Dublin Book Festival opens its doors this week, running from the 8th to 15th November
With over fifty events across the city and more than a hundred authors, interviewers, historians, visual artists and musicians, doors will once again be open to a real live audience!
But this doesn’t mean an end to virtual festival-going. You will still be able to livestream two full days of events, along with a specially curated exclusive online programme.
Smock Alley, The National Botanic Gardens, The Heritage Centre at Dublin Port and the Irish Writers Centre are just some of the amazing venues to host the festival.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
Icebound in the Arctic
8 November 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
On Monday 8th, DBF teams up with RDS Library Speaker Series to bring you Icebound in the Arctic: Michael Smith in conversation with Turtle Bunbury.
Michael Smith discusses his captivating historical work Icebound in the Arctic (The O’Brien Press) with best-selling author and fellow historian Turtle Bunbury.
RTÉ Radio 1 Arena with Roddy Doyle, Hugo Hamilton, Lisa Harding and Caitríona Lally
12 November 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Tune in for an evening of conversation with RTÉ Radio 1’s cultural guru, Seán Rocks. Seán will be joined by authors Roddy Doyle, Lisa Harding, Hugo Hamilton and Caitríona Lally for an evening of literary chats.
Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle’s 2021 release, Life Without Children (Penguin), is a collection of ten short stories in which the writer beautifully captures our strange recent times with his signature wit.
In The Pages (Harper Collins), acclaimed author Hugo Hamilton has constructed a novel narrated by another novel. Actress, writer and playwright Lisa Harding’s latest novel Bright Burning Things (Bloomsbury) was released to critical acclaim. Her novel is a story of a life unravelling told through a dazzling emotional interiority. Recipient of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, Caitríona Lally, discusses her new novel Wunderland, a darkly humorous and touching story.
This event will be broadcast LIVE on RTÉ Radio 1. A limited number of tickets are available to view the broadcast in person at Smock Alley.
When We Cease to Understand the World: Benjamín Labatut in conversation with Rick O’Shea
10 November 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
In partnership with the Embassy of Chile in Ireland, DBF brings Chilean writer Benjamín Labatut to Dublin Audiences. Dublin favourite Rick O’Shea will join the writer online to discuss When We Cease to Understand the World.
Join Dublin Book Festival for an evening with Chilean author Benjamín Labatut as he discusses his novel, which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2021, with broadcaster and national literary connoisseur Rick O’Shea.
Described by Philip Pullman as ‘a monstrous and brilliant book’, When We Cease to Understand the World is a fascinating and revelatory insight into how the world’s greatest minds can wreak the greatest havoc.
Thrusting us into the troubled lives of such scientific luminaries as Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger, this book explores the sometimes blurred lines between genius and madness; how some of science’s greatest discoveries revolutionise our world for the better, while others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. Merging fact and fiction to great effect, Labatut shines a bright and powerful light on some of the most brilliant minds in this history of science and mathematics.
Dublin City Libraries Readers’ Morning
13 November 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
A Saturday morning favourite, Dublin City Libraries Readers’ Morning is back with a live audience this year. Niall MacMonagle is joined by Sarah Winman, Ann Ingle, and Luke Cassidy, followed by Dr Rosaleen McDonagh in conversation with Dr Emilie Pine. The events begin at 10am in Smock Alley Theatre, and can also be live-streamed.
