“An unforgettable literary festival!” Hugo Hamilton CULTUREFOX.IE Artistic Director – Paul Perry Every March something special happens in Ennis. Readers come together to celebrate their love of books. Not all, but many are members of book clubs. We are after all the only book club festival in the country. Audiences in 2017 will be guaranteed their festival favourites – the perennial 10 Books You Should Read, as well as a stellar line up for our Sunday Symposium on Sports & Politics. 2017 is also a year in which we evolve in new directions: we host our first Children’s Book Club, welcome the Laureate for Irish Fiction, The Irish Times and the Rick O’Shea Book Clubs, and we’re delighted to be collaborating with Clare County Library on Teen Week. Throw into the mix Paul Durcan, Rose Tremain, Little John Nee and the arrival of thousands of book club members, and you’re in for something singular in Irish literary culture. It’s been a pleasure and privilege working with the Festival Team in bringing this programme to you: they are an extraordinary NEVER committee of volunteers, for what is an extraordinary festival. Chairperson’s Welcome – Emer O’Connell MISS Fáilte is fiche go hInis! It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since our hugely successful 10th anniversary celebration last March. And, we continue to go from strength to strength! 2017 comes with a host of new partnerships, which we look forward to developing further. Critically, those partnerships are rooted in the incredible support network we have built up over many years – with the Arts Council, Fáilte Ireland, our loyal corporate OUT supporters and our army of volunteers. Most importantly, we continue to work extensively with Clare County Council and the County Library service. We were delighted therefore that the impact of the Festival was recognised at national level last year through an Excellence in Local Government Award. The award is testimony to the vision, hard work and commitment of so many. We wish all our readers and book clubs – be you regular Festival goers or just dipping your toe in the water – a weekend The Arts Council’s new, upgraded CULTUREFOX events guide of inspiration, discovery and good old fun at EBCF 2017. is now live. Free, faster, easy to use – and personalised for you. Never miss out again. 3 Fri 3rd March Booking Information The Ireland That We Dreamed Of? Full programme details available on Exploring William Trevor’s Fiction - A Talk with Tina O’Toole www.ennisbookclubfestival.com Date: Fri 03 March Time: 2.30pm Booking for all Festival events is through glór Box Office Venue: Temple Gate Hotel Tel: 065 6843103; www.glor.ie Price: Free We recommend early booking as many Festival events sell out William Trevor was one of the most renowned figures in quickly. Pre-booked tickets can be collected at individual venues contemporary literature, described as ‘the greatest living writer immediately prior to each event. Free events do not require of short stories in the English language’ by the New Yorker and booking, but do come early to avoid disappointment. acclaimed for his haunting and profound insights into the human heart. Join us for a talk with Dr Tina O’Toole – a literary scholar with research expertise in Irish writing, the history of sexualities Festival HQ – The Spás and transnational literature. In 2016, she was overall winner of the University of Limerick Excellence in Teaching Award. Her talk Meet our contributing authors, other avid readers and book club will focus on Trevor’s early iconic short story ‘The Ballroom of members in our Festival HQ – The Spás @ glór over the course of the Romance’. weekend. Share your thoughts on your favourite reading, pick up a new book or indeed why not bring along a wrapped book as part of This event is kindly supported by Clare County Library Services. our EBCF “blind” book swap! Look forward to meeting you there – do introduce yourself! Keep the Conversation Going… The Forgotten Summer Carol Drinkwater in Conversation #EBCF2017 Date: Fri 03 March Join in the conversation about EBCF 2017 by tweeting to #EBCF2017. Time: 4pm We’d love to hear your thoughts and see your photos over the Venue: Temple Gate Hotel course of the Festival weekend! Follow us on Facebook – Ennis Book Price: €12 / €10 Club Festival – and twitter @ebcf Actress and writer Carol Drinkwater is the author of the autobiographical Olive Farm series which inspired The Olive Route documentaries about her travels in the south of France. The Attic Sessions Its vineyards also provide the setting for her new novel – The EBCF is delighted to welcome Attic Sessions to record events at Forgotten Summer,which contains ‘plenty of page-turning the Festival in 2017. The Attic Sessions is an original web video drama, but also mouth-watering descriptions of Paris and series about Irish literature curated by award-winning poet Nessa Provence.’ (The Times) Join Nell Regan as she talks with the O’Mahony and BBC trained cameraman Peter Salisbury. Watch out always inspiring Carol about olive-farming, writing and life. for their EBCF review and previous recordings at: theatticsessions.tv 4 5 Fri 3rd March Festival Official Opening The Readers’ Voice and Opening of CRUX - A Dialogue in Metal Anne Enright, Laureate for Irish Fiction Date: Fri 03 March in conversation with Donal Ryan Time: 5.30pm Date: Fri 03 March Time: 8.30pm Venue: glór Venue: glór Price: Free Price: Free The Laureate for Irish Fiction is proud to present Join us for the Official Opening of EBCF 2017 and The Readers’ Voice, a series of author interviews taking place the opening of CRUX at the glór gallery (see further across the country, which celebrate the reader, local libraries detail under Exhibition Guided Tour on Sat 04 March and outstanding Irish writing. Ireland’s inaugural Laureate in glór). Featuring also a performance from young Anne Enright will interview six writers in six different library participants of Music Generation Clare. related venues, and as part of the series, Anne will be in Ennis talking to Donal Ryan about his novel, All We Shall Know. The Laureate for Irish Fiction has been developed by the Arts Council and is supported by University College Dublin (UCD), New York University (NYU) and The Irish Times. Paul Durcan Festival Club Date: Fri 03 March Time: 6.30pm Sarah Clancy, Nell Regan, Jaskane Trio Venue: glór Price: €12 / €10 Date: Fri 03 March Time: 10pm Venue: Old Ground Hotel Price: €5 Paul Durcan’s public readings are simply unforgettable. A winner of the Lifetime Join us at our Friday night Festival Club at the Achievement Irish Book Award, he Old Ground Hotel for music, mingling and has been one of the most sustaining performances of the spoken word with poets and forces in Irish poetry for more than four writers Sarah Clancy and Nell Regan. decades. The author of more than twenty collections of poetry, most recently, The Sarah Clancy was Lingo Poet Laureate of 2016 Days of Surprise, and a former, Ireland and is a page and performance poet from Galway. “Durcan is a God. He can break your Professor of Poetry, he is a member of Nell Regan is a poet and non-fiction writer. They heart in a supermarket or petrol Aosdána. If you have never seen him live, will be joined by the Jaskane Trio who showcase station. He is unafraid, masterful now is your chance. He is introduced by a unique blend of violin, oboe and guitar, while and exactly what this world needs poet Afric McGlinchey. playing an eclectic mix of musical genres. more of: wild abandon, wild love and sheer mad genius.” This event is kindly supported by the 6Alice Sebold Old Ground Hotel. 7 Sat 4th March Books & Buns Walking Tour Date: Sat 04 March Time: 9.30am with Seán Spellissy Venue: Rowan Tree Café Date: Sat 04 March Price: €10 / €8 Time: 11.30am Venue: Meet @ glór Enjoy a Saturday morning book Price: €8 club gathering and test your knowledge of all things literary in Local historian and author Seán our beloved Books & Buns session. Spellissy provides a unique insight Refreshments included to set you into the medieval streets of Ennis up for a busy day! on this ever-popular walking tour. 10 Books You Should Read CRUX – A Dialogue in Metal with Cónal Creedon & Lisa McInerney Guided Tour of the Exhibition & Artists’ Talk Date: Sat 04 March Date: Sat 04 March Time: 11.30am Time: 11.45am Venue: glór Venue: glór, Studio Price: €12 / €10 Price: Free Join Lisa McInerney & Cónal Creedon, two of Ireland’s Facilitated by John Tynan, Head of Education & Development most engaging writers, for their must reads in what is at The Crafts Council of Ireland a perennial festival favourite. Lisa’s debut novel The Glorious Heresies won the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for In an era steeped in technology, meet five Fiction and the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize. “Totally and artisans who have their hearts and hands firmly unmistakably the real deal.” – Kevin Barry engaged in the world of the physical and raw. This event is kindly Gunvor Anhøj, Michael Calnan, Moss Gaynor, supported by the Cónal Creedon is a novelist, playwright and documentary John Hogan and Jane Murtagh forge, etch, Rowan Tree Café film maker. His books include – Pancho and Lefty Ride draw and open out metal into three and two Out, The Second City Trilogy, The Immortal Deed of dimensional works. Join these five extraordinary Michael O’Leary and Passion Play. “Comic, dramatic, artist-metalsmiths in glór for a guided tour of the work in CRUX and a fascinating artists’ talk.