The chapter has closed on the 2014 Immrama Travel Writing festival on Sunday evening as travel writer Mícheál de Barra took his audience along the 900 kilometre trail of the Camino while he discussed his book ‘An Bóthar go Santiago’. It was the last event in a programme of 13 travel writers all of whom enthralled their audiences with their tales of travel throughout the weekend of the Lismore based festival.

The festival opened on Thursday evening with a book launch featuring Irish authors Diana Gleadhill, Alan Murphy, Michael McMonagle and Paul Clements.

On Friday, audiences learned of the adventures of one of Ireland’s first travel writers Richard Hayward, a popular travel writer, singer and actor from the middle years of the twentieth century. Hayward wrote twelve travel books about Ireland, including Munster and the City of Cork, In Praise of Ulster and Where the River Shannon Flows. On the 50th anniversary of his death his legacy was revived at a panel discussion looking at the reasons why some of Ireland’s best-known writers have been forgotten. The discussion was lead by Paul Clements author of the Richard Hayward biography while he was joined by Alannah Hopkin, Manchan Magan and Michael Fewer.

On Saturday, June 14 writer and documentary-maker Manchán Magan held a full house writing workshop and historian Donald Brady and international expedition leader and mountaineer Michael Whelan both hosted talks at Lismore Courthouse Theatre to a packed house.

Literary audiences stepped up to the Blackwater Community School hall to on Saturday afternoon to hear Charlie Bird discuss his travel’s to the Arctic and the North Pole and the Amazon River, and the Ganges River in India. He also documented tracing the journey of the famous Irish Antarctic explorer Tom Crean’s travels to the South Pole.

On Saturday evening journalist and author Tim Butcher enthralled his audience with his recent trek retracing the journey of Gavrilo Princip – the teenage assassin who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, setting the war in motion for his new book ‘The Trigger’. Tim illuminated the story of one of the most misrepresented figures in modern history.

Tim worked at the Daily Telegraph from 1990 to 2009 serving as chief war correspondent, covering all major conflicts across the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. His first book, Blood River, an account of his 2004 journey through DR Congo overland from Lake Tanganyika and down the Congo River, reached Number 1 in the Sunday Times bestseller list and his latest book ‘The Trigger’ is receiving rave reviews internationally. Tim retraced Princip's journey from his home village, through the mountains of the northern Balkans to the great plain city of Belgrade and ultimately Sarajevo. On his journey Tim made discoveries about Princip that have eluded historians for a hundred years, meeting relatives still living in the village and drawing on his own experiences there as a reporter during the 1990s war.

Bright and early on Sunday morning a literary breakfast with Ireland’s 'Festival Man’ Mark Graham was a fun filled affair, with lots of off the beaten track festival tales.

Families enjoy a sunny Sunday afternoon of live music and entertainment at the Millennium Park along with ‘The Great Balloon Race’ from Lismore Castle on Sunday afternoon.

Commenting on the 2014 festival, coordinator Jan Rotte said, “The 2014 festival has been a huge success, the audiences this year were very engaged, there are lots of questions and chat at all of the talks and it is wonderful to see such a growing passion in Irish literary audiences for travel writing. We are already planning our 13th annual festival for next year, Immrama has grown and grown over the years, far beyond our expectations and we are delighted”.

For further details see lismoreimmrama.com

blog comments powered by Disqus