Ennis Book Club Festival Committee is pleased to announce the full programme for the 18th Ennis Book Club Festival taking place this year from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd March at various venues throughout the town and county.
This year’s Festival will offer a vibrant programme of live events and activities for book lovers of all ages. As always, the Festival will offer opportunities to engage with your favourite authors and features an additional programme of events for younger readers.
Festival events kick off on Friday at 12pm with the launch of We Are Human Too. Edited by Anne Marie Flanagan. This ground-breaking book delves into the dark reality of neglect, abuse and deprivation of liberty faced by disabled people in Ireland. Poet Paula Meehan will read from her latest collection The Solace of Artemis at 2pm and at 4pm Claire Kilroy will join in conversation with writer, editor and broadcaster Sinéad Gleeson to chat about Soldier Sailor, her first novel in over a decade, whilst Sinéad’s eagerly anticipated first novel, Hagstone is due this year. Claire and Sinéad will be in conversation with best-selling author, Edel Coffey. All these events take place in The Temple Gate Hotel.
Join the EBCF team and Artistic Director Martina Durac for a warm welcome at the Festival Opening taking place in the foyer at glór, a perfect opportunity to meet friends old and new.
Writers from the West with Una Mannion, Mike McCormack and Sarah Gilmartin in conversation with Derek Hand takes place in glór at 6pm, followed by an event with author Brian Leyden and multi-instrumentalist Seamie O’Dowd who marry stories and music from across the decades in a warm-hearted, lyrical evocation of romance and courtship in Ireland, emigrant Britain and America.
Rounding off Friday’s events, EBCF is delighted to showcase some of Crime Fiction’s most notable authors Denise Mina, Andrea Mara and Doug Johnstone in conversation with Andrea Carter. In 2023, Doug Johnstone published The Space Between Us and The Opposite of Lonely. Set in Glasgow, Denise Mina’s novels are deft, gritty and compassionate.  In No One Saw a Thing, Andrea Mara explores every parent’s fever dream, the disappearance of a child. Guests will be in conversation with writer Andrea Carter, author of Death Writes and the Inishowen series.
Saturday morning in Ennis Courthouse sees Mark O’Connell, author of A Thread of Violence in conversation with Theo Dorgan. With A Thread of Violence, he has produced a probing portrait of one of the most notorious Irish murderers of the 20th century. O’Connell talks to poet, novelist, essayist Theo Dorgan in a fascinating exploration of truth and lies, coincidence and doubt, as they unravel what lies at the heart of this remarkable book.
A festival favourite, Ten Books you Should Read takes place in glór at 11.30am, this year featuring contributions from Rónán Hession and Liam Ó Maonlaà with Cónal Creedon followed at 2pm by another festival staple, Debut Novelists with Lauren Mackenzie, Michael Magee and Colin Barrett in conversation with Peter Murphy.
The Beyond Borders Book Club (Temple Gate, 2pm), is a celebration of great literature from countries beyond Ireland, recommended by guests who have connections to the places discussed in these writings. Guest panelists Sree Sen, Nandi Jola and Natasha Remoundou will take part in a discussion with writer Sarah Clancy, focusing on books from India, South Africa and Greece.
Also at 2pm Clare Youth Theatre perform a piece in glór’s studio whilst at 4pm Dani Gill and Alice Kinsella explore maternal lineage in their work in an event taking place in the Courthouse.
Ennis Book Club Festival celebrates Clare-based writers – John Lillis, Darragh McKeon and Tara Smith in conversation with Festival Director Martina Durac at 4pm in the Temple Gate Hotel. In Memoir authors Martin Doyle, Kerri NÃ Dochartaigh and Eimear Ryan, along with journalist Pat Carty will explore memoir, nature writing and personal accounts of the self with three writers who give us fascinating insights into very different worlds with their latest books.
A Saturday night author interview with Rebecca Makkai takes place in glór at 8.30pm. Ennis Book Club Festival is delighted to welcome Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Rebecca Makkai to this year’s festival where she will be in conversation with Belinda McKeon. Author of New York Times-bestselling I Have Some Questions for You as well as novels The Great Believers, The Hundred-Year House and The Borrower, she has also published a short story collection, Music for Wartime.
Saturday’s events come to a close at 9.30pm in The Old Ground with a magical concert featuring Rónán Ó Snodaigh and Myles O’Reilly, along with some surprise guests, and the duo’s soulful blend of folk, traditional, and ambient music.
The closing day of the festival sees Mary Ellen Hodgins Reading and Poetry Collective Open Mic take place in the Record Break Café whilst Sweet N Green hosts Hush Hour, a reading party that redefines social gatherings for book lovers.
The ever-popular Sunday Symposium takes to the stage at glór at 11am. This year the symposium will discuss the topic Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: A Crisis of Imagination? Amongst guests will be writer and broadcaster Justine McCarthy, (An Eye On Ireland) whose work has long shone an acute eye on many parts of the social fabric of the country. She will be joined by Dr Rory Hearne, (Gaffs), a lecturer and commentator whose work explores housing rights and inequality and the changing nature of the welfare state. They will be joined by two other guests for a lively and challenging event.
At 2pm, Festival goers can move to The Old Ground for a Literary Lunch, this year with guest of honour, poet, librettist, documentary writer, essayist, novelist and translator, Theo Dorgan.
In 2024 Ennis Book Club Festival introduces a new element to the festival with EBCF Fringe. This presents a chance for a variety of artists to bring their talents to the festival with storytelling, music, poetry, song, and collaborative performances, as Gaeilge agus Béarla. More details to be announced on www.ennisbookclubfestival.com
ÂÂÂÂAs always, there are lots of other terrific events taking place across the festival weekend including the beloved Books n ‘ Bun’s event on Saturday morning, testing your knowledge of all things literary and fascinating Walking Tours with Jane O’Brien.
Ennis Book Club Festival, in association with Clare Libraries also features an extensive programme for younger readers, including the chance for Clare post-primary schools to participate in Fighting Words; Music Tech for Teens; A Dive Into Comics; Expert Tips for Teenage Reads and Clara Kumagai discussing her YA Novel, Catfish Rolling.
On Friday in glór, best-selling poet Paula Meehan will host an event for Secondary School students talking about her work whilst EBCF’s Children’s Bookclub event features Ellen Ryan in conversation with Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, the culmination of a series of Bookclub workshops for primary schools.  Both events are open to all schools who wish to attend.
On Saturday Ellen will host a lovely event for families, again in glór exploring the remarkable journey she went on when researching her book, Gods Don’t Cry.
Commenting on the programme for the 2024 Ennis Book Club Festival, Artistic Director Martina Durac says ‘The festival this year brings many wonderful creators to Ennis; poets, novelists, musicians and performers who want to share what they’ve created in the solitary spaces where they write. We’ll celebrate emerging writers as well as established ones, Michael Magee, Una Mannion, Denise Mina, Mike McCormack, Dani Gill, Paula Meehan and Lauren Mackenzie being just a few of our guests. This promises to be a stimulating and spirited festival happening over three days in Ennis and with an open heart we invite you to join us.’
All events will go on sale on www.ennisbookclubfestival.com from Thursday 25th January with selected events already on-sale.
Please note that some events are of limited capacity, early booking advised. See www.ennisbookclubfestival.com for full details on all events.