Dublin Writers Festival 2009 - 2nd to 7th June

Congratulations to Kristi Thompson, Suzanne and MK Andrews. Each of you has won a pair of tickets to The Frost is All Over at the Project Arts Centre on June 6th at 9pm. Please email dwfblog@gmail.com with your full name and I´ll arrange for you and a guest to be put on the guest list. It looks set to be a fabulous evening.

My favourite response was Kristi´s, as it reflects the very soul of literary events such as Dublin Writers Festival:

Kristi Thompson said...

"I would like to win tickets because Dublin's amazing literary culture is the reason that this ex-pat is thrilled to be living here! Ireland's literary history and ongoing writing community is a treasure."

Tickets for other events will be up for grabs tomorrow.

Labels: competition, the frost is all over

It’s impossible to pass up a sunny day and forecasts predict it will be beautiful all weekend. But if you want to whet your appetite for Monday’s events while enjoying the sunshine – take a wander around St Stephen’s Green and soak up Dublin’s literary heritage while catching some rays.

On the south side of the park, just inside the gate, greet James Joyce and enjoy a quote from A Portrait of the Artist. Pass Clanwilliam house, where the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once taught. Wander round the Yeats memorial garden and look out for Henry Moore’s brooding statue of Yeats entitled Knife Edge. For lovers of the ballad Dark Rosaleen, the Bronze bust of James Clarence Mangan can be found in the central circle of the park. Poet Thomas Kettle can be found on the east side of the central circle.

Enjoy the stroll and let me know if I´ve missed anything.

Labels: literary walk, st stephens green

Festival Director Jack Gillgan mentioned how excited he was about The Frost is All Over event at the Project Arts Centre on June 6th at 9pm. Tickets are selling fast for the Dublin Writers Festival, but I have 4 pairs of tickets to give away.

All you need to do to be in with a chance is comment on this post, stating why you should win. I’ll award a pair of tickets to the best four replies on Sunday 31st May.

Check back on Sunday to see whether you’ve won. I’ll also give details on how to claim your tickets.

Labels: dublin writers festival, project arts centre, the frost is all over

Behind every event is a busy team working hard to make it happen. Dublin Writers Festival Director Jack Gilligan kindly took time out to answer my questions on why he enjoys the festival, the significance it has in 2009 and what will make it a success…

Tell us a little about yourself and your role as Director.

I suppose I should say that my full-time job is that of Dublin City Arts Officer with Dublin City Council. The Dublin Writers Festival is an initiative of the City Council with generous support from The Arts Council. The festival has a wonderful Programme Director in Liam Browne and we have a very small, but marvellous, support team from the Arts Office. Nobody is working full-time on the festival but rather is it part of our overall work. For my part, as Festival Director, I have ultimate responsibility for the event and am answerable to my employers, to The Arts Council and especially to the audience.

Why did you want to be part of Dublin Writers Festival?

When I took on the role as Dublin City Arts Officer sixteen years ago, and reviewed arts and cultural activity in the city, it struck me as a serious gap in provision that Dublin did not have a literary festival, although there had been one some years before. After all, we have a wonderful literary heritage and are famous for giving the world some of the greatest writers ever. My belief was that we should not live off past glories but should ensure that Dublin would hold its special place in the literary world and provide a platform for the best Irish and international writers to engage with each other and with the public.

What was the inspiration behind this year's theme The Power of the Word? What significance does it have for Dublin in 2009?

I suppose, in essence, every festival is about the power of the word. This year we wanted to highlight the significance of the written and spoken word and bring a sharper focus to something we can often take for granted. Your question about its significance in 2009 is interesting. I think that literature and the arts in general, while hugely important always, do take on an additional significance in difficult times like we are experiencing right now. That food for the soul is especially needed at this time and can play a huge role in sustaining us through bleak times.

This year's festival has a wonderful variety of events. Are there any that you're particularly excited about?

That's a difficult one for me to answer - there are so many! I'm delighted we are celebrating this special year for Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, with a sell-out event in the National Concert Hall. I am really pleased that we have another of Ireland's favourite poets, Brendan Kennelly, with his brand new collection, Reservoir Voices, at The Abbey Theatre. Brendan can hold an audience spellbound! Writers such as Sarah Waters, Simon Schama, Melvyn Bragg, Zoe Heller and Colm Toibin are just some of an amazing line-up put together by Liam Browne.

One event, which I believe will be a big hit and one I'm really looking forward to is The Frost is all Over, bringing to the stage the poetry of Dermot Bolger, spoken by actor Eamonn Hunt ( ex Fair City) with Traditional Musicians Tony Mac Mahon and David Power, against a backdrop of archive imagery. This is a different type of event and I think it will be magic!

You would consider the 2009 Dublin Writers Festival a success if...

We have such a fantastic line-up of writers on the Festival programme this year, I’ll consider the event a success if we increase our audiences and get the positive feed-back we’re hoping for. I also hope that the Dublin Writers Festival will take another step towards reaching its potential to become a major international literary event, of which Dublin can be proud.

Labels: dublin writers festival, jack gillgan

Detective fiction remains one of the hottest and most distinctive literary genres. Dublin Writers Festival is delighted to have Val McDermid and Kate Summerscale team up for an afternoon of crime, suspense and thrills at 5pm on Sunday June 7^th at the Abbey Theatre.

Val McDermid is a prolific author, whose career started out in journalism. She achieved success as a crime novelist in 1987 with Report for Murder: The First Lindsay Gordon Mystery. Several of her novels have been turned into hit TV shows, including A Place of Execution and Wire in the Blood which ran for six series on the BBC. Val has received multiple literary awards for crime fiction including the Portico Prize for Fiction (2006 The Grave Tattoo), Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2006 The Torment of Others) and the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel (2004 The Distant Echo).

Award-winning English writer and journalist Kate Summerscale won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Fiction in 2008 for her book based on the famous Constance Case entitled The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House. This novel was named The 2009 Galaxy Book of the Year and described as “absolutely riveting” by Sarah Waters. In line with this year’s festival theme “The Power of the Word”, Kate’s inspiration for her novel came from reading an anthology of Victorian crime. Kate’s biography of power boat racer Betty “Joe” Carstairs entitled The Queen of Whale Cay was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Awards and won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1998. She has also written articles for The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Independent, including an article on the origin of detective writing.

I’m hoping to find out whether Kate and Val’s choice to write crime was impacted in any way by their careers as journalists. I’m also willing a Q&A session so I can ask Kate how she managed to step back from the intensive research and quiz Val on how she feels about her TV adaptations.

Tickets for Val McDermid and Kate Summerscale are on sale now.

Labels: dublin writers festival, kate summerscale, val mcdermid

The first Dublin Writers Festival event arrives in exactly 16 days when Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney will read a selection of his poems on Monday June 2nd at 8pm in the National Concert Hall.

Heaney´s poetry career began in 1965 with the publication of his first book, Eleven Poems. In 1966, his first major volume Death of a Naturalist was published by Faber and Faber (currently celebrating their 80th year in publishing). Since then, he has maintained a prolific international career which includes poetry, drama and translation. His dedication and skill has earned him several prestigious awards.

In 1995, Heaney received the Nobel Prize in Literature. His latest collection District and Circle won the T. S. Eliot Prize. Earlier this year he was awarded both an Honorary Life Membership Award from UCD Law Society and the coveted David Cohen Prize for Literature.

Heaney celebrated his 70th birthday on April 13th 2009, at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, accompanied by more than 400 family members, friends and artists. In his birthday speech, he reflected on his “blessed life” and advised: “We should keep our feet on the ground to signify that nothing is beneath us, but we should also lift up our eyes to say nothing is beyond us”.

During the celebrations, Heaney launched a 15-CD box set of his work. In tribute, RTE broadcast several Heaney at 70 radio shows and the Irish Museum of Modern Art opened an exhibition based on his book collaborations.

Except for the occasional interview, and Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney, Heaney is known for keeping out of the spotlight. His presence at Dublin Writers Festival is truly an honour and promises to be a memorable evening.

For a taste of what’s to come, listen to his readings of The Tollund Man and one of my personal favourites, Digging.

Labels: dublin writers festival, seamus heaney

1. Book early.

It’s the only way to secure seats for the authors you really want to hear. A couple of years ago I almost missed Tony Harrison celebrating his 70th birthday – I only got a ticket because a lady on my writing workshop had a family crisis and I happened to be there, drooling. Missing it would have been a catastrophe, especially since I managed to glean some invaluable advice on writing poetry from him afterwards (I’m secretly hoping that Seamus Heaney will be as generous this year). Festival tickets are on sale now from various booking venues.

2. Take advantage of freebies and discounts

The Dublin Writers Festival kicks off on June 2nd with a free guided Walk and Talk on the north side of the city, led by historian Pat Liddle. You don’t need to book, but be ready to leave The Hugh Lane City Gallery in Parnell Square at 11.30am. All other events offer discounted tickets for students, senior citizens and the unwaged, with discounts ranging from €2 to €5.

3. Get in the mood with Dublin’s literary heritage

Get in the spirit and immerse yourself in Dublin, “a living city of literature” (Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne, Dublin Writers Festival Address). Take literary walks around St Stephens Green or visit the Oscar Wilde statue in Merrion Square park. The Chester Beatty Library is an enchanting (and free) haven for book lovers. If you visit the The Book of Kells in Trinity College, the Old Library is currently housing an exhibition on detective novels entitled "The Body in the Library"which should whet your appetite for our own murder-mystery event. For evening culture, Literary Pub Crawls are a huge hit, and Poetry Ireland offer regular evening events.

4. Know your authors

Indulge yourself by rereading an old favourite novel/poem or stimulate your literary senses with some debut fiction, before listening to the words being brought to life by the writer. I’ll be blogging about each author and providing links to reviews and articles over the next three weeks to help you get a taster. I also recommend you have some questions to hand. Whether you want to know about specific characters, the life of a writer, or what inspired a particular piece or word, there’ll be book signings and Q&A sessions that give you the opportunity to ask that burning question. I met Sarah Waters in 2007 and only thought of a question afterwards. This year I know what I’m asking her.

Labels: dublin writers festival, sarah waters, seamus heaney

Welcome to the Dublin Writers Festival 2009 blog. There’s an impressive line-up of writers preparing to share their creative insight and wisdom, celebrating this year’s theme: “The Power of the Word.”

I thought that “The Power of the Word” was an interesting place to start this blog. It is, after all, the words that are bringing people together - a love of the written word makes events like this possible. The desire to understand the creative process and its impact entices writers to step away from their laptop and address their readers. What could be better than hearing how the words should sound from those who wrote them?

Words can support, harm, beguile, humour, protect, deceive, flirt and betray. Words form the basis of our relationships with loved ones, friends and strangers every day of our lives. We’re asked to accept honesty by taking people “at their word” and in turn, we swear upon our own. We maintain privacy by having “a word in someone’s ear” and create good reputations by “word of mouth”. We experience things which are too exciting/terrible/ghastly for words, and recount tales “word for word” to maintain a true account. In battle and friendship, we’re asked to “give the word” to get the result that we need.

But why is the theme important for the Dublin Writers Festival?
As Colm Tóibín points out, it’s not just about the power of the words on the page; it’s also about their relationship with the audience. Poets and playwrights have a long history of closeness with their audience, whereas authors have not. They’ve been aloof and introverted for centuries, letting their pen do the talking. However, this concept is changing and Irish authors in particular have become more accessible in recent years. It’s altering how people select books and how these books are understood and enjoyed.

This year’s festival offers a rare opportunity to hear novelists bring their work to life. It’s for those who care about books.

Elizabeth Rose Murray will be this year’s official Festival Blogger and is thrilled to be blogging for this event. Elizabeth will be introducing you to the authors, keeping you up to date with festival news and providing details on venues. Elizabeth will also be blogging each event the same day that they run. There will be reviews, quotes, interviews and hopefully some video footage. If you have any ideas or suggestions, post them in the comments sections. We all look forward to seeing you here.