Galway's Cúirt International Festival of Literature is to host a special tribute to the late John McGahern on the night he was due to deliver a reading.
The writer, who had been a guest at the festival on many occasions, was booked to read with Tunisian poet, novelist and academic Abdelwahab Meddeb in Galway's Town Hall Theatre on Friday, April 28th.
"We will miss his understated humorous presence here with us in Galway, but we will remember and honour him with due ceremony in his absence on the date he was due to read," said the festival organisers, Maura Kennedy and Tomas Hardiman of the Galway Arts Centre. Ticket holders who want a refund will be accommodated.
Details of the event will be announced next week, and may include a recorded reading from That They May Face the Rising Sun by McGahern at Cúirt in 2001. McGahern "was always a pleasure to work with and never failed to leave audiences spellbound by his beautiful prose and magical delivery. His attendance at this year's festival was very eagerly anticipated," said Hardiman.
McGahern had a very close link with NUI Galway and had donated his literary archive and papers to the college library.
He was involved with the university's writing programme in the 1970s and appointed Adjunct professor in the Centre for Irish Studies in 2001.
Lorna Siggins
• The Cúirt festival (April 25th-30th) hosts more than 60 writers, including Seamus Heaney, Edna O'Brien, Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), DBC Pierre (Vernon God Little), Joe Simpson (Touching the Void), Lionel Shriver (We Need To Talk About Kevin), and Walter Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress). The 21st festival of literature features 50 different events - readings and masterclasses, poetry slams, debates and music gigs.
The Cúirt debate on Friday 28th is on the freedom of speech, a number of Middle Eastern writers will appear with their Western counterparts, and there will be two Irish premieres, Galway Youth Theatre's staging of Robin Soans' verbatim theatre piece, Talking to Terrorists, and a beautiful photographic exhibition, Black and White: Between East and West, by Touhami Ennadre and Jallel Gasteli.
The festival also honours Galway writer Máirtín Ó Cadhain by publishing a commemorative bilingual edition of Dhá Sceál/Two Stories. There is a downloadable brochure at www.galwayartscentre.ie. Booking is through the Town Hall box office (091-569777)
