"You knew us for four brilliant years in partnership with the Hay Festival, and now Kells goes it alone," say a spokesperson. "We’re delighted to introduce the first Hinterland Festival of Literature & Arts, bringing our own version of the eclectic mix you’ve come to know and love to the County Meath town this June.
"The word ‘Hinterland’ is suggestive of something beyond the pale, mysterious, imaginative, challenging and, perhaps, just a little provocative. To reach any hinterland involves a journey. Ours is no exception."
From 22 to 25 June 2017, the gorgeous heritage town will be bursting at the seams with literature, art, drama, music, history, film, debate, food and children’s events.
The programme will include talks by literary luminaries, thinkers and dreamers Stephen Frears, Sebastian Barry, Alex Salmond, Deirdre Purcell, Patricia Scanlan, Neil Delamere, Paul Howard, Ryan Tubridy and many others.
As Geraldine Gaughran, the Festival Chair said, “running almost entirely on voluntary energy the key element that ensures the success of the festival is the overwhelming support from everyone involved, which makes for a really inspiring atmosphere. From the hard work that goes into the book-themed shop windows throughout the town, to the endeavours of the Kells Local Heroes and the wonderful local restaurants and businesses who look after our visitors, the festival transforms our town into a literary wonderland for a few days and we look forward to welcoming old and new friends this year in the Hinterland.”

Literary Highlights include:
Thursday June 22
Catriona Crowe, Myles Dungan, Diarmaid Ferriter.
Friday June 23
Ally Bunbury, Turtle Bunbury, John Bowman, Matthew Spangler, Sinead Crowley, Chris Mullin
Saturday June 24
Stephen Frears, Mairead McGuinness, Deirdre Purcell, Peter Fallon, Oisin McGann, Paul Howard, Ryan Tubridy and PJ Lynch, Mary O’Rourke, Dermot Bolger, Tom Dunne, Neil Delamere.
Sunday June 25
Alex Salmond, Sebastian Barry, Shane Hegarty, Judi Curtin, Patricia Scanlan,

An exciting addition to this year’s programme is the inclusion of Lit Crawl, a concept which started off as part of San Francisco’s festival Lit Quake in 2004. Since then Lit Crawl has spread to satellite locations across America and beyond, including Wellington, Cheltenham, Helsinki… and now Kells.
The Lit Crawl brings literature to the streets on Sunday June 25 from 5pm – 8.30pm, featuring smart and silly, worldly and wacky events in venues usual and unusual! It’s an opportunity for local authors to showcase their work while getting book lovers and revellers alike drunk on words. Events confirmed so far include an immersive adaptation of The Dead read in a local funeral parlour.
The Kells TypeTrail is described as a "celebration of words and a long lost treasure". As the heritage of Kells is built on the illustrated word, each year local artist Mark Smyth masterminds Typetrail, a series of art installations in Kells featuring interpretations of one word, and in 2017 it will be “WORDS”. This year TypeTrail will manage the reinstatement of a working Letterpress Printing Wortks, which was found unused for 30 years in a local Kells shop.
The Wharfdale Press as it is known is the type of Press used in the Printing of the Irish Proclamation in 1916. It is only 1 of 5 in the country, the only other still working is in The National Printing Museum.
For further information log onto their website: www.hinterland.ie