KINGSTON, R.I. — April 27, 1999 — The 200 tickets reserved for Americans to attend the 1999 Aran Islands International Poetry and Prose Festival in August are going, going, but not quite gone. “This festival has the makings of being the most prestigious literary gathering in the world this year,” comments URI President Robert L. Carothers. He will be traveling to the land of Yeats, Syge, and Joyce for the festival, which runs August 14 to 21 in Galway and the Aran Islands. The festival is sponsored by the University of Rhode Island, in collaboration with the National University of Ireland, Galway and the Young Writers’ Institute. Readers for the festival include some of the most honored writers of this generation. Among the literati are Pulitzer Prize winners Rita Dove, William Kennedy, and Frank McCourt. The roster also includes the current U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky; famed Chinese Dissident Poet Xue Di; Michael Onjaatje, author of The English Patient; and Joyce Carol Oates, who is considered by many to be the finest female novelist of this century. Other readers include Nuala Ni Dhomnaill, Roddy Doyle, Cathal O. Searcaigh, Hugo Hamilton, John Montague, Edna O’Brien, Mary O’Malley, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, Patricia Smith, Rose Styron, Tim Pat Coogan, Ciaran Carson, Marjorie Agosin, Mark Doty, and Eamon Grennan. The spaces are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The $1,965 tour package includes round-trip airfare from Boston or New York, all accommodations at the Corrib Village at the National University of Ireland, Galway, six breakfasts, two dinners, an Aran Islands “cookout,” and all readings and lectures. For more information on this unique opportunity to travel to the prestigious literary festival, contact URI’s Joel Young at 401-874-7442 or check out web site www.aranfestival.com. For More Information: Joel Young, 874-7442 Jan Sawyer, 874-2116