DBF Team Festival Highlights
Published 10/11/2021
We asked the DBF Team what events they were most excited about on the DBF2021 Programme…
Julianne Siron is the Dublin Book Festival Director and this will be her 12th Festival! Read on to find out what her top picks of are.
Dublin City Libraries Readers’ Morning
10am, Saturday 13th November, Live Audience Event & LiveStream
I love the Dublin City Libraries Readers’ morning, it is always buzzing with book lovers and a diverse panel of authors making it such an interesting and fun morning. I look forward to it every year, it’s always one of my favourites!
I am particularly excited to hear Sarah Winman speak about her novel Still Life. I read Sarah’s book at a time when I needed to escape our reality of lockdown. It whisked me out of Ireland, into another time and place where I spent many happy hours soaking up the beautiful storytelling. Rosaleen McDonagh’s book Unsettled really moved me and I believe her story is a very important and powerful one that needs to be told.
Sticking To The Facts with Luke O’Neill & Mark Henry
5pm, Sat 13th November, Live Audience Event & LiveStream
From the first time we had Luke O’Neill at the festival he had me hooked. His no-nonsense approach to science opens it up to everyone and his passion brings science alive. I am really looking forward to hearing his take on the past year. In conversation with the brilliant Aoife Barry, they will also be chatting about Mark Henry’s new book is filled with unique and interesting facts that I think there will be fantastic insights not only into the past, but the future.
Spirit of the River with Declan Murphy
2pm, Sunday 14th November, Live Audience Event
I live close to the area Declan writes about in his book Spirit of the River and during the time I was reading it, I spotted a kingfisher down at the river near my house. His book opened my eyes even more to what goes on around us and I felt like everything was put on pause every time I picked up his book and continued on his beautiful journey.
An Post Irish Book Awards Shortlist Panel: John Boyne, Sarah Gilmartin, Una Mannion and Kevin Power
4.30pm, Sunday 14th November, Live Audience Event
The An Post Irish Book Awards is always such a great event and several years ago we began having some of the shortlisted authors at DBF. It made sense to hear from the shortlist a few weeks before the awards, their excitement is always contagious. This panel event is always fun and shines a light on the brilliant authors who have been shortlisted for their hard work.
Play it Forward
2pm, Sunday 14th November, Live Audience & LiveStream
I think the Play if Forward Fellowship is incredibly important. The fellowships aim to nurture and amplify the talents of writers whose voices and stories have traditionally been underrepresented in Irish literature and publishing. DBF is honoured to welcome new voices and we believe every voice should be heard. We will be working on a similar initiative in collaboration with other arts organisations in 2022. I am very excited to hear the new voices at the Play it Forward event on Sunday.