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IF THIS YEAR’S Cúirt set some tongues wagging about a programme that seeped into music, dance, theatre and song, it was clear by the end of the week-long festival that literature remained very much at its heart., writes FIONA McCANN

And the more than 5,000 audience members who bought tickets to the various venues and events were not complaining. Yes, there was music in the varied voices of the 60-odd artists who convened for the event – in the Scottish purr of Janice Galloway, the Yorkshire baritone of Sean O’Brien, or the Derry lilt of Colette Bryce and in the changing cadences of Spanish, Slovenian, Irish and all the varied Englishes that were spoken and sung all over Galway as the week progressed.