Main Programme

Join author Carlo Gébler as he explores what sense is one to make of the death of another? Adopt the stoic position, endure and learn? Accept death, whatever else it is, as educational? It often seems that’s what the culture would like us to do but in No One Tells You, the Last Years of […]

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Join award-winning poet David McLoghlin for a unique generative course in how to navigate feelings and sentimentality in our poetry. The key in poetry is to infuse work with the right balance of sentiment so that it does not veer into sentimentality. Often, we either have too much feeling in our rough drafts, or not […]

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Join author and historian Pat Liddy, or one of his expert guides, for a walking tour of the neighbourhood around the Festival Hub, taking in many key landmarks associated with a wide range of our famous historic writers and the early development of writing in Ireland. Starting outside the gates of the National Gallery on […]

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Drumcondra’s fascinating past will be revealed during this walking tour led by Ruth McManus, author of the Drumcondra volume of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas suburbs series (Royal Irish Academy). The area’s evolving landscape and its changing relationship with the city of Dublin will be explored, from monastic farmland to elite rural retreat and ultimate incorporation […]

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Calling all children’s writers and illustrators! If you would like to talk about your own work for young audiences with fellow children’s writers and illustrators, swap experiences and ideas, or simply have a social coffee with other Irish based creatives, we’d love you to join us! The aim of Discover Irish Children’s Books is to […]

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Introductions | Céadlínte is a Poetry Ireland showcase of 15 of the most exciting new poets writing in English and Irish on the island of Ireland today. The poets were selected by Victoria Kennefick and Aifric MacAodha. We’ll have a musical guest along on the night. Introductions | Is sárthaispeántas d’Eigse Eireann é “Céadlínte” de […]

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Twenty years of Irish publishing. Twenty years of imprints, magazines, and independent presses reshaping what gets written, printed, and read. To mark two decades of the Dublin Book Festival, we’re bringing together a panel of professionals who’ve helped build that story, and asking them what comes next. Join Dr. Jonathan C. Creasy (UCD Mary Lavin […]

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Exploring themes from first love, grief and trauma to family bonds and deep friendships, join us for an evening around two captivating debut novels. In Ruth McKee’s Wild Iris (Dedalus Press) the past haunts the present in this witty, unflinching portrait of a woman at a devastating crossroads. Juliano Zaffino’s The Steps (Tramp Press) blends […]

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Join the Royal Irish Academy for a screening of the Emmy-nominated documentary The Librarians, including a short discussion with director Kim A. Snyder. As book bans and censorship challenges grow across the United States, the film follows librarians on the front lines of the fight for intellectual freedom. ‘Enraging, uplifting, and timely, The Librarians is […]

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Three writers, Sara Baume, Gustav Parker Hibbett, and Ralf Webb – who write across forms of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art writing, and beyond – discuss their writing practices with Tolka, a Dublin-based literary magazine that publishes ‘formally promiscuous’ non-fiction. These writers will explore how easy or difficult it is to jump between different mediums, their […]

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Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann and The New Hibernia Review are delighted to present The Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award Reading at Dublin Book Festival. Expect readings from this year’s Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Awardee among other leading Irish poets. The Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry was established at the University of St. Thomas by the Center for Irish […]

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What makes something quintessentially Irish? And what do the words we use, the stories we tell and the cultural moments we remember reveal about us? Join Colm O’Regan and Páraic Kerrigan for a warm, witty and wonderfully Irish conversation inspired by their new books. In Tipping Away (Gill Books), Colm turns his attention to Hiberno-English, exploring […]

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