The International Literature Festival Dublin, founded in 1998, is Ireland’s premier literary event and gathers the finest writers in the world to debate, provoke, delight and enthral. Described by the press as ‘boasting a stunning array of top international literary talent’ and ‘the country’s most successful and easily the best annual literary event’, International Literature Festival Dublin line-up is sure to impress.
Heres what to expect:
Jo Nesbo
Don’t miss Jo Nesbo, the man James Ellroy described as ‘snapping at my heels like a rabid pitbull poised to take over…’ in conversation with journalist and broadcaster Hugh Linehan at this exciting ILFD trailblazer event.
- Date : Friday, 21 Apr
- Time: 7:30PM
- Venue: RDS Concert Hall
- Price: €12.50 – €25
Abi Elphinstone
When Abi Elphinstone went to school she discovered how much she loved stories. Nothing has changed! Her roller-coaster exciting adventure books — The Dreamcatcher, The Shadow Keeper and The Night Spinner follow Moll, Sid, Alfie and wildcat Gryff’s quest to find the Amulets of Truth and destroy the Shadowmasks’ dark magic.
- Date: Friday, 19 May
- Time: 10:00AM
- Venue: Axis Ballymun
- Price: Free
The How To Get Published Day
Get the inside track on how publishing works and what you need to do to make your submission a success with five of London’s top literary agents: Simon Trewin of WME; Polly Nolan of The Greenhouse Literary Agency; Sallyanne Sweeney from Mulcahy Associates; James Wills from Watson Little Ltd, and Millie Hoskins of United Agents. Find out what’s hot and what’s not in today’s publishing industry, what you need to do to make your work stand out and discover the most commonly made mistakes and how to avoid them!
- Date:Saturday, 20 May
- Time:9:30AM
- Venue:Smock Alley Theatre
- Price:€50
Ed Vere & Grumpy Frog
Come and meet Grumpy Frog and you’ll see that he’s not really grumpy at all! He’s green and loves to hop. But more than anything, he loves to win. So what happens when he doesn’t win or, horror of horrors, meets a Pink Rabbit? Uh oh!
- Date:Saturday, 20 May
- Time:11:00AM
- Venue:Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane
- Price:€5
GCN Town Hall Talk: Queer Representations in Irish Writing
Journalist and writer Brian Finnegan is joined by a panel of Irish writers, including John Boyne and Mary Dorcey, for a special edition of GCN’s Town Hall Talks. Using as a starting point the writing of ‘Tom Lennon’, who in the 1990s published the novels Crazy Love and When Love Comes To Town under a pseudonym for fear of losing his job, the panel will explore and celebrate the increasingly bold and diverse representations of queer people and culture in Irish writing.
- Date: Saturday, 20 May
- Time: 2:00PM
- Venue: Belvedere House
- Price: €10 / €8
Writing Nigeria Chibundu Onuzo & Noo Saro-Wiwa
How do you capture a city, a country, in a book? Welcome To Lagos is a powerful and provocative portrait of contemporary Nigeria from the youngest woman ever to sign with Faber & Faber.
- Date: Saturday, 20 May
- Time: 2:00PM
- Venue: The Complex
- Price: €10 / €8
Twit Twoo School with Lydia Monks
School on a Saturday? Yes please, if it’s Twit Twoo School! Join Mouse, Mole, Owl, Frog, Rabbit and teacher Miss Hoot at treetop school. But it’s poor Mouse’s first day, and she’s nervous. In this fun, interactive story and illustration event, Mouse discovers school isn’t so bad after all… with a little help from her new friends and lots of Lydia’s special glittery characters! Lydia’s books include Aaarrggh Spider! and I Wish I Were a Dog, and the award-winning best-seller What the Ladybird Heard, which was written by Julia Donaldson.
- Date:Saturday, 20 May
- Time:2:30PM
- Venue:Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane
- Price:€5
An Evening with an Immigrant
Where do you call home? Internationally touring poet, playwright, performer, graphic artist and designer Inua Ellams asks just that in An Evening With An Immigrant. Told through poetry, story and anecdote, this funny, moving and often fantastical story includes his escape from fundamentalist Islam, directing an arts festival at Firhouse Community College, performing solo shows at the National Theatre, and having a drink with the Queen of England. Join our artist in residence for this resonant story about the times we live in.
- Date: Saturday, 20 May
- Time: 8:00PM
- Venue: The Complex
- Price: €10 / €8
Borderlands: Garrett Carr & Patrick McCabe
In The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland’s Border mapmaker and writer Garrett Carr travelled the border’s invisible lines on foot and by canoe. Joining him is Pat McCabe, award-winning author of The Butcher Boy and Breakfast On Pluto, and Monaghan native whose affectionately termed ‘Bog Gothic’ transformed the depiction of the small Irish town.
- Date: Saturday, 20 May
- Time: 4:00PM
- Venue: The Complex
- Price: €10 / €8
Why Write? Susie Orbach
We’re delighted to welcome renowned writer, psychotherapist and feminist thinker Susie Orbach to explore the all-important question — why write? — and to offer a different spin on the standard literary format. Susie will be in discussion with authors including novelist and playwright, Gillian Slovo and Danielle Mclaughlin, author of Dinosaurs On Other Planets, about the issues and challenges they face with their writing, through the form of a psychoanalytic conversation. Join us to explore the mind of the writer, and how it shapes their craft.
- Date:Saturday, 20 May
- Time:7:00PM
- Venue:Smock Alley Theatre
- Price:€10 / €8
Neil + 1
Your chance to be the star of the show! This unique and completely improvised show stars Improv Fest Ireland founder Neil Curran and a random audience member. No tricks, no gimmicks — it’s all made up then and there. Often very funny and always moving, Neil+1 takes improv to a whole new level!
- Date:Saturday, 20 May
- Time:9:00PM
- Venue:Smock Alley Theatre
- Price:€8 / €5
What Happens Next: The Future Of ILF Dublin
From the early years of the Dublin Writers Festival to the international, wide-ranging programme of ILFDublin, we’re proud to have got the city talking, listening and debating over the last two decades! In shaping a festival for Dublin, for its citizens and visitors alike, what should the next 20 years hold? What would you like to experience, and how would you like to be involved? Martin Colthorpe, Programme Director of ILFDublin is joined by writers and fellow programmers for this open discussion — come and join us to make your contribution to our next chapter!
- Date: Sunday, 21 May
- Time: 12:00PM
- Venue: Smock Alley Theatre
- Price: Free, booking required
Dusan Sarotar
Is it a novel, meditation or travelogue? And should literature defy descriptions? Slovenian writer, critic, editor, screenwriter and photographer Dušan Šarotar’s intriguing new book Panorama opens in Galway. The narrator (could it be Dušan Šarotar?) has a local guide Gjini, an Albanian emigrant who rails against Ireland: ‘for foreigners, this is a cursed country’. From Galway to Bosnia via Brussels and Ghent… Guardian critic Nicholas Lezard believes that in Panorama ‘the condition of exile is the only place to achieve peace or perspective’. The event is chaired by critic Eileen Battersby, author of the novel Teethmarks on My Tongue.
- Date: Sunday, 21 May
- Time: 2:00PM
- Venue: Smock Alley Theatre
- Price: €10 / €8
Reporting from the Middle East: Patrick Cockburn & Mary Fitzgerald
The man described by Seymour Hersh as ‘the best Western journalist at work in Iraq today,’ Patrick Cockburn discusses the current situation of Middle East geopolitics with Mary Fitzgerald, award-winning foreign affairs correspondent with the Irish Independent. In 2011 she arrived in Benghazi days after anti-Gaddafi protests erupted, and spent months reporting on the uprising that followed. In 2014 Patrick Cockburn forecast the rise of Isis, and with a new USA administration ‘loaded with crackpots, fanatics and amateurs,’ he asks what are the chances of President Trump becoming the next victim of the permanent state of crisis in the wider Middle East?
- Date: Monday, 22 May
- Time: 8:00PM
- Venue: Smock Alley Theatre
- Price: €12 / €10
Tom Angleberger
Best-selling American writer and illustrator Tom Angleberger always brings plenty of excitement to his captivating tales of fantastical adventures. Based on Star Wars and the Marvel series, his books are perfect for children who love highly illustrated novels and laugh-out-loud comics! Don’t underestimate the Force…
- Date:Monday, 22 May
- Time:11:00AM
- Venue:Holy Child NS
- Price: Free
Poetry Ireland Introductions Series
Poetry Ireland offers exciting opportunities for talented, emerging poets to showcase their work. Established by poet Theo Dorgan in 1989, some of the many acclaimed poets who have come through the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series include Enda Wyley, Kerry Hardie, Alan Jude Moore, Pat Boran, Caoilinn Hughes, and Kerrie O’Brien.
- Date: Monday, 22 May
- Time: 7:00PM
- Venue: Poetry Ireland
- Price: €8 / €5
Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Awards
Hurray! We’re delighted to host this year’s Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Awards ceremony. Now in their 27th year, the CBI Book of the Year Awards celebrate writing and illustration excellence in books for children and young people by Irish authors and illustrators.
- Date: Tuesday, 23 May
- Time: 12:00PM
- Venue: Smock Alley Theatre
- Price: Free
Frazzled: Ruby Wax
Sassy and smart U.S.-born comedy-actor-writer Ruby Wax brings her new five star one-woman show to the ILFDublin stage! Based on her number one best seller, A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, which was the follow-up to Sane New World. She’s been honoured with the title of poster girl for mental illness; once crazy, now less so, she gives a tour of the mind – how to use it, not lose it. Sure to be a great show, Frazzled includes a Q&A with the audience, and Ruby Wax will also sign books at this event.
- Date: Wednesday, 24 May
- Time: 8:00PM
- Venue: O’Reilly Theatre
- Price: €25 / €22.50
Headstuff Lectures
Billed as ‘talks about stuff you didn’t think you’d care about’, in its HeadStuff Lectures series award-winning arts and culture website HeadStuff invites guest speakers to make a ten-minute presentation on any subject of their choosing. Join Will Self, Pat McCabe, Eithne Shorthall, Claire Hennessy and their host Gearoid Farrelly for some literary HeadStuff!
- Date: Wednesday, 24 May
- Time: 8:00PM
- Venue: Smock Alley Theatre
- Price: €12 / €10
Herstory Salon: Ireland’s Lost Muses
Herstory, which tells the lost life-stories of historical, contemporary and mythological women, celebrates its first birthday with a unique event! What makes a ‘muse’? Join speakers, including historian Dr Mary McAuliffe and author of Wilde’s Women Eleanor Fitzsimons, to explore the multi-faceted lives of the women who inspired Yeats, Wilde and Joyce.
- Date: Thursday, 25 May
- Time: 6:00PM
- Venue: Smock Alley Theatre
- Price: €10 / €8
Korea Focus: Han Yujoo
Han Yujoo is one of the leading voices in the new wave of South Korean writing. Her new novel, translated into English as The Impossible Fairy Tale, tells the chilling story of two schoolgirls: spoilt, attention-seeking Mia and the blank, anonymous Child. In a world in which adults have no apparent power, the children in the girls’ school create a devastatingly cruel and crushing society. Also lauded as a translator, her translations into Korean include Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table and Geoff Dyer’s But Beautiful and The Ongoing Moment.
- Date: Saturday, 27 May
- Time: 12:00PM
- Venue: Smock Alley Theatre
- Price: Free
For more information check out: http://ilfdublin.com/
