This article is from page 28 of the 2008-02-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
IN SEEKING to distinguish the En- nis Book Club Festival, organizers have introduced some novel events to this year’s programme.
Standing out among the numer- ous readings, workshops and writer interviews are less obvious features of a literary festival, like Chocalate tasting, cookery glasses and speed dating.
Anyone looking to indulge a sweet tooth can head along to Chocalat on Barrack Street for any of the number of chocolate tasting sessions taking place there over the weekend.
The event itself ties in with the ap- pearance of Joanna Harris, author of the mega selling Chocalat, long side Irish writer Roddy Doyle at glor on
Sunday night.
TV gardener Diarmuid Gavin will offer his tips on the best books for gardening earlier that day in glor while tv chef Neven Maguire will give a cookery demonstration, also on Sunday.
The festival will open on Friday night with a speed dating style net- working session for book club mem- leTouce
But the main attractions for the festival, which runs from February 29 to March 2, are the writers them- oa Aone
From the Godfather of Irish crime fiction Ken Bruen, to the acclaimed American poet Richard Tillinghast, the festival has again succeeded in drawing a diverse range of writers.
Galway writer Bruen will read from
his work in the Old Ground Hotel on Sunday night. His novel *Priest’ – the fifth in the mesmerizing Jack Talyor series – was recently shortlisted in America alongside books by Michael Chabon and John Banville, for the prestigious Edgar Award.
The three-day festival will also feature Roddy Doyle, a Dublin dramatist, screenwriter and Booker Prize winning author of “The Com- mitments’, “The Snapper’ and “The Van’; British author Joanne Harris, who wrote the best seller ‘Chocolat’; Hugo Hamilton, winner of the Roon- ey Prize for Irish Literature; Morgan Llywelyn, an esteemed author of his- torical fantasy, fiction and non-fic- tion books; Dermot Bolger, the au- thor of eight novels and winner of the Samuel Beckett Award; and Nuala O
Faolain, Irish Times columnist and author of ‘Are You Somebody?’; Ne- ven Maguire, an award winning ce- lebrity chef; and Lorna Landvik, au- thor of the best selling novels ‘Patty Jane’s House of Curl’ and ‘The Tall Pine Polka’.
Author and former hostage Brian Keenan will also speak at the festi- val. The Belfast native who was held hostage by Islamic Jihad in Lebanon for four and a half years will par- ticipate in the Sunday Symposium to talk about memotr.
Keenan is the author of four books including ‘An Evil Cradling’, the 1991 winner of the Irish Times Lit- erature Prize for Non-fiction.
A full programme of events is available from www.ennisbook- clubfestival.com