Dervla Murphy to be remembered at Co Waterford festival

Acclaimed travel writer Dervla Murphy will be remembered at this year’s Immrama Festival of Travel Writing in Lismore in Co Waterford.

All those reading at the event later this week will be asked to speak briefly about how the late author influenced or informed their work.

Edward Lynch, one of the organisers of the festival, said the late Ms Murphy was the inspiration for the festival almost two decades ago so it was only fitting that she would be remembered at this year’s event, the first in-person Immrama in three years since the lifting of Covid restrictions.

“Dervla was on board at the very start but then Immrama got a bit too big for her – she would have preferred if it stayed like a fireside chat with about 40 people sitting around but we had to get a bigger audience to survive, and she preferred smaller, more intimate gatherings.”

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Mr Lynch, a vet in Lismore, got to know Ms Murphy well over the years, and he will speak about her before introducing polar exploration expert, Michael Smith who on Friday will talk about his latest book, Lost and Found – Irishman Captain Francis Crozier and the Franklin Expedition disaster.

“I got to know Dervla because I used to look after her dogs and cats, but it was very hard to get in with Dervla because she was such a single-minded person — nobody in their right mind was going to go off to India in the early 1960s on a bicycle like she did - she was a once off!

[ Rosita Boland on Dervla Murphy: ‘I never interviewed anyone who lived in such an unusual way’ ]

“Looking at the condolences on RIP.ie, it was interesting to see how many people she influenced — you had all these messages from these anonymous people who simply said: ‘You inspired me to travel’ or ‘You inspired me to read about travel’ or ‘You inspired to write about travel’.”

Now established as a leading travel-writing event, Immrama has over the years featured such established travel writers as Michael Palin and Paul Theroux as well as the late Robert Fisk and Tim Severin who were among the 105 authors who have read there over the years.

Mr Lynch said: “The theme of the 2022 festival is Big lives in small places. Roots in small towns, and all of our speakers will share their insights of their global journeys and those of others who left their small towns to go on great adventures and return with tales of life discoveries.

“We’re opening this year’s festival on Thursday with a talk from journalist and author of five books Des Ekin at the Lismore Heritage Centre – Des will talk about Ireland’s Pirate Trail, 30 true-life pirate stories collected from travelling around the Irish coast by land and sea,” he added.

Among the many other guests at this year’s festival, which runs from Thursday until Sunday, is musician and founder member of De Dannan Charlie Piggott, who will share a talk about his musical travels with the band with whom he toured extensively in Europe and North America.

Irish Independent southern correspondent, Ralph Riegel will speak about the theme of travel for work including how he travelled to the United States to cover the murder trial of Jason Corbett which led him to co-author the No 1 Best Seller My Brother Jason with the late Mr Corbett’s sister, Tracey.

Also speaking is award-winning Cork travel writer Thom Breathnach, who specialises in the areas of sustainable travel, slow tourism and wildlife, and he will speak about the paradox of sustainable travel and social media’s current travel trends.

On Saturday evening journalist, broadcaster and barman Billy Keane, who has written a column for The Irish Independent for 21 years, will share travel stories from within and outside the head including his travels with the Munster rugby team during their glory years.

Mr Keane has also written two novels, and his latest, The Ballad of Mo and G, was described by Donal Ryan as “heartbreak and comedy, tenderness and savagery meld into a beautiful, mad narrative delivered in a voice that is completely real”.

Mr Lynch said the festival was delighted to welcome back the traditional Literary Breakfast when on Sunday morning at Lismore Golf Club, author Turtle Bunbury will talk about Women of Munster - The Adventures of Lola Montez, Eliza Lynch and Nellie Cashman.

Further details on the Immrama Festival of Travel Writing are at Immrama.com.