{"id":40906,"date":"2026-04-11T03:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T02:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.creativeireland.gov.ie\/event\/granard-booktown-festival-3\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T03:00:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T02:00:53","slug":"granard-booktown-festival-3","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/www.creativeireland.gov.ie\/en\/event\/granard-booktown-festival-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Granard Booktown Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The&nbsp;Granard Booktown Festival 2026&nbsp;will take place from&nbsp;Thursday, 16 to Sunday, 19 April. This fourth annual event will transform the town of Granard, County Longford, into a vibrant hub for book lovers, featuring over 20 talks and more than 35 authors, poets, and speakers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Events &amp; Features<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Inaugural Conor Gearty Memorial Lecture: Named in honour of the late Professor Conor Gearty, this opening lecture will be delivered by&nbsp;Professor Fergus D&#8217;Arcy&nbsp;on Friday, 17 April, focusing on Chartist leader James Bronterre O&#8217;Brien.<\/li>\n<li>Writing Workshop Series: Specialised workshops held at&nbsp;Cnoc Mhuire&nbsp;on Saturday, 18 April, featuring:\n<ul>\n<li>Claire Keegan: &#8220;How Fiction Works&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>Aoife Barry: &#8220;Finding Writing Inspiration in the Everyday&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>Stephen Sexton: &#8220;Turn! Turn! Turn! Poetry Workshop&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Featured Speakers: Other notable guests include&nbsp;Miriam O&#8217;Callaghan,&nbsp;Gavan Reilly,&nbsp;Eimear N\u00ed Bhraon\u00e1in,&nbsp;Dean Van Nguyen, and&nbsp;Leon Diop.<\/li>\n<li>Film Screening: A special screening of&nbsp;<em>That They May Face the Rising Sun<\/em>, with a discussion featuring&nbsp;Belinda McKeon&nbsp;and director&nbsp;Pat Collins.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Visitor Info<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Venues: Events are primarily hosted at&nbsp;Granard Library,&nbsp;Fay\u2019s Bar,&nbsp;Sacred Heart National School, and&nbsp;Cnoc Mhuire.<\/li>\n<li>Tickets: Ticket are available via the official&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=i&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;url=https:\/\/www.tickettailor.com\/events\/grandbooktownfestival&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiAiJDwkd6TAxX0U0EAHYcjB20Qy_kOegQICRAC&amp;opi=89978449&amp;cd&amp;psig=AOvVaw01qRt06tdpdioMPm7daDza&amp;ust=1775733757928000\" target=\"_blank\">Granard Booktown Festival Ticket Tailor<\/a>&nbsp;page.<\/li>\n<li>Contact: For general inquiries, you can contact the organisers at&nbsp;granardbooktown@gmail.com&nbsp;or call&nbsp;(043) 668 6164.<\/li>\n<li><span>This prioritises inclusivity with <\/span>wheelchair-accessible venues and <span>Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpretation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":40907,"template":"","class_list":["post-40906","event","type-event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Granard Booktown Festival - Creative Ireland Programme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The&nbsp;Granard Booktown Festival 2026&nbsp;will take place from&nbsp;Thursday, 16 to Sunday, 19 April.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.creativeireland.gov.ie\/en\/event\/granard-booktown-festival-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Granard Booktown Festival - Creative Ireland Programme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The&nbsp;Granard Booktown Festival 2026&nbsp;will take place from&nbsp;Thursday, 16 to Sunday, 19 April. 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