The festival, formerly known as The Kate O’Brien Weekend, began in 1984 to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Limerick-born Kate O’Brien. The event continues to celebrate the life and works of the author while attracting prominent participants from all over the world. It is an inspiring mix of both discourse and discussion.

Our 2020 festival took place just before the Covid 19 outbreak here in Ireland and featured Roddy Doyle, Patricia Coughlin, Jo Unwin, David Barrie and many more well know authors and literary personalities.

For 2021 we will return with a somewhat changed programme, the core element of the festival, workshops, poetry readings, The Kate O’Brien Award, Desert island Books, a keynote speaker etc will remain the same but we will seek to present some and possibly all of the programmes online should guidelines restrict us to doing so. It is our hope that we can have some in-person events but we are preparing an online contingency plan should travel and gathering be restricted in and around the time of the festival to ensure the safety of both our audiences and contributors.

In preparation for this please do follow us on social media, Facebook - @limerickliteraryfestival, Twitter @kobweekend, and Instagram @limerickliteraryfestival and please bookmark our website www.limerickliteraryfestival.com for exciting digital content coming your way over the Christmas period and into the new year and do please let us know how we can best reach you by joining our mailing list here.

As always the Limerick Literary Festival promises an exciting line up of writers, readers and events with a focus for 2021 on Readers and Writers at Home in the pandemic.