Sinn Fein President To Appear At Ennis Book Club Festival

The Belfast born MLA and MP will participate in the international festival’s Sunday Symposium entitled "Reading between the Lines – the fact and the fiction of political writing."

Mr. Adams will be joined on the discussion panel by journalist and political analyst Conor O’Clery, Public Relations consultant Terry Prone and Labour politician Michael D. Higgins. Caimin Jones, experienced broadcaster, journalist and communications consultant, will chair the session.

The Ennis Book Club Festival 2009, in association with Clare County Library, will feature visits, readings, lectures and workshops by internationally acclaimed authors, along with drama, musical entertainment and chocolate tasting.

Contributors include John Boyne, author of "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas"; Mark O’Halloran, award winning writer and actor; Salley Vickers, best selling British novelist and author of "Miss Garnet’s Angel"; John Connolly, Irish novelist; John Breen, author of "Alone It Stands"; Jennifer Johnston, Booker Prize nominated writer; and Allan Guthrie, Scottish crime novelist.

Other festival participants include Gerard Donovan; author of the Booker Prize nominated "Schopenhauer's Telescope"; Aifric Campbell, author of "The Semantics of Murder"; Órfhlaith Foyle, critically acclaimed poet and author of the debut novel "Belios"; Gerard Stembridge; novelist, film director, playwright and co-author of the satirical radio show ‘Scrap Saturday’; and travel writer Manchán Magan.

The three-day programme of events is expected to attract hundreds of book club members and book lovers from all over Europe and North America.

Commenting on Gerry Adam’s participation in the third annual festival, Mary Kenneally of the Ennis Book Club Festival Organising Committee said, "Mr. Adams is one of the very few politicians who are also a published author. With nine titles to his credit he is uniquely placed to speak on reading political works. He is also an engaging and dynamic speaker who will bring an interesting and challenging perspective to the Sunday Symposium. He certainly is worthy of joining the stellar list of world renowned authors on this year’s festival programme of events."

Other festival events include "10 books you should read"; which will be hosted by journalist and broadcaster Kevin Myers and Maria Dickenson, head of book buying in Eason. Georgina Byrne, of South Dublin Libraries, will discuss e-books; author/TV producer Anna Heussaff will present a workshop on enriching your Book Club; broadcaster and author Denis Sampson will discuss his book on John McGahern, entitled "Outstaring Nature’s Eye", Broadcaster and journalist Rachael English will chair an interview and reading session with John Boyne and Salley Vickers.

Poetry will also feature prominently at the festival. Winner of the Rooney prize for Irish Literature, Medbh McGuckian; founder member of Aosdána and winner of the Marten Toonder prize for Literature, Micheal O'Siadhail, awarded an Irish American Cultural Institute prize for poetry in 1982 and in 1998 the Marten Toonder prize for Literature.; Dublin-based Russian poet, Anatoly Kudryavitsky; winner of the 2003 Cúirt Festival Poetry Grand Slam, Kevin Higgins; and poet and dramatist Rita Ann Higgins, whose many accolades include the Peadar O’Donnell Award, will all delight and challenge their audiences during the Festival.

Meanwhile, students from Trinity College Dublin will stage an exclusive performance of "The Trial of Oscar Wilde" at Ennis Courthouse. The only other enactment of the trial, which led to Wilde’s public disgrace and two year imprisonment for acts of "gross indecency", was held at Trinity College in April.

The festival launch will include a "giant book club gathering" featuring a mass reading and discussion of "The book of Lost Things" by novelist John Connolly.

Tickets for all events are on sale at Glór Box Office 00353656843103 / boxoffice@glor.ie. For further details on the Ennis Book Club Festival 2009 see www.ennisbookclubfestival.com, email info@ennisbookclubfestival.com or contact 00353879723647 / 00353857758523.

-ENDS-

Note to Editors:
- English and Irish language interviewees are available on request. To arrange please contact Mark Dunphy of Dunphy Public Relations on 0035386-8534900 or email media@dunphypr.com
- Contributor images and biographies are available on request.
- Gerry Adams has been President of Sinn Féin since 1983, and he has been a published author since 1982, when Brandon published Falls Memories, his local history of the Falls Road area of Belfast. He is the only Irish party leader to publish a book setting out his political beliefs, which he did in 1986 in The Politics of Irish Freedom, which was later updated as Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace (1995). He is also the author of Cage Eleven (1990), an often-humourous, semi-fictional account of life in Long Kesh, and a collection of short stories, The Street (1992). Reviewing this book, the Times Literary Supplement wrote: "The Street demonstrates that Adams can write well." He has also been described by Time as "A skilful writer with a sound intellectual foundation for his political beliefs." And the New York Times suggested that "One thing about him is certain: Gerry Adams is a gifted writer who, if he were not at the center of the war-and-peace business, could easily make a living as an author, of fiction or fact." Two of his books have been international bestsellers: Before the Dawn: An Autobiography (1996) and Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland (2003). His most recent books are The New Ireland: A Vision for the Future (2005) and An Irish Eye (2007).

Mark Dunphy
Dunphy Public Relations
www.dunphypr.com
media@dunphypr.com
00353-868534900