Dublin Book Festival Celebrates Winter in Dublin 2023 with Fáilte Ireland!

Dublin Book Festival is a festival that weaves our love of books into the very heart of Dublin City, so we are delighted to once again be part of the Winter in Dublin campaign supported by Fáilte Ireland, a campaign that runs from November 1st until January 31st 2024, and celebrates Dublin as a vibrant cultural place to come to during the winter months. Dublin Book Festival invites and encourages visitors to experience the best of Dublin in a whole new way. Our literary walking tours, in the company of some of Ireland’s most engaging writers, take visitors through the streets and gardens, and along the waterways, learning about this city through the lens of literature. And, as the darkness descends, this year’s evening venues are transformed into intimate settings, perfect for exploring the latest literary works from some of Ireland’s best authors, both established and emerging, in our new DBF After Dark strand. Hear from authors, and be captivated by the best in poetry and spoken word, as the city’s nightlights and vibrant atmosphere surround you. Today’s round-up shines a light on just some of the ways that #DBF23 visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the world of Irish literature while exploring Dublin.

Our walking tours prove some of our most popular events every year and this year will be no different. Literary walking tours include a walking tour with Chris Morash based on his book Dublin: A Writer’s City, a walk which explores the many layers of stories to be found in the streets of a historically literary city like Dublin. Join a unique walking tour of the historic neighbourhood of Dublin 8 led by Irish poet Julie Morrissy as she explores her book Radical! Women and the Irish Revolution. Temple Bar, one of Ireland’s best known cultural and tourist areas, features in a special walking tour this year led by John Tuomey, architect and now author behind Temple Bar’s big cultural regeneration in the 1990s. Ireland is known for our Storytellers and we are delighted this year to have one of the best, Joe Brennan, sweeping you up on a gripping, storytelling walking tour around the grounds of Dublin Castle in the heart of historic Dublin.

Visitors to #DBF23 will be the first to experience our new after-hours strand, DBF After Dark, which sees a series of events filling the hours after sundown with literary entertainment. Join us at the New Theatre in Temple Bar as Amy Clarkin and Oein DeBhairduin discuss the haunting and unsettling elements in their latest novels. Or be there to see the best of the best Talkatives – poets, rappers and spoken word artists – go head-to-head in a classic poetry slam style competition.

We are thrilled to be partnering with a new venue this year, the Glass Mask Theatre on Dawson Street, based at the Bestseller, a boutique wine cafe by day that hosts new, immersive risk-taking plays by night. We have a number of events taking place here after dark and the cherry on top is doors open an hour early for each event, so you can really make an evening of it, enjoying something from their delicious food and wine menu before the literary entertainment kicks in. Words and Music will be a real evening for creatives as authors and musicians Edel Coffey, Ronan Hession and Megan Nolan explore the expression of creativity through writing and music, with discussion and musical performances on the night (just booked out, waiting list in place). Or why not join us for a special panel discussion featuring authors who have just been shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards, with the final awards ceremony taking place at the end of November. 

Photo by: Barry Cronin

You will also have the chance to see one of Ireland’s best-loved comedians, PJ Gallagher, in a whole new light, as he discusses his new memoir with writer and journalist Aoife Barry, also at the Glass Mask Theatre. Check out our website to see the full programme of events taking place at the Glass Mask Theatre.

Photo by: Ivan Gimenez Costa

Our Festival Hub at The Printworks, Dublin Castle, in the heart of historic Dublin, will see a broad range of events happening over the five days. The Unsettling Supernatural, featuring authors John Connolly, Sarah Davis-Goff and Deirdre Sullivan, will bring some spine-chilling literary entertainment to your Friday night as they discuss the supernatural, the unsettling and the element of horror in their latest novels. And if this event leaves you wanting more literary entertainment, take a short stroll down to Brooks Hotel on Drury Street, a boutique hotel at the heart of one of Dublin’s main shopping and nightlife districts, for our brand new DBF After Dark Festival Club where you will be able to meet and mingle with authors and other festival guests for a casual, drop-in evening of stories, with time in between to enjoy a drink from the Brooks Hotel bar.

There are so many events this year celebrating the vibrant literary city that we live in. Explore our full programme over on our website and we hope that you will visit Dublin, or continue to enjoy exploring the city you live in, with us this November! The Winter in Dublin Campaign continues until January 2024 so, when our festival has wrapped, be sure to head over to VisitDublin to check out the abundance of other great events lined up across Dublin during these winter months.