Star studded line up for Westport’s Rolling Sun Book Festival

“Small but perfectly formed” would describe Westport’s boutique Rolling Sun Book Festival to perfection. Robert Fisk, Louise O’Neill and Brian Keenan are just some of the luminaries speaking at the three day festival which takes place from Thursday 12^th to Saturday 14^th November 2015. Events are a combination of book launches, conversations and interviews with authors, exhibition openings, children’s events and the Festival Club opening event.

Robert Fisk and Brian Keenan
The flagship event Apocalyptic Isis, Horrid Dictators and How We’re Going to Solve the Middle East – Again! features award winning author and Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk in conversation with Brian Keenan. It promises to be an evening of razor sharp wit, incisive comment and sheer entertainment. Robert Fisk will deliver a short lecture, read from one of his many published books and engage in conversation with Brian Keenan. The evening will conclude with an audience Q&A session. It takes place on Saturday 14^th November at 8.30pm in Hotel Westport and tickets cost €20. Booking essential.

Festival Opening

Friday night is the official festival opening event, this year presented by journalist Lise Hand of the Irish Independent. It’s an evening of music, food and prose to touch all the senses. Archaeologist Michael Gibbons will set the scene, describing the remarkable phenomenon that is the Rolling Sun and from which the festival gets its name. Celebrated contemporary singers Coda will entertain with their peerless ‘mouth music’ while guests enjoy a glass of wine and the tastes of the Middle East in mezze (tapas) form. The venue is the Clew Bay Hotel, starting time is 8pm and tickets are €15.

On the Couch – with Marie Louise O’Donnell
Senator Marie Louise O’Donnell takes to the festival couch this year, with two of Ireland’s most exciting young authors – Louise O’Neill and Niamh Boyce. The world is buzzing about Louise’s fresh and fearless writing. Her two books to date have attracted attention and controversy (and huge sales) both at home and abroad. Her first novel Only Ever Yours, a feminist dystopian tale which satirises the way young women are scrutinised for their looks. Her latest novel Asking for It has attracted huge attention for its depiction of a rape case in a small town. It is a brutal, honest and heartbreaking book about society’s (an in particular, male) attitudes to women. Niamh Boyce’s novel The Herbalist was Newcomer of the Year at the 2013 Irish Book Awards, and long-listed for an IMPAC. On the Couch takes place on Saturday 14^th November at 2.30pm in the Clew Bay Hotel. Tickets are €10 and include a complimentary cuppa for everyone.

A brace of exhibitions
Two exciting exhibitions are part of this year’s Rolling Sun programme. The first is an exhibition of the galley prints from the wonderful new photography book Western Ways – Remembering Mayo Through the Eyes of Helen Hooker and Ernie O’Malley. In 1938 Irish Republican Ernie O’Malley returned to his childhood home of Mayo with his American wife, artist Helen Hooker. They made their home at Burrishoole Lodge, near Newport on the northern shore of Clew Bay. The couple set out examining life in rural Ireland and over a decade compiled an extensive collection of photographs of the people in Mayo, capturing their way of life and environment. Ernie and Helen’s youngest son, Cormac O’Malley, recently rediscovered the Mayo negatives, most of which have never been viewed by the public. The event also includes a preview of the book itself. Author Juliet “Christy” Barron and project benefactor Paul Michels will both be in attendance. The exhibition will be opened by archaeologist Michael Gibbons on Thursday 12^th at 6.30pm in the Custom House Gallery.

From the Mayo Sunset to the Moons of Jupiter opens at The Clew Bay Hotel on Saturday 14^th November at 1.30pm. Artist Danny Flynn will be showing a selection of his natural history, science fiction and fantasy book-jacket paintings, including works for literary greats George RR Martin, Robert Heinlein and Sir Arthur C Clarke. He will also be showing a sample of his latest illustrations – for ‘Seven Irish Sunsets’ – a work in progress by author Sharon Charity. For this book a travel writer and fantasy artist join forces to bring to life the colour, wildness and drama of the Irish coast, from the unsung beauty of Co. Down to the edge-of-Europe majesty of Cape Clear. Seven Sunsets is a personal selection of places that can all be reached and enjoyed in a weekend

Children’s events
Well known and much loved children’s author Oisín McGann will present an event for 8-12 year olds.  Oisín is one of Ireland’s most prolific and best-known writer-illustrators, producing books for all ages of reader. He is a winner of the European Science Fiction Society Award, the Bisto Book of the Year Merit Award and has been shortlisted for numerous other awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in the UK, le Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in France and Locus Magazine’s Best First Novel Award in the US. Oisín will be at Westport Library at 12.30pm on Saturday 14^th and admission is free.

An interactive storytelling and reading session takes place in Westport Town Hall at 5pm on Friday 13^th November. It is suitable for 3-12 year olds and again, admission is free.

A ghostly book launch
Storyteller and raconteur Tony Locke’s book Irish Ghost Tales and Things That Go Bump In The Night
will be launched at The Bookshop, Bridge Street, Westport on Saturday 14^th November at 4.30pm and everyone is welcome.

Tickets are on sale in The Clew Bay Hotel, Westport. Call +353 98 28088 or visit www.clewbayhotel.com

For more info check out: www.rollingsunbookfestival.com