Listowel Writers' Week looks to turn the page on funding controversy

A revived festival, major Arts Council funding and unanswered questions have sparked deep divisions within Kerry’s close-knit literary community

The chairman of the board of Listowel Writers' Week, former senator Ned O’Sullivan, with arts minister Patrick O'Donovan, during Listowel Literary Festival last year. File picture: Domnick Walsh

The sun was shining, the mood was buoyant, and Listowel was once more in the centre of another successful literary festival on its streets.

Synonymous with poetry, plays, and literary events, the north Kerry town was basking in the success of a new festival over the June bank holiday weekend last year. The event had its roots in the long-revered legacy of Ireland’s oldest literary festival, Listowel Writers’ Week.