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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Linares International Literary Festival (Linares, N.L., Mexico)

The 2nd edition of Linares International Festival was held between March 15 and 18, 2011. The town is located 127 kilometres from Monterrey in Mexico.

Colin Carberry, an Irish-Canadian author, founded the Linares International Literary Festival in 2010. He is the festival’s artistic director. Pilar Escudero and Silvia Hernandez of the Institutional Development Department of Colegio Linares, A. C., supported Colin in organising the event. The school’s director and board, and members of the local business, cultural and literary communities, supported them

The festival features art events and evening entertainment, such as poetry readings, panel discussions, lectures, book signings, music, art and photography exhibitions, a book fair, documentaries, literary dinners, and a ‘Café Literario’.

Created on the bicentenary of Mexico’s independence, the Literary Festival’s mandate is to promote reading, and to encourage interest in and to increase awareness of Mexican and international literature, history and culture.

By all accounts, the festival was a spectacular success:

Authors at the Linares International Literary Festival  
US-Canadian poet Albert Moritz first plucked an orange from a tree

Indian-Canadian author Jasmine D'Costa felt like a rock star

Bosnian author Goran Simic proved that México is a country filled with warm and welcoming people

Slovenia's top poet Marjan Strohan was struck by the beauty of the architecture of the area, which he described as "European style, but with nicer people."

The town Mayor, Francisco Medina, congratulated the festival organisers for a fantastic and unprecedented job they have done in attracting writers of global significance to a town.

Colin believes the festival will grow in strength: "We have tapped into a rich vein of interest in literature here in Linares, and a deep hunger among the citizens of Linares to share their rich culture with the wider world. Deep down, I always knew this, and decided to take a gamble and organize a festival in 2010, thinking an honest failure was better than a false success. But the goodwill and support shown to me by the people of Linares have astounded me, and this year's festival has surpassed all my hopes and expectations. The Linares International Literary is now a first-class event that will only grow in stature, size, and prestige." 

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