Literary Fest zooms in on global audience
The seventh annual Wexford Literary Festival is taking place online over the weekend of July 3 to 5, with an exciting line-up of events including the Cáca Milis Cabaret.
‘Rather than buckle under pandemic restrictions, we embraced the opportunity to explore new horizons and will run this year’s festival via Zoom’, said a committee member
The festival’s international writing competitions – the Colm Tóibín Short Story, Anthony Cronin Poetry Prize and Billy Roche Short Play Award – are also continuing, with an increase in entries this year. The Cursed Murphy Spoken Word Award is a new addition to the annual prizes.
‘We say with pride that we are one of, if not the only, summer festival to take place in Wexford this year, albeit online, which is a tremendous credit to our committee’, said the spokesperson, paying tribute to chairman Richie Cotter, secretary Maria Nolan, treasurer Annie Gilpin, administrators, Elizabeth Whyte and Annie Gilpin, PR/ Social Media, Roisin Williams and Maria Nolan, Carol Long, Wally O`Neill, Jarlath Glynn, Edel Kelly and Cathy Kane.
The programme of talks and workshops with well-known authors and people in the publishing industry, will reach out to a global audience via Zoom.
The award-winning writer Colum McCann will chat with Peter Murphy about his acclaimed new novel Apeirogon, with participation by Bassam Aramin (Palestine) and Rami Elhanan (Israel). The fathers, united in grief by the loss of their young daughters in conflict between the two nations, are central to the storyline of the book.
The festival is building on last year’s expansion into Wexford town through its partnership with Wexford Arts Centre which is operating the box office and hosting the Zoom events, including Cáca Milis Cabaret presented by Helena Mulkerns while ‘Litmania, Readings Live from Wexford Authors’ will be broadcast from Red Books, Wexford.
The cabaret will present a literary evening in vaudevillian style via Zoom on Saturday, July 4 at 8.30 p.m. with special guests including Colm Tóibín and Eoin Colfer, a spoken word performance by Michelle Dooley Mahon, music by The Man Whom, songs from singer Caitríona O’Leary and piano composition from songwriter Josh. Places must be booked at a cost of €5 on the Arts Centre website. Visit www.WexfordLiteraryFestival.com and www.Cacamilis.org.