All Ages
Beginning in the Children’s Area,
Smock Alley Theatre
Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th, 12.00pm – 4.00 pm • Free entry
Follow our intriguing clues around Temple Bar to explore many fun and cultural sights, and perhaps even discover a prize at the end!
No booking required, simply turn up on the day at anytime and go to the Children’s Area.
Meeting at front steps, Smock Alley Theatre
Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th, 11.00am – 1.00pm • €10
As a tie in to our history event, Lorcan Collins (Author of 16 Lives: James Connolly and co-author of The Easter Rising) will take you to the sites of the Rebellion in Dublin to give you an understanding of this historic occasion which precipitated the formation of the Irish Republic.
Places limited. To book, telephone Lorcan on 086 85 83 847
Meeting at front steps, Smock Alley Theatre
Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th, 11:00am and 2:00pm
€8 /€6 concessions, children under 14 free
Join Pat Liddy on a fascinating walk in the ancient area around the Smock Alley Theatre – a historic centre for publishing houses, newspapers, monasteries, cathedrals and a stomping ground for famous writers drawn here by the taverns and civic occasions.
Arrive Early to Avoid Disappointment or contact Pat to book in advance.
Ages 4-8 years
Gutter Bookshop, Temple Bar
Sunday 18th, 11.00am – 11.50am • Free entry – limited seats
Join us for a storytelling session with Magical Mozart authors Noel and Luz Donegan who will be assisted by Aoife O’Reilly from the Mullingar School of Music. After the story, you’ll have the chance to try out the musical instruments for yourself! Will your ears go pop pop like the Hot-Headed Bassoon?
No booking required, but seats are limited so we advise you to arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 12.00pm – 12.50pm • Free entry
What’s the object for your times? Join Fintan O’Toole, author and literary editor of The Irish Times, and guests to discuss the 10 objects on exhibition at the National Museum at Collins Barracks and vote for your preferred object. This last object chosen will be added to the other 99, which have appeared weekly in The Irish Times, and will feature in a book on the subject, to be published by the Royal Irish Academy in March 2013.
Children’s Area, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 12.00pm – 12:50pm • Free entry
Derry author and journalist Felicity McCall reads from her novel Large Mammals, Stick Insects and Other Social Misfits. Take a glimpse inside the lives of fifteen-year-old Aimée and her co-best friends Bree and Beks as they prepare for Aimée’s school exchange partner to arrive with her totally fanciable brother. Brilliantly funny stuff.
No booking required, but seats are limited so we advise you to arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Ages 5-8 years
Classroom, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 12.00pm – 12.50pm • Free entry
This workshop combines simple bookbinding techniques with storytelling. Write and draw along with the story and then learn how to bind the story into a book.
There may be cancellations on the day so show feel free to ask just in case!
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 1.00pm – 1.50pm • Free entry
Patrick Sutton, director of Smock Alley Theatre and The Gaiety School of Acting, leads two prominent figures in Irish theatre in a conversation about their lives and experiences in theatre throughout the years. Barry Cassin has had a wide-ranging acting career and has also directed the first productions of John B. Keane’s The Field, Big Maggie, The Year of the Hiker and The Matchmaker. He has appeared regularly in films including Neil Jordan’s forthcoming Byzantium. Christopher Fitz-Simon has worked with rté; the Lyric Theatre, Belfast; the Irish Theatre Company and the National Theatre Society. His published work includes The Abbey Theatre: the first hundred years and his most recent book, Buffoonery and Easy Sentiment, which considers drama of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Launch Area, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 1.00pm – 1.50pm • Free entry
Domestic Life in Ireland contains twelve essays, all dealing with domestic life across the island of Ireland. Ruth McManus, Conor Lucey and Rory Sherlock will deliver micro-presentations on the suburbanisation of Ireland, Georgian interior décor and how Irish people used tower-houses as living spaces. This is a limited edition book and the authors will sign copies on the day.
No booking required, but seats are limited and we recommend you arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Ages 5-10 years
Two workshops, 25 minutes each
Classroom, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 1.15pm – 2.00pm • Free entry
Art meets marine biology when ‘Black John the Bogus Pirate’ teaches students of all ages how to draw cartoons. Presented by author and cartoonist John Joyce, these workshops require no previous knowledge of drawing.
There may be cancellations on the day so feel free to ask just in case!
Ages 7+ years
Children’s Area, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 2.00pm – 2.45pm • Free entry
Love a good scare? Want to hear some really spooooooooky stories? Then come along to a reading from two new books in The Nightmare Club: Frankenkids and The Wolfling’s Bite, read by David Maybury, blogger, author, editor and Oddbally nose-picking champion 2012; and Oisín McGann, illustrator and author of the Mad Grandad and Forbidden Files series.
No booking required, but seats are limited so we advise you to arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Festival Bookshop, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 2.00pm – 2.20pm • Free entry
According to John Joyce’s Fire & Ice, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis the fate of the world rested not in the hands of Kennedy or Khrushchev, but in the minds of two hunted women. This new novel from the award-winning author of Virtually Maria tells the story of a rogue Russian telepathy experiment that almost triggered World War iii by sending a Soviet nuclear submarine to attack the American blockade around Cuba with an atomic-tipped torpedo.
No booking required, but seats are limited and we recommend you arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 2.00pm – 2.50pm • Free entry
Jimmy Magee, one of Ireland’s best-loved and most respected sports commentators, talks to Darragh Maloney, rté commentator and presenter, about fulfilling his dream to work in radio and his varied and much-travelled life, portrayed in his memoir, Memory Man. Having covered 11 Olympic Games, 12 fifa World Cups, 29 European Cup finals, 11 athletics world championships, 30 world title fights and 10 Tours de France, Jimmy Magee is truly an institution in Irish broadcasting life.
Launch Area, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 3.00pm – 3.30pm • Free entry
From a Kenyan fishing village to a 9,000-seat stadium in Washington dc, Tom Swift’s brand of site-specific playwriting has always taken an unconventional route. He talks about the adventures and mishaps of making theatre in unusual places, and is accompanied by actors who will read from his collection – Tom Swift, Selected Plays.
No booking required, but seats are limited and we recommend you arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 3.00pm – 3.50pm • Free entry
Robert Dunbar, commentator on children’s books and reading, leads Sheena Wilkinson, winner of two Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Awards and winner of a White Raven Award, Alan Early, author of the acclaimed Arthur Quinn series and Siobhán Parkinson, well-known author and Ireland’s first Laureate for Children’s Literature, in a discussion about writing for young adults.
All Ages
Launch Area, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 3.30pm – 4.20pm • Free entry
Join Ireland’s favourite traditional storyteller as he shares some of his tales of heroes, villains and daring-do.
No booking required, but seats are limited so we advise you to arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 4.00pm – 4.50pm • Free entry
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is the author of over eleven books. She has been the recipient of many awards, including the Stewart Parker Award for Drama and several Oireachtas Awards for Irish-language fiction. Mary Costello’s stories have been anthologised and published in New Irish Writing and in The Stinging Fly. The China Factory, her first book of stories, was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award. Mother America is Nuala Ní Chonchúir’s fourth short story collection. Ní Chonchúir has won rté radio’s Francis MacManus Award, the Dublin Review of Books Flash Fiction Prize, the Cúirt New Writing Prize, the inaugural Jonathan Swift Award and the Cecil Day Lewis Award. Eithne Shortall is the chief arts writer for the Sunday Times Ireland. She specialises in literature, theatre, film and writes a fortnightly column on arts and heritage. She is also an occasional book reviewer for rté Radio 1’s Arena.
Aifric Mac Aodha, Caitríona Ní Chléirchín and Doireann Ní Ghríofa. Introduced by Liam Carson
Siobhán McKenna and Jamie O’Connell Readings introduced by Máire Moriarty
Launch Area, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 4.30pm – 5.30pm • Free entry
Gather around to hear some of Ireland’s new inspiring voices as they read in both English and Irish.
Bailígí timpeall chun éisteacht le cuid de na guthanna nua spreagúla sa Ghaeilge. Beidh sleachta as Béarla agus as Gaeilge.
No booking required, but seats are limited so we advise you to arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 5.00pm – 6.45pm • Free entry
What does it mean to have an established writer endorse your work? Dublin Writers Festival invites John Boyne, Siobhán Parkinson and Dermot Bolger to nominate emerging writers to share the stage and showcase their work. Donal Ryan’s recent debut novel The Spinning Heart was chosen as the flagship release for Doubleday Ireland, in a co-publishing venture with Lilliput Press. ‘I can’t imagine a more original, more perceptive or more passionate work than this.’ (John Boyne). Colm Keegan’s debut collection Don’t Go There was published last year by Salmon Poetry. ‘The poetry … brims with frenetic energy and a hard-earned street-wise lyricism, bereft of false notes or unearned experience.’ (Dermot Bolger). Deirdre Sullivan’s debut novel Prim Improper, published by Little Island, was shortlisted for the Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Award (2011). ‘A writer with a sparkling talent … her first novel for young teens is even more hilarious and touching than I could possibly have imagined’ (Siobhán Parkinson).
History Ireland Hedge School @ Dublin Book Festival
Launch Area, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 6.00pm – 7.30pm • Free entry
The recent successful campaign for pardons for the thousands who deserted the Irish Army to join the British Army during World War II and who were subsequently blacklisted on their return opened up a broader discussion on the morality of the Irish state’s wartime neutrality. Tommy Graham, editor of History Ireland magazine and founder of The Hedge School leads the discussion with Dr Michael Kennedy, Executive Editor of the Royal Irish Academy’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series. Paul Bew is Professor of Irish Politics at Queen’s University Belfast and author of numerous books on Irish history and politics, including most recently Ireland: the politics of enmity, 1789-2006. Bernard Kelly is author of Returning Home: Irish Ex-Servicemen after the Second World War.
No booking required, but seats are limited and we recommend you arrive 15 minutes before the start time.
Main Theatre, Smock Alley Theatre
Sunday 18th, 8.00pm – 9.30pm • €10/€8 concession
Bringing the Dublin Book Festival to a close, we have two of Ireland’s finest short story authors, Kevin Barry and Mike McCormack in conversation with Sean Rocks, presenter of rté Radio 1’s Arena.Kevin Barry is the author of the story collections Dark Lies The Island and There Are Little Kingdoms and the novel City Of Bohane. He has won the European Union Prize for Literature, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and the Sunday Times efg Private Bank Short Story Award. Mike McCormack, has published two novels and won several awards, among them The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His story ‘The Terms’ from his collection of short stories Getting It In The Head was adapted into an award-winning short film. Mike’s new collection of short stories, Forensic Songs, was published earlier this year.
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