A tribute to a life in letters

ONE of the big draws on the programme for Cork World Book Festival, which opens Tuesday, Apr 23, will be Aidan Higgins: A Writer’s Life, a tribute to his contribution to literature.

Higgins, 86, grew up in the decaying grandeur of Springfield House, Co. Kildare. His writing returns to the places, events, scents and sounds that made a deep impression on the child and have not left the man now.

Taught to read and write by a determined mother, Higgins began his future career early, by scribbling on walls.