Excitement builds as north Longford town hosts Booktown Festival Launchs

As the days go by, Granard moves closer to hosting its first Booktown Festival. Last weekend the official launch was held in Granard Library.
Inspired by the global Booktown movement Granard's literary get together takes place from Friday 21 st to Sunday 23 rd April.

Granard Booktown Festival will encourage people who love books to visit the town and share in the arts generated around books and provide cultural amenities through the building of not just a national festival but an international one in the heart of Ireland.

John Connell is one of the driving forces behind the event: “We were delighted to see such excitement in Granard on Saturday last for the launch of our official program for the Granard Booktown Festival. We have tried to curate a wide spectrum of writers from around the world, around Ireland and most importantly Longford,” he told The Leader.

There is a packed programme on offer: “There are over a dozen talks happening and the people of Longford can look forward to hearing from such famous writers as Donal Ryan in conversation with Longford's own Dani Gill, everyone's favourite midlands man, Manchan Magan, and of course we are so excited to welcome Professor Tim Flannery all the way from Australia who will be chatting to RTE's Ella McSweeney (Ear to the Ground). This event will be launched by the Australian ambassador to Ireland,” John explained.

The inaugral Festival has a broad programme: “There will be events for children too with Adam and David King of Late Late Toy show fame and of our own Shelley Corcoran with her newest book. We are also very excited to host two Rick O'Shea official book club events. Rick runs Ireland's biggest book club with over 40,000 members and this will surely help drive a crowd to Granard on the weekend in question.”

John commended everyone who has made the event possible: “We have received so much support from Longford, Granard and all the various funding bodies and business partners to make the festival a reality. It has been so amazing to have the support of all these bodies to allow us to make Granard a centre for books and writers this coming April.”

With just a few weeks before the Festival John says excitement is building: “We are very excited to launch the weekend and we hope that we have programmed a writer, talk and books to suit everyone's needs.

“We are also very excited to say that in partnership with local pubs in Granard we will have trad sessions happening over the weekend. It's a weekend not to be missed, full of books, talk, music and fun. Granard Abu.”

All roads lead to Granard, Longford, April 21-23rd, 2023 for the first Booktown festival. For more information visit the website www.granardbooktown festival.ie or follow on social media.