 2008 Festival from as far away as Wisconsin, USA. According to Frances O’Gorman, Committee Chairperson, “To receive bookings at this early stage is very encouraging but it does not surprise us. This Festival is the largest of its kind in the UK and Ireland while there are over 150 Library Book Clubs and 300 Private Book Clubs in Ireland alone. Therefore, demand for such an event is always guaranteed to be considerable.” Ms. O’Gorman indicated that even more writers will be added to the star line-up during the coming months. She also confirmed that events would again be held in such venues as Glór Irish Music Centre and the De Valera Library, as well as in selected hotels, cafes, bookshops and restaurants around Ennis.

<< Library Newscuttings