Limerick is a city invigorated by literature. This is a city of stories and story-tellers. Like all good stories, it is a city in the midst of great change and the wonderful Limerick Literary Festival has helped propel that change into an international arena. Colum McCann

The Limerick Literary Festival was such a rich, yet also wonderfully intimate, weekend. I participated in a busy event which provided me with a unique opportunity to challenge readers, and I was thoroughly honoured to receive the Kate O' Brien Award - such an important, encouraging accolade for a writer at the outset of her career. Sara Baume