Visit Theatre in the Bookshop during the festival

By Dan Walsh

Wexford’s annual Festival Opera opens tonight (Friday) and is always accompanied by many fringe art and performance events. This year, a local bookshop is once again running a full schedule of literary events as part of its own fringe festival – “Theatre in the Bookshop”.

Red Books in Wexford’s St Peter’s Square will host sixteen events, comprising live music, spoken-word, book launches, history and family friendly events. Four new Wexford books will be launched as part of the festival.

“It’s always important to remember our rich literary heritage and highlight the current culture of writing in Wexford during the world-famous Opera Festival,” Red Books owner Wally O’ Neill said. “We are launching four new books; ‘Cathedral in the Fields’ by Paddy Walsh, ‘Mayglass Holy Tower’ by Bernard Browne, ‘My Recollections’ by Greg Ryan, and the sixth Wexford Bohemian, edited by Alanna Hammel and featuring the works of 29 writers and artists.”

“We will also have OUTSPOKEN spoken-word open-mics, live music with Martina Byrne and Friends and the Driftwood Sessions, local photography artist Deborah Doyle first solo exhibition, as well as an art exhibition.”

Red Books will also feature prominently at the 53rd annual Wexford Book Fair, taking place in the Talbot Hotel from 11-5pm next Sunday, October 20^th. This event will feature book and collectibles dealers from across Ireland. It will also feature the launch of an eagerly awaited local book from Red Books Press, “Mayglass Holy Tower” by Bernard Browne, which will be launched at 1pm outside the fair room.

Among the other events at Red Books Fringe will be a Halloween Cosplay competition, a spoken-word open-mic for teens and younger, a dinosaur show, a history talk on the theatre of trade in the town and a lecture on Satanic Serial Killers.  All the events will be free, but donations will be accepted for the Sanctuary Mental Wellness initiative.

“We are expecting visitors from across Ireland and the world during the festival. It’s the duty of a bookshop to highlight our rich and diverse literary culture to these visitors. Local works will be placed prominently, among our 250,000 strong inventory of books,” concluded Wally O’Neill.