This article is from page 24 of the 2009-11-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
will headline this year’s fes- tival alongside the likes of Joseph O’Connor, Tim Pat Coogan and Paul
Howard (aka Ross O’Carroll-Kelly).
The organising committee an- nounced a partial line-up yesterday, with more authors to be confirmed in the coming months.
The festival will also feature Ire- land’s first ever Book Club of the Year award and will also include a professional development workshop for library staff.
Supported by Clare County Library,
the three-day programme of events 1s expected to attract hundreds of book club members and book lovers from all over Europe and America.
Other authors scheduled to par- ticipate in the fourth annual festival include Diarmaid Ferriter, Fiona Looney, Claire Keegan and Thomas Lynch. Academic contributors this year will include Dr Paul Delaney, School of English at Trinity College,
Alan Titley, Head of Department at University College Cork and Niall MacMonagle, editor and English teacher at Dublin’s Wesley College.
‘The festival is a wonderful social and literary event that brings togeth- er book club members, readers and authors from all over Ireland and beyond,” said Frances O’Gorman of the organising committee.
“One of the highlights of the week-
end festival will be the Sunday symposium, during which Tim Pat Coogan and Diarmaid Ferriter will join a panel discussion on the subject of reading history.”
The festival is also inviting library staff nationwide to a free workshop on how to start, develop and chal- lenge a book club.
The Ennis Book Club Festival will take place from March 5 to 7.