Hamnet author to speak at West Cork Literary Festival event in St Luke's

Hamnet author Maggie O’Farrell is to take part in West Cork Literary Festival’s first ever event in Cork city, with a public interview at Live At St Luke’s.

Tickets are now on sale for the event on June 18, which will celebrate the release of Ms O’Farrell’s new novel, Land.

Inspired by the mapping of Ireland in the mid-19th century, the new novel is a portrait of a family navigating a legacy of upheaval and survival with resilience and love.

Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, and a particularly loyal dog. It’s also a story about place, and how layers of history change landscapes and the people who live in them.

Screenplay

Ms O’Farrell is the author of nine previous novels, including Hamnet, which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020. 

She also co-wrote the screenplay for the novel’s film adaptation with director Chloé Zhao.

The film has already won Best Motion Picture – Drama at the Golden Globes and the audience award at multiple film festivals including Telluride, Toronto, and London.

It was announced last Thursday that the movie had also been nominated for eight Oscars, including one for Killarney woman Jessie Buckley for the Best Actress in a Leading Role category.

Her other bestselling books include the novels After You’d Gone, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, The Hand that First Held Mine, and her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am.

The book and ticket bundle includes a stamped author signature trade paperback copy of Land, exclusive to the Land tour. Books will be available for collection on the evening, when Dubray Books Cork will be on site.

A limited number of event-only tickets are also available. For more information or to book a ticket, visit

https://www.westcorkmusic.ie/literary-festival/programme or call the festival office on 027 52788.