Legendary author JP Donleavy heads Athlone Literary Festival line-up

This year"s Athlone Literary Festival will play host to two days of discourse on the arts, the economy and society on Friday and Saturday, September 19 and 20 next in the Prince of Wales Hotel. Guest speakers at this year"s festival will include the world famous author of "The Gingerman", JP Donleavy who has agreed to be interviewed by Fintan O"Toole, columnist, assistant editor and drama critic for the Irish Times as part of this year"s events schedule. Each year, Athlone Literary Festival plays host to a weekend of literature, readings by famous authors and lively discussions and debates on the economy and society plus a host of other events including poetry workshops. 'We"re delighted to have a writer of the calibre of JP Donleavy involved and there"s going to be a lot of interesting events at this year"s festival,' says Committee member Siobhan Bigley. The Athlone Literary Festival programme begins on Friday September in the Prince of Wales Hotel with the launch of Athlone writer Desmond Egan"s latest offering, "September Dandelion" at 6pm. The book will be published in both English and Chinese. 'This will be the first book by an Irish author to be published in Chinese so that"s quite special,' said Ms Bigley. Following the launch, a debate, "The Art of the Bestseller, Celebrity?" with an as yet unnamed panel of guests is sure to provide some lively discourse. On the Saturday, events will begin early as Westmeath native Manchán Magan presents a Travel Writing Workshop in the Prince at 10am. Magan is a writer, traveller and television programme maker who has made over 30 documentaries for TG4. At 11.15am, author Eliza Packham presents, "History, a New Perspective". Eliza is the author of "Soldier, Sailor", an intimate portrait of an Irish family and her unique perspective on Irish history is sure to be of great interest. Financial writer Paul Kilduff will present "Transitioning from Thriller Writing to non-fiction" at 12.15pm. Paul has written four highly successful financial thrillers over the years. A reading by Michael Harding, dramatist and playwright will then be followed by JP Donleavey"s interview with Fintan O"Toole which is bound to be one of the highlights of the Festival. 'We"re hoping that people will come out and show their support for the Festival,' says Ms Bigley. 'Almost everyone involved has connections with Westmeath except Fintan O"Toole and there"s going to be a lot of interesting events. Every year the numbers have been going up and wee hope that this will continue this year,' she added.