Taking place over the June bank holiday weekend (May 31st – June 4th) Listowel Writers’ Week is Ireland’s oldest Literary and Arts Festival — a place where writers, artists and poets gather in the beautiful heritage town Listowel, County Kerry.
Promoting writing from all genres Writers’ Week creates an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible audience — where writers and readers gather to celebrate the written word together. The programme showcases works through literary panel discussions, moderated talks, poetry readings, interviews, cultural tours, walks and more.
Wednesday 31 May
Pigott Prize winner to be announced.
8.00pm. Listowel Arms Hotel
Shortlisted are Company (Tom French), Savage Tales (Tara Bergin) andPalm Wine Tapper and the Boy at Jericho (Nithy Kasa). Judges for 2023 were Clodagh Beresford Dunne and Martin Dyar.
Thursday 1 June
A Poetry Reading with Molly Twomey & Ciara Ní É
6.00pm. Listowel Arms Hotel: Feale Room
In Raised Among Vultures, Molly Twomey’s spectacular debut poetry collection seemingly nonchalant expressions of hard experience meld with vivid imaginings. Excited hearts are ‘bumper cars’, a Coke is ‘a huge cup of starless sky’ and a radish is ‘a red grenade’.
Ciara Ní É is a bilingual poet, educator and television presenter. She is at the forefront of a renaissance of spoken word poetry in Irish and is the founder and host of REIC, a series of events that showcases new work as Gaeilge alongside writing in English and in other languages. Her work has featured across many platforms and she is a contributor to Queering the Green: post-2000 Queer Irish Poetry.
Friday 2 June
Paul Muldoon and Nick Laird
8.30pm. Listowel Arms Hotel: Ballroom
Paul Muldoon was recently appointed as Professor of Poetry for Ireland. He is the author of more than a dozen collections of poetry, including Quoofand Moy Sand and Gravel, and most recently Howdie-Skelp. His accolades include a Pulitzer Prize, the T. S Eliot Prize, and he has been the Oxford Professor of Poetry.
