Irish Borderlands Poised to Become World's First UNESCO Literary Region
The historic border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, once a magnet for smugglers, paramilitaries, and security forces, is now set to attract a new kind of traveler: literary pilgrims. An ambitious initiative led by Arts Over Borders aims to rebrand this 310-mile stretch as Ireland's "northern literary lands" and establish it as the world's inaugural UNESCO region of literature.
Nine Literary Ways Across Eleven Counties
Arts Over Borders, a festival-organizing group active on both sides of the border, has proposed creating nine distinct "literary ways" to guide visitors through eleven counties. These routes celebrate and connect the legacies of writers ranging from the 18th-century satirist Jonathan Swift to contemporary voices like Lisa McGee, creator of Derry Girls.
"We have this constellation of extraordinary writers associated with border counties," explained Seán Doran, the group's artistic director. "We're revealing a map of this heritage—an unsurpassed concentration of literary greatness crammed into one small corner of Europe."
The initiative seeks to foster recognition of a shared cultural heritage among local inhabitants, while drawing tourism to villages and towns often bypassed by conventional tourist trails.
Detailed Literary Routes and Connections
The proposed nine routes are designed to be flexible and accessible, each potentially completed within a day. They include:
- The Nobel Way: Encompassing parts of Sligo, County Fermanagh, and County Derry, this route highlights areas associated with Nobel laureates W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney.
- The Poetic Way: This path traverses Monaghan, Tyrone, and Derry, celebrating poets such as Patrick Kavanagh, Paul Muldoon, John Montague, and Tom Paulin.
- The Wilde Romantic Way: Features a walking route through Enniskillen, the Fermanagh town where Oscar Wilde attended boarding school, which inspired his children's story The Happy Prince.
- The Spiritual Way: Incorporates sites like the Neolithic rock art of Newgrange, the stone iconography of Monasterboice, the Mourne Mountains that inspired C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, and locations in Armagh linked to Jonathan Swift. The nearby Cooley peninsula, associated with the mythological epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, is also included.
- The Northwest Dramatic Way: Connects George Farquhar, a Restoration-era comedy playwright, with modern television creator Lisa McGee. "The penny just drops: Farquhar and McGee, three centuries apart but with this connection," noted Doran.
A Vision for Cultural and Economic Revitalization
The "northern literary lands" concept, conceived by Doran and his late colleague Liam Browne, spans five counties in Northern Ireland and six in the Republic of Ireland. This area covers approximately one-third of the island's landmass and is home to a predominantly rural population of 1.2 million people.
Doran observed that foreign visitors often flock to coastal regions marketed as the "ancient east" and the "wild Atlantic way," overlooking the interior counties. "These are hidden heartlands," he emphasized, highlighting the initiative's potential to redirect tourist attention and economic benefits.
While other global regions boast rich literary traditions, Doran argues that few match the density of literary heritage found in the Irish borderlands. Authors like playwright Brian Friel are deeply rooted in the region, while others, such as Samuel Beckett, had shorter but significant associations.
Path to UNESCO Recognition and Future Developments
UNESCO currently recognizes 63 "cities of literature," including Dublin, Edinburgh, and Norwich. Arts Over Borders will petition the UN agency to establish a new regional category, starting with the Irish borderlands. This effort will be bolstered by upcoming events like the Beckett Biennale, which will feature the first Ulster-Scots translation of Waiting for Godot.
Doran, who co-authored a Rough Guide to Ireland in the 1980s, is developing an independent guidebook for the literature trail. In addition to mapping classic literary figures, the guide will highlight contemporary writers such as novelist Maggie O'Farrell from Derry and Donegal poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin.
"We're putting this out there for people to pick and do their own journeys," Doran concluded. "The nine routes crisscross, and you can do each in a day. It's a way of illuminating how to join the dots." This initiative promises to transform a historically divided landscape into a unified destination for literary exploration and cultural appreciation.
