Books are my business: Writer and farmer John Connell

How did you get involved with the Granard Booktown Festival?

When The Cow Book came out, I was invited to speak at Wigtown, Scotland’s national book town. It was suggested to me that we should try and do something like that in Ireland, because we didn’t have a book town. 

I got talking with Ronan O’Toole, my co-director, who used to put on a short film festival called Still Voices, and then we spoke to the council and local people and got some guidance. There was a lot of goodwill, people got behind the festival and the idea, and it started to build up its own steam. 

Adrian Turpin, the director at Wigtown, was very supportive. He gave me a lot of advice so we had a bit of a road map to work from. Last year was our first year. We were turning people away, there were events sold out all over the place. There was a great atmosphere in the town, it was so exciting. It is lovely to have something like that in the Midlands.

What does your role involve?

Ronan and I do the programming and a good bit of the day-to-day running of the festival. I also do the publicity. Being a writer, I have some contacts, so I reach out to people we want to get for the festival. It is a fairly busy schedule.

We finished last April, we took about two or three weeks off, then we started planning again for this year. We need to get the programme finalised in January because people are really busy and you have to book them in months before.

We have board members as well, everyone does it voluntarily, so it is a big ask. People give up their time and we are so thankful. It is a labour of love for everyone involved but the benefits outweigh the work involved.

What do you like most about it?

I love being in the room when it is a packed house and everyone is rapt listening. Last year, we had Donal Ryan in conversation with Fran McNulty and you could hear a pin drop, then afterwards, everyone exploded into conversation. 

The other thing I love is the pubs being full in the town. Last year, Tim Flannery [world-renowned climate scientist and writer] came all the way from Australia, he was in the pub and we had ceilí music on and I thought, this is fantastic. It is the little moments like that.

What do you like least about it?

There’s no real drawback. It’s really fun to do. It’s a lot of work but it pays off when you see people coming in the door to come to a talk, buy a book, or have a chat with an author who has made an impact on them. It’s great, you get to meet famous writers, musicians, and all sorts, why wouldn’t you want to do it?

Three desert island books

My first choice would be The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, an Australian author who won the Booker for that book. He is also one of the patrons of the festival. That book changed how I thought you could write. I was in Sydney when he won it and I was coming back to Ireland to try and become a writer. His publisher and editor gave me a copy of the book. I was reading it in the lambing shed during the first winter I was taking care of the sheep. 

My second choice would be Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, the Holocaust survivor. What an amazing writer and human being. It is such a beautiful book about how we should value life.

My third one would be Constellations, Sinéad Gleeson’s essay collection. She is coming to the festival to talk about her new book Hagstone. She is such a tour de force, an amazing writer and person.

Granard Booktown Festival takes place from April 19-21; granardbooktownfestival.ie