Cork World Book Fest 2023: Where Words Come Alive for Writers, Poets, Translators, Illustrators, and Readers
From walking tours with poets to music and spoken word in the Carnegie Courtyard, workshops with publishers, and conversations with best-selling novelists, there's something for every reader
Now in its final teenage year, Cork World Book Fest has seen writers, authors, and translators of all stripes come to Cork towards the end of April as the last of the cherry blossoms float downwards.
It has also seen a global pandemic severely disrupt proceedings, but the festival of books, writing, and translating has adapted and survived. This year, proceedings are fully back at its base, the City Library on Grand Parade, as well as just up the road in the Triskel Arts Centre.
While much in the world of publishing has changed in the 19 years that the festival has been running, the City Library has not. It is still hanging in there, waiting for a major refurbishment that has long been promised.
David O’Brien, Cork City Librarian since 2020, has been involved in the World Book Fest since its inception. For the very first festival back in 2005, O’Brien was the safety marshal.
“I remember being on the street on Grand Parade at half-past five in the morning setting up safety barriers as we had no idea how big or small the event would be. I had myself berated by a bread man who was giving out yards that he couldn’t get close to the shop to make his delivery,” O’Brien said with a laugh.
While safety barriers haven’t featured prominently in subsequent book festivals, Cork World Book Fest has established itself among the mix of diverse festivals that fill the city's calendar year.
The programming team for Cork World Book Fest is small and consists of Ann Luttrell and Gillian Hennessy from the Triskel and Patricia Looney and David O’Brien from Cork City Libraries. In addition to the partnership with the Triskel, the Cork World Book Fest has also established strong links with several arts and humanities departments at UCC, especially as the festival focuses on translation, and literary clubs such as Ó Bhéal, the poetry collective that meets regularly in The Long Valley pub.
Patricia Looney, a senior executive librarian with Cork City Libraries, said that while there is never an overarching theme to the book festival, beyond connecting local, national, and international authors with readers, translation is a core part of the festival.
At this year's festival, author Louise Nealon will be joined by translator Anna-Nina Kroll, who translated Nealon's debut novel "Snowflake" into German.
Kroll, University College Cork/Literature Ireland Literary Translator in Residence, has translated more than 30 works of fiction from English to German, including all of Limerick author Donal Ryan’s work, Anna Burns’ “No Bones”. For her translation of Burns’ Man Booker-winning “Milkman,” set in Belfast during The Troubles, she was awarded the Förderpreis zum Straelener Übersetzerpreis in 2021.
Manga, poetry in motion, music
When the festival launched in 2005, O’Brien said they did so without knowing how long it would continue.
“We weren’t quite sure how long it would last, you never are,” O’Brien said, adding that it has gone from strength to strength. For its longevity, he praised the efforts of Liam Ryan, his predecessor, and Patricia Looney, who have helped shape and drive the festival.
During the pandemic, they trialed staging events “online, offline, and everything in between,” but O’Brien said the one thing they have never veered away from is supporting local writers and literature from Cork.
O’Brien highlighted the launch of “The Unfinished Book of Poetry 2023,” the 19th poetry anthology featuring new poems from young writers across Cork City, which will take place on Wednesday, April 19. That same day, they’ll also be announcing the winners of the World Book Fest Teen Short Story Competition 2023, chosen by Cork City Libraries’ Teen Committee.
“We have something for every age group,” O’Brien said.
They’ll also be making use of the Carnegie Courtyard, named after Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American philanthropist who funded the building of thousands of public libraries in the US, the UK, and Ireland.
The courtyard used to be a car park in the back of the library, but when Tuckey Street was pedestrianszed and when the pandemic hit, a new chapter for the car park began.
For Culture Night in 2022, the courtyard was filled with the sounds of the Barrack Street Band. At lunchtime on the penultimate day of Cork World Book Fest, the Courtyard will host a spoken word and music event featuring Ronan Leonard, classical guitarist Colin McClean, and multi-instrumentalist Hánt.
Ahead of the Festival, I asked both Patricia and David what events they were looking forward to this year.
“For this week to be over," Patricia said, comparing the final week of preparation to the ordeal of the Leaving Cert.
David highlighted a walking tour with Yairen Jerez Columbié, Rosalin Blue, and Constantin Calugaru - three foreign-born poets all living in Cork. "The Poetry in Motion" tour is a little bit different, David said, but it will be a great opportunity to hear poets reflect on how their adopted city inspires their poetry.
Take five: a glance at some of the events in Cork World Book Fest 2023
Getting published: A staple of Cork World Book Festival, indeed every book festival is a look behind the curtains of the world of publishing and how to get published. Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin, previously with Gill Books and now at Bonnier's Eriu imprint, talks with commissioning editor Deirdre Nolan about reducing chances of rejection and common mistakes for writers looking to get published. Nolan, with 20 years' publishing experience, heads Eriu, which publishes adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. She seeks stories of interest to Irish readers with international potential. Nolan previously worked for Gill Books and New Island, and as a journalist before realizing her passion for books. Free to attend
Time, date, place: 9.30 am – 10.30 am, Saturda,y April 22, The City Library
New writers: Join the celebration of debut novels by two Cork writers, Eleanor O’Kelly-Lynch and Michelle McDonagh, at Triskel Christchurch on April 14. Alison Driscoll will present the event, which is free to attend. Eleanor O’Kelly-Lynch grew up in Dungarvan, Waterford, and later moved to Cork to study in UCC. "The Girl with Special Knees" is her first book with a sequel in the works. Michelle McDonagh has been writing stories since primary school and has been a freelance journalist for over 20 years. Her debut novel, "There’s Something I Have To Tell You," has just this month been published by Hachette Ireland. Alison Driscoll is a Cork-based writer and workshop facilitator who completed the MA Creative Writing in UCC, and her work has been published both online and in print.
Time, date, place: 6pm, Friday, April 21, Triskel Christchurch
For the Love of the World: Eco Writing with Emma Must, Eoghan Daltun and Grace Wells, presented by Keith Payne
Daltun will be well-known to many from his Twitter account and his book “An Irish Atlantic Rainforestbook” which details his project on rewilding his West Cork farm. For this environment-themed talk he’ll be joined by Keith Payne, a prolific writer and translator who has published several collections of poetry in translation from Galician and Spanish, Grace Wells, an eco-poet and environmental as well as writer Poet Laureate for Ennistymon, and Belfast-based poet Emma Must who won the Environmental Defenders Prize in the 2019 Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Wednesday, April 18, The City Library
A writing life: Dublin-based novelist Joseph O'Connor is also a screenwriter, playwright, and broadcaster. He has authored nine novels, two collections of short stories, several stage plays, and non-fiction collections. His work has been translated into forty languages, and he has won numerous awards, including the Prix Zepter for European Novel of the Year, France's Prix Millepages, and Italy's Premio Acerbi, among others.
In 2014, he was appointed as the Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. His latest novel, "My Father's House," is inspired by the real-life story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, who saved Allied prisoners and Jewish Romans from the Nazis. O'Connor will be in conversation with Mary Morrissy, an award-winning Irish novelist and short story writer, at the Triskel Arts Centre.
Time, date, place: 3pm - 3:45pm, Saturday, April 22, at Triskel Christchurch
Fiction at the Friary presents Rapid Fire Fiction: Fiction at the Friary is a monthly event in Cork that celebrates the reading and writing of fiction. For Cork World Book Festival, Friary is staging Rapid Fire Fiction, a special one-time event featuring 20 up-and-coming writers who will read short pieces and collaboratively write a new story live. Actor Kevin Power will perform a reading of the final story.
Among the writers will be Inni-K, an Irish singer-songwriter, Madeleine D’arcy, a fiction writer and recipient of the Hennessy Literary Award, co-curator of Fiction at the Friary with Danielle McLaughlin, author of the short-story collection “Dinosaurs on Other Planets”. Fiction at the Friary is free and open to all who enjoy a good story. The monthly event includes readings, interviews with guest authors, writing exercises, an open mic, and a book raffle.
Time, date place: 3pm -6pm, Sunday April 23, The City Library, Grand Parade
For the full list of events for Cork World Book Fest visit their events page here. The Festival runs from April 18-23. Leona Forde will read her children’s debut novel “Milly McCarthy is a Complete Catastrophe” at the City Library today at 1pm. Free to attend.
