Arts group proposes literary routes across 11 counties linked to writers from Jonathan Swift to Lisa McGee
T
he border between Ireland and Northern Ireland used to draw smugglers, paramilitaries, police and soldiers, but the landscape of twisting lanes and hedgerows may soon entice a new type of visitor: literary pilgrims.
A plan is under way to rebrand it as Ireland’s “northern literary lands” and to create the world’s first Unesco region of literature.
The initiative from Arts Over Borders, a group that organises festivals on both sides of the border, aims to create nine “literary ways” to guide travellers through 11 counties that produced or inspired writers ranging from Jonathan Swift to Samuel Beckett and Lisa McGee.
