There is something sublime about the idea of writers from all corners of the world forming a fleeting global nexus in Sligo.Of course, there are those who would protest that Sligo is always the literary centre of the world - think W. B. Yeats, think Dermot Healy, think Force 10 literary magazine. Certainly, when the fourth Scriobh festival begins next Thursday and takes over the town until Sunday, Sligo's claims to world word-domination possess a certain validity.
This year an increased Arts Council grant to the Model Arts Centre has meant the festival organisers have been able to pull together an even more international group of speakers. Thursday evening's official opening in the Model Arts Centre is a must for Latin-literature lovers - Nicolas Suescun, a Colombian writer of much renown who, along with numerous novels and poetry collections, has translated Yeats's work into Spanish.
If you want to know more about the very vibrant Colombian literature scene, then check out Friday evening's talk, also in the Model Arts Centre, at which poet Maria Mercedes Carranza, discusses her role as director and founding member of the hugely influential Casa de Poesia Silva in Colombia.
The other strong accent to the weekend is a Scottish one - although founder, organiser and participant Molly McCloskey insists this is accidental.
On Friday evening, in the Model Arts Centre, Dundeeborn writer A. L. Kennedy will read with Michael Donaghy, the Bronx-born author of Irish descent; Kennedy will also do a workshop on Saturday afternoon. Saturday afternoon's reading is by nomadic Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie who will be joined by McCloskey, an American living in Ireland, in the arts centre. Saturday sees Robin Robertson, a poet and publishing director from - you guessed it - Scotland, reading in the arts centre with Emily Perkins, a New Zealand writer who has been scooping up awards at home and in Britain.
Other highlights of the weekend are Friday afternoon's reading by Eva Bourke, a German poet now living in Galway; a poetry workshop by Ireland's Mary O'Malley on the Saturday morning, and Sunday's readings by Kerry Hardie, a poet born in Singapore and brought up in Co Down and Andrea Levy, a Jamaican writer living in London. Odds are, the launch of Micheal Fanning's poetry collection on Saturday evening in the Model Arts Centre will be a fine shindig while the most poignant event will most certainly be the Martin Healy short story award ceremony on Sunday afternoon. Healy, who died in March, was an author, editor of Force 10, and active participant in previous Scriobh festivals: this competition, with a prize of £1,000, looks set to become an important literary fixture.