A WEEK AT THE WEST CORK LITERARY FESTIVAL by Cian Morey Jul19

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A WEEK AT THE WEST CORK LITERARY FESTIVAL by Cian Morey

The West Cork Literary Festival, centred on the town of Bantry, is one of those wonderful but rare weeks in which one can focus completely on books, on either their reading or their writing. Featuring readings and talks from established authors and poets, Q and A sessions with literary agents and editors, and even nightly open-mic events in which one can showcase one’s own talents, the West Cork Literary Festival has become an annual highlight in the Irish literary calendar.

This year’s Festival was just as enjoyable, interesting and informative as I had hoped. The first talk I attended was aptly entitled “An Evening with S. J. Watson”, the author of the hit thriller novel Before I Go To Sleep. Watson read from his latest book, Second Life, before discussing writing techniques, the publishing process and the fascinating impact of the internet on humanity in what was quite an intriguing hour and a half.

The next talk I attended was rather different, and proves that everybody will always be able to find something that appeals to them at the West Cork Literary Festival. Nuala O’Connor, previously known as Nuala Ní Chonchúir, read in the Bantry Library from her new historical fiction novel Miss Emily, which deals with the relationship between the real-life poet Emily Dickinson and her fictional Irish maid. Most of the talk related to history, which was of particular interest to me as it is my favourite subject, but towards the end the discussion became more general, and Nuala O’Connor, like S. J. Watson, gave insights into the world of writing and publishing.

That evening saw David Nicholls, whose latest work, Us, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, give an entertaining and inspirational talk to almost 270 people in the Windward Suite banquet hall of the Maritime Hotel. The following day, I attended an enlightening discussion by literary agent Lucy Luck and, later, the launch of the Fish Anthology, an annual publication of the best short stories, poems, memoirs and flash fiction works that were entered in the various Fish Publishing competitions over the previous year. This was a magnificent medley of literature, covering topics ranging from tea-leaf reading and a child’s perspective of death to a hilarious epilogue to the Nativity and the surprising difficulties involved in strangling chickens. It was one of the high points of the Festival.

Other events included talks with the up-and-coming young writers of Ireland, Colin Barrett and Sara Baume; an evening with the highly successful novelists John Boyne and Paul Murray; and an engrossing interview about the News of the World phone-hacking scandal with award-winning journalist Nick Davies.

But perhaps the best feature of the Festival is the chance for aspiring writers to meet with an Editor-in-Residence, who will professionally critique their work. I was lucky enough to reserve one of the slots with this year’s editor Anna Kelly, and I found it to be an extremely helpful experience. It is a great opportunity that nobody who hopes to be an author should miss.

I would recommend this Festival to everyone who is interested in writing or reading. For those who wish to have a career in writing it is in an invaluable source of information; for those who are simply interested in books, it is a very enjoyable week; and, of course, for those who have a foot in both camps, it’s bliss.