Launch of Limerick Literary Festival nears ahead of weekend-long celebration

THE LIMERICK Literary Festival is to be launched in the city ahead of the weekend-long event lineup.

Actor, director and playwright Myles Breen will launch the programme for The Limerick Literary Festival on Thursday, January 23 at 5:30pm in O'Mahony's Bookshop, Limerick.

The Festival will run in Limerick from Friday, February 21 through 23 at the Belltable, O’Connell Street. The event continues to honour the life and works of the Limerick author, Kate O’Brien while attracting prominent participants from all over the world.

"It originally started as The Kate O’Brien Weekend in 1984 to mark the tenth anniversary of her death," said Ella Daly of Limerick Literary Festival.

"We continue to celebrate the legacy of Kate O’Brien each year and her impact as a writer 41 years later.

"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."

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The 2025 Festival will be opened with an intimate evening of words and music by featuring talented Limerick Opera Singer Sarah Ellen Murphy accompanied by pianist Irina Dernova.

This will officially open what is to be a full weekend programme featuring novelists, Diarmuid Johnson, Anna Abney, Rose Servitova, Karen Fitzgibbon, Christine Dwyer Hickey and Delphine Minoui alongside poets Ciarain O’Driscoll, Lionel Poiraudeau, Jo Slade and Vivienne McKechnie.

There will also be the ‘Heaney in Translation’ event, a special evening combining words and music presented by Niall MacMonagle, this evening organised in association with Poetry Ireland to honour the work of the great Seamus Heaney.

The festival will also include the presentation of the 2025 Kate O’Brien Award for a debut novel or short story collection from a female Irish author, the winner of the award will be chosen from the shortlist announced January 13. 

The festival will close on Sunday, February 23, with an interview with the internationally renowned author, journalist and broadcaster David McWilliams.

The festival is supported by the Arts Council, Limerick City and County Council, Poetry Ireland, French Embassy in Ireland and AIRPV.io.