Life in Listowel conjures images of Synge’s words, ‘the springtime of the local life has not been forgotten’. With cuts to arts budgets around the country, it is more imperative than ever that the likes of Writers’ Week see resources renewed and replenished, writes Jim Kennelly

Listowel Writers’ Week enjoys such a reputation that major figures are more than happy to be invited, says Carl Dixon

MANY visitors to Listowel seek out John B Keane’s bar, or the street where another famous writer, Bryan MacMahon, lived.

A PILOT survey of Killarney’s multi-million euro tourism industry may be a model for similar studies in other Irish destinations.

BOOKER Prize winner John Banville was further honoured last night when he scooped the top award at Writers’ Week, in Listowel, Co Kerry.

GROUPS from Waterford and Clare won the two major awards at the 56th North Cork Drama Festival in Charleville.

STRIKING tributes were paid yesterday to solicitor and All-Ireland-winning Kerry footballer Garry MacMahon, who died last week after a brief illness.

MEMBERS of Republican Sinn Féin yesterday protested outside the Kerry County Museum in Tralee where an exhibition is being held on William Melville, founder of the British Secret Service.

A POWERFUL production of Lyle Kessler’s play Orphans by Ballyduff Drama Group of west Waterford won the Bryan MacMahon Trophy, the top award in the open competition at the North Cork Drama Festival, now in its 54th year.

HAVING surmounted planning problems, the North Kerry Literary Trust will unveil a memorial to Listowel writer Bryan MacMahon, on February 12.

THE work of a long-forgotten Kerry playwright, who has been described as a forerunner of John B Keane and Bryan MacMahon, could be in for a revival following publication of his biography.

THE PROMOTERS of a statue to commemorate the late writer Bryan MacMahon (1909-1998) have appealed a planning decision by Listowel Town Council so they can retain the height of the monument in the interests of “the status of the statue.”

LISTOWEL Town Council, which recently got into an embarrassing controversy over proposals to honour literary giants Bryan MacMahon and John B Keane, is to adopt a more discreet approach to the issue.

TROUBLED councillors in a Kerry town have found a new way to get flush when calculating the annual spending budget.