Cork World Book Fest 2017 was a great success. We had a fantastic lineup of contributors from a variety of genres.
Read all about our guests from 2017 below.
Writers 2017
Colm Ó Ceallacháin
I dtír mhilis na mbeo ní mar a shíltear a bhítear i gcónaí. An é sin an Pápa a fheicimid ag comhrá le beirt bhuachaillí óga le linn a chamchuairt ar Éirinn in 1979? Nó an cuairteoirí ó phláinéad eile iad siúd atá ag caitheamh a gcuid laethanta saoire cois trá? Tá pearsana sa chnuasach…
Lisa Carey
Lisa Carey’s obsession with Ireland, and specifically Inishbofin, and the evacuation of the island led her to write The Stolen Child, her fourth novel set in the fictional island of St. Brigid. Sisters Rose and Emer refuse to let go of their traditions and superstitions Lisa lives in the U.S. but spent five years living…
Ed O’Loughlin
Ed O’Loughlin is an Irish-Canadian author and journalist. His first novel, Not Untrue and Not Unkind, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2009 and shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. His second novel, Toploader, was published in 2011. His latest novel, Minds of Winter, came out in late 2016. Born in Toronto, he…
Anne Sebba
Anne Sebba is a biographer, lecturer, journalist and former Reuters foreign correspondent. She read History at King’s College London and her first job was at the BBC World Services in the Arabic Department. Her latest book is about Paris from 1939-49 through women’s eyes, Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died…
Alex Barclay
Alex Barclay is the author of eight crime novels, and a fantasy novel for children. Her most recent novel, The Drowning Child, is the latest in the series featuring the Colorado-based FBI Special Agent Ren Bryce. Alex’s Blood Runs Cold won the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Award at the Irish Book Awards in 2009. Killing For a Living…
Sam Blake
Sam Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, the founder of The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy and the national writing resources website Writing.ie. Her debut novel, Little Bones spent eight weeks in the Irish top 10, with four weeks in the Number 1 slot. Introducing fiesty young detective Cat Connolly, in the first of this thriller trilogy what…
William Ryan
William Ryan’s Captain Korolev Novels have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year, The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award, the Crime Writers Association’s New Blood and Historical Daggers and the Irish Crime Novel of the Year (three times). William lectures on the Crime Writing Masters at City University in London.…
Aleš Šteger
Aleš Šteger studied comparative literature and German at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana and he continues to live there, working as an author, translator and editor. He was editor of the student magazine Tribuna; he has also published articles in various domestic and foreign media. He attends international conferences and reading sessions. He was…
Çiler İlhan
Born in 1972, Çiler İlhan studied International Relations and Political Science at Bosphorus University, and Hotel Management at the Glion Hotel School in Switzerland. She has worked as hotelier, writer (Boğaziçi, TimeOut İstanbul, Trendsetter), and editor (Chat, Travel + Leisure). In 1993, İlhan was the recipient of the Notable Short Story Award at the Yaşar…
Florian Wacker
Florian Wacker was born in Stuttgart, Germany and studied orthopaedagogy before attending the Deutsches Literaturinstitut in Leipzig. He has worked as a carer for young people and people with disabilities as well as in child and adolescent psychiatry. His work has been published by mairisch Verlag, Verlagshaus Jacoby & Stuart and Verlag der Autoren. In Albuquerque…
Flavia Company
Flavia Company was born in Buenos Aires but moved to Barcelona, while still a child. A novelist and teacher, she is a prolific writer in Spanish and Catalan and translator of many genres, a contributor to print media, and has directed and presented TVprogrammes. The author of more than ten novels, her The Island of…
Stephanie Preissner
Stefanie Preissner is a screenwriter, playwright and actor. Her six-part comedy-drama series, Can’t Cope/Won’t Cope (RTE, Northern Ireland Screen, Deadpan Pictures) directed by Cathy Brady, is currently shooting in Dublin. She is also developing projects with Parallel Films UK. Stefanie is also developing screen projects with Parallel Films UK. Stefanie has written some hugely successful…
Paul Howard
Paul Howard (born 6 January 1971) is a multi award-winning journalist, author and comedy writer. He is best known as the creator of the cult character, Ross O’Carroll-Kelly a fictional rugby jock whose exploits have been the subject of fourteen novels that have sold one million copies in Ireland. He was named National Newspapers of…
Billy O’Callaghan
Billy O’Callaghan was born in Cork in 1974, and grew up in Douglas village, where he still lives. His first collection of short stories, In Exile, was published by Mercier Press in 2008. This was followed a year later by a second collection, In Too Deep (also published by Mercier Press). Then, in 2013, his…
Alan McMonagle
Alan McMonagle is a writer living in Galway, Ireland. He holds an MA in Writing from National University of Ireland, Galway. He has received awards for his work from the Professional Artists’ Retreat in Yaddo (New York), the Fundación Valparaiso (Spain), the Banff Centre for Creativity (Canada) and the Arts Council of Ireland. He has published…
Eileen Battersby
Eileen Battersby was born in California. She graduated with honours in English and History from University College Dublin, and went on to receive an honours MA on American writer Thomas Wolfe. She began reviewing books and sports writing which led her into a career in journalism as a staff arts writer with The Irish Times,…
Eibhear Walshe
Eibhear Walshe is the Director of Creative Writing and a senior lecturer in the School of Modern English at University College Cork. His biography Kate O’Brien A Writing Lifewas published by Irish Academic Press in 2006 and he edited Elizabeth Bowen: Visions and Revisions for Irish Academic Press in 2008 He was a section editor…
Catherine Ryan Howard
Catherine Ryan Howard was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1982. Her debut thriller, Distress Signals, is out now in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand (Corvus/Atlantic) and the USA (Blackstone). The Irish Times called Distress Signals “a highly confident and accomplished debut novel, impeccably sustained, with not a false note”. It has been optioned for…
Mary Malone
Mary Malone lives in Cork and is the author of four books including the best selling Love is the Reason. The Irish Independent described it as such: ‘Love is the Reason, the fourth novel from Cork author Mary Malone, reads like a contemporary exemplar of the seven deadly sins in action. The well-drawn characters encapsulate…
Sally Phipps
Sally Phipps is the author of Molly Keane’s Ireland and Molly Keane: A life. The Irish literary queen of black comedy, Molly Keane, died on April 22, 1996. To commemorate the 21st year of her passing Cork World Book Fest celebrates the woman and her writings with her daughters Sally Phipps and Virginia Brownlow. Sally…
Cork World Book Fest 