Host of free family events taking place at West Cork Literary Festival

We’re gearing up for the twenty-seventh edition of the West Cork Literary Festival, and we have a packed eight days of workshops, readings, and family events.

Our programme of events for children and young people has always been a really important part of the festival but because July is outside the school year and families are understandably tempted to the beach by any sunny day, we had been struggling to generate the audiences that these amazing authors deserve. ]

When we returned to in-person events after the pandemic, we rethought how we presented our family strand, and we decided to make all of our events for children and young people free of charge. This went against everything we know about traditional event marketing, which tells us that audiences don’t value free events and they will book the tickets and then not turn up on the day. Thankfully, we held our nerve, and this turned out not to be true at all. 

Our children’s events are “free but ticketed” so that we can plan accordingly and so that we can guarantee a seat for every child who has reserved a ticket. People rushed to book these free tickets and even better, they turned up in numbers for every event and have continued to do over the past few years. And this year is looking good too! The nominal amount of box office monies that we used to take for our children’s events has been replaced with excited, enthusiastic audiences who can’t wait to meet writers and illustrators.

I was a voracious reader as a child, and it never occurred to me that writers were real people that you could meet and chat to. And it definitely didn’t cross my mind that writers lived in Cork. So, it gives me immense joy and pride seeing children meeting a real-life author, seeing them watch an incredible illustrator draw characters right before their eyes, and watching these children picking up pencils and crayons to try writing and drawing for themselves.

These wonderful young people are the future readers and writers of our festival and we want to nurture a love for reading and creativity, no matter what their reading levels and no matter what sort of books they enjoy. All books are real books, and whether you are into novels, comics, picture books, zines, graphic novels or audiobooks, you’re a reader and there’s a place for you at the festival.

We’re big supporters of the Discover Irish Kids’ Books campaign, which highlights and celebrates Irish authors and illustrators. Writer and champion of children’s literature, Sarah Webb started this campaign when she noticed that Irish children’s books rarely appear in the Irish bestseller lists. The team behind the campaign want to bring Irish books to the attention of children and their adults and they suggest wonderful Irish alternatives to the most popular international (and celebrity) authors.

All of the books in this year’s children’s festival are the work of an Irish author or illustrator, and we have events for children as young as 4 and up to young adults. Ireland’s Laureate na nÓg Patricia Forde joins us with her new book Letters To A Monster and we also have sessions with Paul Delaney, the West Cork illustrator behind Jenny Peckles Lays Eggs With Speckles and Peter Donnelly the genius behind the gorgeous President Book Series. Leona Forde and E.R. Murray both live in West Cork and are regular participants in the festival – Leona is back with Milly McCarthy’s Wild Atlantic Antics and Elizabeth introduces us to a brand new character in Arabella Pepper: The Wild Detective. Debut authors are well represented too with The Doomsday Club, a brilliant new series by Kevin Moran and Susan Cahill’s The World Between The Rain, whilst for teens we can’t wait to welcome Zainab Boladale, author of Braids Take A Day and Kel Menton with their YA novel A Fix Of Light. Kel is also leading a zine workshop for teens and MCing the launch of Cork County Council’s Rainbow Library anthology of writing and illustrations by a diverse group of LGBTQIA+ young people from County Cork. And for the first time ever we are teaming up with the Glucksman on an art trail featuring work by four professional artists from their Art Library – Amber Broughton, James L. Hayes, Fiona Kelly, and Garret Phelan – alongside creative responses to these artworks from students from four Bantry schools.

We also want to foster a community of children’s authors and illustrators through professional development and networking opportunities. This year, Children’s Books Ireland and Sarah Webb will lead a seminar on the craft of writing, aimed at children’s authors and illustrators. Sarah will also host a free social meet-up for children’s authors and illustrators. And we are delighted to be welcoming the Children’s Books Ireland Raising Voices Fellows to attend the festival as our guests.

I recently read an interview with French author Marion Brunet, who is the recipient of the 2025 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (created in 2002 by the Swedish government to promote every child’s right to great stories) and I couldn’t agree more with what she has to say “Books for children and young people play a central role in their lives. It broadens their experiences and brings them in contact with art. …We need to take children’s literature more seriously. We need to put it on a level with adult literature.” Amen to that!