A Message from Cork County Library & Arts Service The West Cork Literary Festival is just one of several great festival events in Bantry that demonstrate this small town’s enviable reputation as one of Ireland’s important cultural destinations. Each summer, this beautiful West Cork town provides a very special setting and backdrop for the festivals of classical and traditional music, which book-end the West Cork Literary Festival – a week-long celebration of the world’s finest contemporary writing.
Our commitment to funding has assisted the festival in once again bringing to Bantry an array of great authors who will in turn delight, provoke and astonish us all.
We, in Cork County Library and Arts Service, extend a very warm welcome to all visitors to this year’s festival. We are delighted to be able to play our part in the presentation of this thoughtful and hopefully thought-provoking programme of readings, seminars and workshops.
We congratulate Artistic Director, Denyse Woods, who has worked tirelessly to produce a magnificent programme which showcases some of the finest emerging and established Irish and international writers.
This festival is an example of positive interaction between a local authority and a local arts organisation. Cork County Council’s policy of supporting festival development is a means of providing public access to, enjoyment of, and participation in the arts. From an economic viewpoint, festivals are also important to tourism and the local economy. 2
Our thanks to everyone involved in the festival, the authors, West Cork Music, local businesses, the branch staff in Bantry Library and the many volunteers who will give so much of their time to make this event a success.
We hope that everyone who attends the festival, authors and participants alike, will have an exciting, rewarding and enjoyable experience.
Cork County Library and Arts Service
Sunday 7 July WRITERS AT RISK AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL West Cork Literary Festival, in association with Amnesty International, will once again honour those writers and journalists who do not enjoy freedom of expression and have been tortured, imprisoned and murdered by their own governments for bringing us the stories we need to hear. With special thanks to Dave Lordan and those attending the Words Allowed workshop.
SUNDAY 7 JULY 18.00 / Bantry Library / ALL WELCOME
Opening Reception of the 15th West Cork Literary Festival During our opening reception, the J.G. Farrell Fiction Award will be presented and Ruth Padel will read her poem, The Mill Wheel at Bantry.