Authors Ian McEwan, Andrew O’Hagan and Wendy Erskine are among the participants in this year’s Ennis Book Club Festival which runs from Friday to Sunday, March 7-9.

Events kick off on Friday afternoon, with Five Books that Could Save Your Life, when Irish Examiner columnist and writer Sarah Harte, along with Madeline Mc Aleer  from Haven Horizons, Helen Crickard from Reclaim the Agenda, and Noelle Collins from Belfast & Lisburn Women’s Aid, will discuss the impact of coercive control.

Later, Booker Prize nominee Andrew O’Hagan will join writer Wendy Erskine to talk about his novel, Caledonian Road.

Poet Pat Boran will read from his latest collection, Hedge School, also on Friday, in an event that will combine text, photos and moving images.

The Art of the Short Story, with Cathy Sweeney, Maggie Armstrong and David Butler in conversation with Olivia Fitzsimons, will examine what makes that particular form such an intriguing one. The festival will also celebrates Clare-based writers Tracy Fahey, Kitty Murphy and Eilís Haden-Storrie, who will discuss their work with Ciana Campbell.

Also on Friday, Glór will be the venue when Leitrim sean-nós dancer, and author of the children’s book, Sparks from the Flagstones, Edwina Guckian will be in conversation with broadcaster Paula Carroll. Friday’s events will close with award-winning novelist Ann Cleeves (Shetland, Vera and Two Rivers), who will discuss her work with Brian McGilloway.

Author of Ghost Mountain, Rónán Hession, will be in conversation with Neil Hegarty in Ennis Courthouse on Saturday morning, followed by festival favourite, Ten Books you Should Read.

Mark O’Halloran and Oliver Callan will offer suggestions at that event, in Glór, which will be moderated by writer Tara Flynn. This year’s Debut Novelists’ slot features Aimée Walsh, Patrick Holloway and Cathy Sweeney, in conversation with crime writer Declan Hughes.

The Beyond Borders Book Club, featuring Tarsila Krüse, Zainab Boladale and Amanie Issa in conversation with Galway poet Sarah Clancy, is at the Temple Gate Hotel.

Nicola Lennon, an Irishwoman based in Brussels, who has been running a world-literature book club for 20 years will host her club in the de Valera Library. She will share its history and its unique approach, and lead a discussion on the book chosen for March, Happiness, by Aminatta Forna.

Clare writer Edna O’Brien was who died last year, will be celebrated at a special panel discussion, when Andrew O’Hagan, Danielle McLaughlin, Eoin McNamee and Sally Hayden will be in conversation with journalist Rachael English.

Gerontologist Rose Anne Kenny, writer Mary O’Donnell and neuroscientist Ian Robertson will be in conversation with Barbara Scully for Ageing in Life and Literature, in The Temple Gate.

Saturday’s main event is a public interview with Booker-winner Ian McEwan in Glór at 8pm. The author of novels such as Atonement, On Chesil Beach, Amsterdam and Machines Like Me will be interviewed by Seán Rocks of RTÉ’s Arena.

Highlights on the final day will include the Sunday Symposium, starting at 11am in Glór. Journalists Sally Hayden and Paulo Nunes dos Santos, who specialise in reporting on conflict and humanitarian crises, and lecturer in Middle East politics Vincent Durac will join journalist Katie Hannon to discuss International Conflict in a globalised World, and the implications of this for the future.

This will be followed by the annual Literary Lunch, in The Old Ground Hotel, which will be hosted by Cónal Creedon and Mairéad Hearne.

The festival, in association with Clare Libraries, also has an extensive programme for younger readers.

More details and booking for all events at www.ennisbook clubfestival.com

Pictured: Novelist Ann Cleeves whose crime novels about Vera Stanthope and Jimmy Perez inspired the TV series, Vera and Shetland, will be at the Ennis Book Club Festival.