Listowel Writers’ Week has announced its programme for this year’s festival.
The 53rd iteration of Listowel Writers’ Week takes place between May 29th and June 2nd this year, with the theme of mother nature.
The festival is under the curatorship of poet Martin Dyar this year.
On opening night, President Michael D Higgins will be awarded the John B Keane Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of his service to the arts in Ireland.
President Higgins served as Ireland's first Minister for Arts, Culture, and the Gaeltacht in the 1990s.
The opening night will also see the winners of the Pigott Poetry Prize and Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year announced.
Novelists including Alice McDermott, Sarah Bernstein, Mike McCormack, and Kerry’s Noel O’Regan are among the writers who will speak at the event.
There is also likely to be interest from Leaving Cert students and secondary schools, with poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin reading in the Listowel Arms Hotel on May 31st, just days before the English Leaving Cert exam.
The closing headline event is a discussion between curator and poet Martin Dyar, with former Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan, on his memoir We Need to Talk.
There is also a full programme geared towards children, and full details of the entire lineup is available here.
