Dear Reader,
From next Saturday (6 March) to Monday (8 March) over 100 of our top authors, poets and journalists will gather at Dublin City Hall (view map) for three days of free readings, debates, interviews and workshops.
Leading authors, including Nell McCaferty, Gordon Snell, Thomas Kilroy, Mary Kenny and Eileen Battersby will be interviewed by fellow authors, while poets Theo Dorgan, Geraldine Mills, Paddy Bushe, Pól Ó Muirí and Rosita Boland will be reading from their work.
The festival will also play host to a series of lively public discussions: Diarmaid Ferriter, Ruan O’Donnell and Niamh O’Sullivan will lead a discussion on Ireland’s rebel history; Caroline Walsh, Carlo Gébler, Greg Baxter and Siobhán Parkinson will explore the role of the literary critic, journalist and author Shane Hegarty will dissect the "Irish and Other Foreigners" and Gerry Thornley, Gavin Cummiskey and Liam Toland will examine the state of sports writing in Ireland.
Events for children include readings and workshops with Siobhán Parkinson, Conor Kostic, Gillian Perdue, Anne O’Hara and Sarah Webb. The Festival Bookshop will also have a dedicated space for younger readers.
As the festival ends on International Women’s Day (8 March), women writers will have a particularly strong presence on its final day. A posthumous book from Nuala Ó Faolain, A More Complex Truth: Selected Writings is to be launched, while the legacies of feminism will be debated by Susan McKay, Ivana Bacik, Caitríona Crowe and Margaret MacCurtain, chaired by Anthea McTeirnan.
The full programme is available here, or you can download a copy from http://short.ie/jjra8e (PDF).
Bring the whole family and come and lose yourself for a few hours while you mingle with your favourite writers, browse through the Festival Bookshop or simply enjoy a cuppa and a good read in the Festival Café.
Entry is free and places can be reserved at selected events (see programme for details).
We look forward to seeing you there!
The Dublin Book Festival Team
