Billy Keane set to open Wexford Literary Festival
THIS year’s Wexford Literary Festival will take place from Thursday, July 2, to Sunday, July 5.
A spokesperson for the festival organisers said the hard-working committee is busy preparing ‘a comprehensive, wide ranging programme of events’ that will incorporate many forms of literary writing including: poetry; prose; drama; film; visual art and spoken word.
The official launch of the festival brochure programme will take place in Enniscorthy Castle on Friday, June 5.
The committee spokesperson told this newspaper that the brochure will be launched by President and Provost of Trinity College, Patrick Prendergast.
Mr Prendergast was born outside Enniscorthy and was educated in St Peter’s College.
He studied Mechanical Engineering in Trinity and completed a degree and a PhD.
Returning from the Netherlands in 1995, Mr Prendergast became a lecturer at the college and having served with distinction in various capacities was elected Provost in 2011.
‘Wexford Literary Festival committee is honoured that he has agreed to launch our Festival Programme on June 5,’ said the spokesperson.
The 2020 programme will include events at Wexford Arts Centre and the Red Bookstore, Wexford.
The committee is also looking at ways of expanding the festival into Gorey and
New Ross as well
The festival, which will celebrate its seventh anniversary this year, will be officially opened on Thursday, July 2, at Enniscorthy library, by author, journalist, and Irish Independent columnist, Billy Keane - who is a son of renowned author and playright, John B Keane.
The committee spokesperson said Mr Keane expressed delight at being asked to open the festival in Enniscorthy; in doing so he will also be following in his father’s footsteps as he once opened the Strawberry Fair in Enniscorthy.
‘Wexford Literary Festival committee is thrilled to have Billy involved and very much look forward to him opening it,’ said the spokesperson.
Over the coming weeks more details of the various events taking place as part of the festival programme will be published in this newspaper.
The committee is already inviting submissions for some of the events due to take place including: the Colm Toibin Short Story award; the Anthony Cronin Poetry Award; and the Billy Roche One-Act Play Award.
A ‘ Meet the Publisher’ initiative will encourage writers to avail of the chance to meet with Paula Campbell, from Poolbeg Press.
For more details log onto www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com.
WEXFORD General Hospital has launched a new campaign to increase awareness of medication safety among the general public. As part of this campaign, all members of the public are being encouraged to carry a complete list of their medications at all times, preferably using the My Medicines List template which is available at www.safermeds.ie and at pharmacies around the county.
The HSE’s ‘Know, Check, Ask’ campaign is designed to help improve the safe use of medicines by members of the public. It will help people who take medicines and everyone involved in their care to make better decisions about their treatment.
Basically it encourages people to know their medicines and keep a list to bring to appointments and if admitted to hospital, to check they are using their medicines in the right way and to ask a healthcare professional if unsure. People can create their own medicines list or ask their pharmacy or GP practice to print a list of medicines from their records. Some even find it useful to take a photo of the list and keep it on their phone.
‘A substantial amount of work is going on in the area of medication safety at Wexford General Hospital and patients themselves have an extremely important role to play in reducing medication errors,’ said Clinical Risk Manager at Wexford General Hospital.