2 minutes with… Pat Liddy

If you haven’t been on an acclaimed Pat Liddy Walking Tour of Dublin, then you haven’t really experienced Dublin City properly at all, so we are thrilled that Pat Liddy is taking all book lovers on a special tour of the city this year, as part of Dublin Book Festival 2021. Pat’s walking tours specialise in helping you to explore the city like a local, finding out all the little hidden golden nuggets of information that you won’t find elsewhere. This series of tours will focus on the many places around Dublin City associated with famous writers, from the 18th century to now. What better way for a book lover to enjoy the city? In today’s ‘2 minutes with’ we catch up with the man himself to find out more about what he has in store for us.

Full event details here, and Pat is offering a number of time options from Friday 12th through to Monday 15th.

Tell us a little about Pat Liddy tours – what can we expect on your walking tour? 

This tour will reveal many surprising little nuggets about Dublin’s literary history going back several hundred years. The ancient streets around Temple Bar and the former medieval area we will walk on also saw many notable publishers and writers from the past and not only those of Irish stock but also some really famous literary luminaries from abroad. There will be some surprising or quirky tales to recount aa well as copious quotations from the works of these writers.

Dublin, so we’ve heard, is full of literary characters, from writers, publishers and actual characters, who is your favourite? 

Impossible to pick one that stands out from such a crowd of geniuses but one favorite publisher and bookseller of mine was George Faulkner who led a highly productive life in 18th century Dublin. part of his attraction  was that he often walked on very thin ice both politically and professionally. My favorite writer has to be Jonathan Swift who has left so many varied legacies which have continued to enrich his native city.

Do you have a recommended reading list we should peruse before taking one of your tours? 

I guess the obvious one is Joyce’s Ulysses as so much of 1904 is, surprisingly, still there in one form or another or can be easily conjured with a little descriptive help from one of our guides.

As this is a live audience event, spaces will be limited, so get your walking boots ready and book now.