The Festival So Far…

Dublin Book Festival 2020 kicked off last week with a bang and we have had a jam-packed weekend since then! We’re here to give you the low-down on the festival so far and how you can catch up on anything you might have missed.

On Thursday night we wrapped up our Autumn Series with Professor Luke O’Neill and his event which was filmed in the fitting surroundings of The Science Gallery Dublin. He spoke of his new book Never Mind The B#ll*cks Here’s The Science and shared his wisdom with us.

On Friday evening, our opening event in partnership with RTE Arena featured Christine Dwyer Hickey, Roddy Doyle and Kevin Barry in conversation with Seán Rocks. It was a fantastic way to launch the festival and enjoy conversation from some of the biggest names in Irish literature and music from Uly. Following this, we were joined by Literary editor for the Sunday Independent, Madeleine Keane as she interviewed An Post Book Awards Winners Donal Ryan, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Neven Maguire. A Friday night full of literary treasures!

Saturday was no different and we started things off with our Dublin City Libraries Readers’ Day with Marian Keyes and Róisín Ingle. Marian and Róisín discussed the release of Grown Ups, life in the public eye, and writing another bestseller. Mike Chinoy in conversation with Donncha O’Connell in partnership with Lilliput Press was an invigorating event discussing the life and work of human rights lawyer and activist, Kevin Boyle, developments in Northern Ireland, and the experience of 2020 from the point of view of street politics in Hong Kong and the US. Later in the afternoon, we had our second Dublin City Libraries Readers’ Day: Ireland’s Emerging Writers with Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Elaine Feeney, Patrick Freyne and Alice Lyons in conversation with Niall MacMonagle. Finally, to finish off a fantastic day, we had Why the moon travels with Oein DeBhairduin and Michael Collins, an enlightening event that we were so glad to have in our programme!

No rest for the wicked last Sunday! We began the day with Crowdfunding the Revolution: The Dáil Loan and the Battle for Irish Independence with Patrick O’Sullivan Greene in conversation with Ronan McGreevy. Later, we teamed up with The Murder One Festival for an event with author Louise O’Neill and journalist Dil Wickremasinghe. We were so glad to see so many attendees from around the world at this one! Finally, to end an amazing weekend, we celebrated 10 years of Doire Press with Linda McKenna, Aoife Reilly, Dimitra Xidous, Rosemary Jenkinson and John O’Donnell.

Of course, we didn’t forget our younger book lovers this weekend either and had a blast with events such as The Dead Zoo with Peter Donnelly, Listen Now Again: Notebook Making Workshop with The National Library of Ireland and The Great Irish Farm Book with Darragh McCullough and Sally Caulwell to name but a few!

Kicking yourself for missing one of these amazing events? Don’t worry, we have you covered! We have a dedicated section of our website for events available to playback which you can view here. 

This week, we have some special events in store for you! Some highlights are The Skin Nerd: Jennifer Rock in conversation with Nadine Reid this Monday at 7pm where skincare guru Jennifer will share some top tips about skincare from The Skin Nerd, and will take part in a short Q&A session via Instagram Live Chat. On Saturday, we will be joined by bestselling author and beloved Irish comedian Maeve Higgins as she chats to Dil Wickremasinghe about her new collection of essays Maeve in America. And closing the festival is literary legend Jack Harte and the launch of his new book Two Plays.

And of course, many more events!

To make sure you don’t miss another event, check out our main programme here.