Limerick Literary Festival launches its 40th edition

LIMERICK'S Literary Festival will celebrate its 40th anniversary this February.

The annual festival in memory of Kate O'Brien continues to honour the life and works of the Limerick author.

This year, it will take place from February 24 to 26.

The Limerick Literary Festival is this year celebrating its 40th anniversary alongside the 50th anniversary of the death of O’Brien.

It originally started as The Kate O’Brien Weekend in 1984 to mark the tenth anniversary of her death. It continues to celebrate the legacy of Kate O’Brien each year and her impact as a writer.

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At the first Kate O’Brien Weekend in 1984 to mark the tenth anniversary of Kate’s death, the poet Eavan Boland spoke of Kate’s legacy and of the enduring quality of her work saying that ‘by accepting that if a work of art is good it is good not because it is feminine, but because it is human.’

Building on this significant history, the Limerick Literary Festival seeks to promote Limerick nationally as a place of literary excellence and to provide a platform where readers can meet their favourite authors and other readers.

The 2024 Festival will be opened with an intimate evening of words and music by spoken word artist and musician Denise Chaila and the full weekend programme feature authors Vona Groarke, Mary Morrissy, Antoine Laurain, Francis Spufford, Dorothy Cross, Dr Jana Fischerova, Elaine Feeney and Jane Clarke.

Also featured will be perennial favourite Desert Island Books and a session with Poetry Pharmacist William Sieghart and the presentation of the 2024 Kate O’Brien Award for a debut novel from a female Irish author, the winner of the award will be chosen from the following shortlist: Slant by Katherine O’Donnell, The Red Bird Sings by Aoife Fitzpatrick, and The Last Days of Joy by Anne Tiernan .

The Festival will close with internationally renowned author Claire Keegan. The festival is generously supported by the Arts Council, Limerick City and County Council and French Embassy in Ireland.