A WORLD book festival based on a traditional Catalan celebration of books is expected to attract 15,000 people to Cork city this weekend.
The programme for the three-day festival includes writing workshops, hand printing of books using a traditional letterpress and a concert performance by Barcelona-based multidisciplinary music group VerdCel.
The festival highlight takes place on Saturday, featuring a selection of local bookshops selling collections on Cork’s Grand Parade plaza, coinciding with an artisan food fair and independent crafts displayed on up to 30 stalls.
Cork’s World Book Festival first took place in 2005, during the city’s reign as European Capital of Culture. It’s origins lie in the century-old Catalan tradition celebrating the anniversary of the death of both Shakespeare and Cervantes on April 23rd.
The three-day event features readings from short story writer Claire Keegan, novelist Paul Murray and BBC journalist Fergal Keane. Keegan, from Wicklow, has earned a reputation at home and abroad as a leading Irish short story writer. Both Murray and Keegan will engage in conversation with Hilary Lennon of University College Cork’s school of English on Saturday night.
Tonight at 7pm, Fergal Keane will read from his book The Road of Bones: the Battle of Kohima 1944, which tells the story of a little-known battle on the border between Burma and India during the second World War.