The local economy in Fermoy is set to get a major shot in the arm thanks to the upcoming International Poetry Festival which has, in only its second year, become the biggest poetry festival in the country.

With a number of high profile special guests lined up, some 150 poets and poetry aficionados already registered to attend the various events, bringing extra visitors to the town with them, the event promises to generate considerable local business over the August bank holiday weekend.

The festival featured at the launch of The Gathering at Cork Airport in January and was subsequently featured and promoted on their website. It was also promoted in the Aer Lingus in-flight magazine Cara during February and March when it was seen by a whopping two million flyers.

“The amount of enquiries as a result, grew almost tenfold,” festival director Gene Barry told The Avondhu.

The hub of the festival and the official meeting place will be The Grand Hotel. A concerted effort is being made to include as much of the town as possible in the events with four more venues added to this year’s festival – Crowley’s pub, the hotel, Charlie Mac’s and the Forge Restaurant where featured poets will give readings. There’ll be additional readings in The Torten, O’Brien’s Sandwich Bar, Centra, Fermoy Credit Union and the Ulster Bank.

The theme again this year is ‘inclusion’ and festival director Gene Barry and his hardworking committee have strived to do that by also including the business and retail sector of the town in events, so that the benefit will be enjoyed by all. With the poetry bus organised again for this year, a poetry trail and boat trips on the river also planned, visitors to the event will get to see a lot of the town and its environs.

Chairman of the Fermoy Business Action Group, Noel McCarthy said they were delighted the festival has built on the success of its inaugural year to host an even bigger one this year.

“It’s a great event for the town of Fermoy, a real positive, bringing in many extra visitors we mightn’t otherwise see. That will undoubtedly have a spin off value for the local economy. In addition it gives us a chance to showcase our town and hopefully, visitors will like what they see and come back. We hope they enjoy our town and our hospitality,” he said.

“From a tourist perspective, it is a great boon to Fermoy and the surrounding area,  This is not only from the perspective of visitors to the area, but also when you consider that “who’s who” in international  poetry circles will be visiting the town,” Donal O’Lochlainn of the Avondhu Tourism Association said.

“We can only dream of the benefits that this might bring. I have to commend the hard working poetry festival committee, who have turned what looked like an unlikely event a few years ago to a major festival in the Irish literary calendar,” he added.

Poet Michael Clay from Texas, the owner and editor of ‘Mad Swirl’, one of the oldest online poetry magazines, will be making the trip to Fermoy and will host an event specifically to find Irish poets to publish. His broadcast will be streamed live to poets in over 100 countries, a first in the poetry world. Seven poets from various locations in the US will join Michael Clay while poets from all over Ireland and from South Africa, Australia, Holland, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Argentina and India will be in Fermoy for the festival. Some, such as Bradley R. Strahan, Jan Glass and Tsead Bruinja, are making return visits.

Fermoy man Pat Crotty, Professor of English at Aberdeen University, has been chosen to officially launch the festival. Pat who is a cousin of Gene’s, is a past editor of the Penguin Anthology of Poetry and the Penguin Anthology of Irish Poetry. He’s highly regarded worldwide as a fine poet in his own right as well as being an editor of renown. His attendance at the festival, where he will also read, is considered to be something of a coup for the organisers and is expected to attract a number of other high profile poets.

There are some more ‘firsts’ for the festival – for example, four books are to be launched. The student anthology ‘Inclusion’ will include poems from students of St Colmans, Youthreach, Loreto, Coláiste an Chraoibhín and a school in Sacramento, California. Doghouse Books will launch an anthology called ‘Ten Years in the Doghouse’, a celebration of all of the poets published by them over the last decade. There’ll also be a second edition of the ‘Blue Max’ Review’, an anthology of poetry from top poets around the world and Gene himself will launch a new collection of his poems which is also being published by Doghouse.

Visiting poets will have the opportunity to read before a number of Irish publishers, another first and an ideal opportunity for valuable access.

Gene Barry is delighted he and his team have been able to build the festival up so quickly to become a major international literary event. He’s equally pleased at the benefit it’ll bring to the town. 

“I’m delighted with the buy-in there’s been. That’s reflected in the support we’ve received from our sponsors: Fermoy Town Council, Cork County VEC, the Ulster Bank, AIB Bank, Fermoy Credit Union, Fermoy Enterprise Board, McCarthy Insurance Group, Centra, The Grand Hotel, Charlie Macs, Crowley’s Bar and The Forge Restaurant, and for which we are very grateful,” he said.

The festival will run from Thursday, August 1st to Monday, 5th.