PULITZER Prize-winning poet Philip Schultz, banned Chinese writer Ma Jian and British writers Blake Morrison and Janice Galloway are among participants booked for this year’s Cúirt International Festival of Literature which opens in Galway next month.
A celebration of Irish author Brian Friel at 80 and a similar eight-decade birthday for publishers Faber and Faber are also among highlights of the 24th annual event.
Details of the programme, which includes film, theatre, music and a plethora of readings, were announced in Galway by poet Theo Dorgan last night.
The week-long feast of literature and arts will open on April 22nd with readings by New York-based Irish writer Joseph O’Neill and north American novelist Timothy O’Grady.
Writers from America, China, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Russia, Canada, Georgia, South Africa, England and Ireland promise an “eclectic” and “diverse” event, according to Maureen Kennelly, festival programme director.
Galway Youth Theatre will stage Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Cúirt debate is on the theme of “leadership – are economists replacing politicians?”. Programme details and tickets are available from the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, tel (091) 569777.
