A rural midlands town is hoping a new book festival, inspired by the global 'booktown' movement, will help boost the local economy and increase tourism.
Granard in Co Longford will play host to the Booktown festival next weekend becoming the first ever booktown in Ireland.
"It all started with my own book, the Cow Book. I was in Wigtown in Scotland, which is the national booktown in Scotland. I hadn't heard of the idea before that," said author John Connell.
"It was suggested to me that taking a small town, making books at its centre, creating literary tourism could be something we could do and Adrian, the director of Wigtown, suggested Longford might be a great place to do," said Mr Connell.
The event is over a year in the making. John Connell and Ronan O'Toole are the co-founders of the festival.
"When I thought of it, I thought of Granard. It's got a lovely streetscape, a lovely population and people who are interested in the arts and we thought it was the perfect place to launch Ireland's first official booktown," Mr Connell added.
The event is inspired by the global 'booktown' movement which has helped rejuvenate towns around the world, including Wigtown in Scotland.
The Scottish town, with a population of under 1,000 people, now has more than a dozen bookshops and book-related businesses.
The Wigtown Festival Company has also helped to create jobs for the town and runs a year-round programme of events.
"It turned Wigtown around. 25 years ago it was suffering from rural decline, that's not the case in Granard but we hope to bring cultural tourism and literary tourism to the county," he said.
"Longford has a long history of literary tourism, from Belinda McKeon, one of our board members to all the way back to Maria Edgeworth and Oliver Goldsmith".
The cathaoirleach of Longford County Council, Councillor Turlough McGovern, is welcoming the event which he hopes will boost the local economy.
"For a small town like Granard, to have it coming, it's tremendous. It's a stepping stone to becoming a national and international event and it puts Granard on the map," said Cllr McGovern.
Over a dozen talks are planned over the weekend at various locations in Granard, with Irish writer Donal Ryan among those on billing.
Environmentalist and conservationist Professor Tim Flannery, writer and documentary-maker Manchán Magan and writer, academic and disability activist Sinead Burke are also on the lineup.
"What we're thinking about is the work that will be produced ten or 15 years down the line from people who might have seen a writer or heard a writer at this festival," explains author and Longford native Belinda McKeon.
"What that will do for Granard is part of the story but it's also a much bigger story about what it will do for the larger culture," she said.
"Granard is a beautiful town, waiting for its next act.
"There's lots of potential here and so the festival is tuned into that potential before that potential has been realised in other ways.
"We're bringing writers and artists to the town so that people who live here and in surrounding areas can really be part of that atmosphere and be part of the growth of ideas and possibilities that comes with that" she added.
