Such is the range of poets and novelists on offer at Cuirt earlier in the year, Galway is always in the happy position of having served literature very well before the festival opens.

Rather than risk Cuirt overkill, or indeed fail to match what is a specialist event, the Galway Festival has chosen to showcase different styles of writing by inviting two Irish journalists who have specialised in covering war and famine to speak. Formerly reporting for the BBC from Africa and Hong Kong, Fergal Keane, author of Seasons Of Blood, (Saturday 18th, 6.30 p.m., venue to be confirmed) presents an exploration and explanation of the genocide in Rwanda. He will read from his bestselling, autobiographical book Letter To Daniel which is written in the form of addresses to his new-born son.

Maggie O'Kane, now a senior reporter with the Observer and Guardian newspapers, appears in conversation with Lelia Doolan (on Thursday, July 16th, at the Druid Theatre, 6 p.m.) and in the course of describing her career to date, which has brought her from the collapse of the Berlin Wall, to Bosnia and the Gulf War will also provide an overview of major international current affairs during the past decade.

Coinciding with the publication of his debut novel, Crowe's Requiem, Galway writer Mike McCormack reads from it on July 16th at Keohanes Bookshop.

Since McCormack received excellent reviews for Getting It In The Head, one the most original collections of short stories from an Irish writer for years, unusual levels of anticipation surrounds this novel. Lyric poetry may not have found a new champion in

Murray Lachlan Young, whose work includes I'm Being Followed By The Rolling Stones. Such is his impact as a performance poet, however, that his session at the Warwick Acoustic Room on July 22nd at 8 p.m. should pack them in.