More than 100,000 book lovers have visited this year.

Now the award-winning Kinsale Library will celebrate its first birthday on Saturday, August 17th with a free family fun day starting at 10.30am.

The new €4.8m library is located in the heart of Kinsale in the James O’Neill Building (Old Mill) and was designed by Cork County Council’s Architects Department. The 19th-century grain store underwent significant refurbishment and was transformed into a three-storey multi-purpose building.

The birthday festivities on Saturday will include a puppet show, concerts and talks, all events are free to attend with no booking required. The concerts include performances by Ballinspittle Comhaltas as well as a guitar and singalong concert with Aengus Kiralowski.

“Kinsale Library is a spectacular facility both inside and out and has become a tourist attraction in itself,” said the Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Joe Carroll.

“The library is ten times larger than the previous premises and with 25,000 items available to borrow, its stock has increased fivefold. It has a beautiful event space which allows for multiple events to take place at the same time without disrupting other library activities. Almost 6,000 people have attended 260 events since the library opened including author visits, exhibitions, book festivals, talks, yoga and much more.”