Business as usual - and added extras

Cork 2005: One of the best aspects of Cork 2005 is the way in which people keep on doing their own thing.

William Wall's new novel, This is the Country, published by Sceptre, and his new collection of poems Fahrenheit Says Nothing to Me (Dedalus), were both launched by the Munster Literature Centre at the Crawford Gallery last week. At the summer lunchtime concerts also at the Crawford, Kieran Moynihan (flute) and Ciara Moroney (piano) play next Thursday, and Ruxandra Colan (violin) and Gabriela Mayer (piano) play on May 26th, as part of a programme which will continue until June 16th.

But the year has also prompted extra dimensions from unexpected places, as in the designation by Cork 2005 of Coláiste Chríost Rí as the Cork School of Culture. Here, exhibitions, lectures and projects have been organised since January, from seed-savers to fair trade, from International Women's Day (yes, this all-male school invited a women's poetry group and a panel discussion on domestic violence) to traveller visibility and eastern European politics. After the summer break, there will be sessions on sustainable living, religions of the world, ecology and on AIDS in Africa and elsewhere.