By Dan Walsh
Anton O’Broin, 87, of Kilrane, was honoured by fellow booksellers at last weekend’s 55th Annual Wexford Book Fair for his lifelong role in establishing and sustaining Ireland’s longest-running book fair.
Mr O’Broin was a founding member at the first book fair in Enniscorthy’s Murphy Floods Hotel in 1969 and was instrumental in moving it to Wexford to coincide with the Opera Festival in the nineteen-seventies.
In 1971, Anton struck a deal with the manager of the Talbot Hotel Wexford to host the event, its home ever since. He remains very much involved, managing stalls featuring leabhair as Gaeilge and vintage postcards.
“Anton is highly regarded by all of us and is something of a legend in the bookselling world,” Wally O’Neill of Red Books, who has taken over the running of the annual fair and expanded it into a festival this year, said. “We all felt it was only right to make a presentation to Anton to let him know how much he is valued and respected.”
“During the past five and a half decades, he has been one of a number of steady hands who have kept this book fair alive. There has been so much change to the book industry, and to society itself, in that time. People like Anton made sure the fair always changed with the times,” concluded Mr. O’Neill.
Referring to this year’s inaugural four-day book festival, Mr. O’Neill said; “We’ve had great feedback for the new format,” Mr O’ Neill said. “We are looking at a bigger event next year, with more books and more creatives.”
