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.

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.