We are thrilled to present the full programme for the 42nd Listowel Writers’ Week annual literary festival 2013, which is now available for booking.

Tickets for all our events can now be booked online or you can download a copy of the programme on the right hand side.

We will have writers and panellists from over 10 countries; we will host in excess of 60 events over the five days of the festival; there will be four events themed around The Gathering and will focus in on topics such as The Famine, Migration, Irish Language and the Irish/American short story and poem; we will be joined by a host of national and international writers for this year’s festival including; Colm Tóibín, Lucy Caldwell, Audrey Niffenegger, Thomas Keneally, Andrew Miller, Rebecca Miller, Emma Donoghue, Colum McCann, Nadeem Aslam and many many more.

The 2012 Booker short-listed author, Alison Moore will be here and will talk to Anne O’Neill about her debut novel The Lighthouse and her new collection of short stories The Pre-War House and Other Stories

Andrew Miller will talk about his 2012 Costa Book of the Year Pure, a novel set in a Parisian cemetery in the run-up to the French Revolution.  Pure has also recently been shortlisted for the IMPAC Award.

We’re delighted to introduce our inaugural New Writers’ Salon, which will showcase some of the best and most exciting emerging writers of today, many of whom have featured in Doire Press’ recently published 30 under 30. There will also be an open-mic session, giving others the opportunity to perform their work in front of a large and appreciative audience, where a resident editor and agent will be on hand to answer your questions.

There will be performances from Willy Vlautin, John Montague & Paddy Moloney and the Sacred Harp Shape Note Singers from Cork.

We are continuing to take bookings for our Literary Workshops  and don’t forget you can book online now!  However, if you would like to book a place in the traditional way, please do not hesitate to call us on +353 68 21074, we will be delighted to talk to you.

Five internationally significant Irish authors have today been announced as finalists for this year’s Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award. The €15,000 award is the largest monetary prize for fiction available solely to Irish authors. The shortlist was announced by Aoife O’Brien of Kerry Group, at our launch on the 17th April. This year’s Award adjudicators were, Observer associate editor and former editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber, Robert McCrum and prominent Irish poet and playwright, Rita Ann Higgins. The five authors on the list are:

Lucy Caldwell, All the Beggars Riding
Gavin Corbett, This is the Way
Claire Kilroy, The Devil I Know
Kathleen MacMahon, This is How it Ends
Thomas O’Malley, The Magnificent Desolation

Special congratulations to our Competition Winners, who have all now been notified (with the exception of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Winner!) and invited to attend our Opening Ceremony on the 29th May 2013.  We will be publicly announcing details of all competition winners on our website blog on the 29th May.

Accommodation for this year’s festival can be booked through our ever efficient Accommodation Manager, Norella and she can be contacted on +353 87 655 5516 or at norella@eircom.net

Everyone at the Listowel Writers’ Week would like to continuously and regularly thank you for all your kind support of our festival and we look forward to welcoming you to Listowel in 2013.

The Team @ Listowel Writers’ Week