WRITE AWAY:Former Irish Timesforeign correspondent Conor O'Clery will be one of the speakers at the Immrama Lismore Festival of Travel Writers from June 9th and 12th in the Co Waterford village.
O’Clery, who witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and the 9/11 attacks in New York in a long career, is one of several prominent foreign correspondents and travel writers who will take part in the ninth annual festival .
The poet and sailor Theo Dorgan will also speak at the event. Rolf Potts, arguably the world’s most famous budget traveller, will speak about his book Vagabonding and his adventures in travelling around the world last year without luggage.
Alex Von Tunzelmann, whose first book Indian Summer: The Secret History of an Empire, has received a great deal of critical acclaim will also speak.
Immrama won high praise from the American travel writer Michael Shapiro who was a guest last year and interviewed Dervla Murphy. He was so enamoured by the festival that he proposed to his fiancée Jackie in the grounds of Lismore Castle.
A new addition is a ‘Blogger’s Forum’ facilitated by Manchán Magan of this magazine.