Literature: Cork World Book Fest at Triskel & Cork City Central Library

The last of the great Anglo-Irish writers, Molly Keane, who died 20 years ago today, has been the chief focus of the 13th Cork World Book Fest — a six-day literary jamboree currently packing out both the Central Library and Triskel Christchurch.

Sat, 22 Apr, 2017 - 01:00

Des Breen

Under the gentle prodding of Tom McCarthy, the opening event saw Keane’s daughters, Sally Phipps and Virgina Brownlow, recall their mother’s life with a series of stories which were not only an examination of the work of a major author but also a view through the window of what was once the ‘big house’.

The Molly Keane theme continues tomorrow, when the Book Fest takes to the road for a bus excursion to the writer’s beloved home at Ardmore in Co Waterford, now a writers’ retreat.

There were a number of launches at the festival, including Alannah Hopkin’s story collection The Dogs of Inishere. Hopkin has been busy writing non-fiction, meaning it’s 30 years since her last novel, The Outhaul, so the new book will be welcomed by many.

An impressive poetry strand was also to the fore, with the Munster Literature Centre launching two titles in its growing selection of chapbooks John Fitzgerald’s First Cut and Aidan Matthews’ Sound Effects in a Studio. During the Cork launch of Eugene O’Connell and Pat Boran’s anthology, Deep Heart’s Core, in which 100 poets revisit a key work in their careers and explain the motivation behind it, 14 of the contributors were on hand to read a diverse range of poems.

Two events in the Triskel — Les Parisiennes’ author Anne Sebba’s discussion on the lives of French women during WWII, and a Literature in Translation event — underlined the festival’s international credentials, while seminars on ‘Getting Published’ and ‘Writers and Critics’ ensured anyone who has plans to put pen to paper was catered for.

The festival continues today with a lighter touch — Paul Howard, aka Ross O’Carroll Kelly, is in the Triskel, and this afternoon events spill out onto the city’s Grand Parade for a Community Arts Project and book market.