Writers’ Week in Listowel: The value of ‘little places’

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

THIS week, Listowel will host its 44th Writers’ Week, that home-grown festival of literature and arts, conviviality, and culture, and of course all things North Kerry. No doubt the craic will be mighty, the porter and conversation will be flowing, the workshop participants will be earnestly revising, and the place will be humming. The arts and literature, no less than the Sam Maguire Cup, offer a great excuse for a party.

It seems to me, here on my side of the Atlantic, to represent a wonderfully joyous celebration of the genius loci, the distinctive spirit of place, which enlivens this special little town on the River Feale.