Benjamín Labatut in conversation with Rick O’Shea

Sometimes the greatest discoveries bring the greatest destruction

Join Dublin Book Festival for an evening with Chilean author Benjamín Labatut as he discusses his novel, which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2021, with broadcaster and national literary connoisseur Rick O’Shea.

Described by Philip Pullman as ‘a monstrous and brilliant book’, When We Cease to Understand the World is a fascinating and revelatory insight into how the world’s greatest minds can wreak the greatest havoc. Thrusting us into the troubled lives of such scientific luminaries as Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger, this book explores the sometimes blurred lines between genius and madness; how some of science’s greatest discoveries revolutionise our world for the better, while others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. Merging fact and fiction to great effect, Labatut shines a bright and powerful light on some of the most brilliant minds in this history of science and mathematics.

Vanda Symon, Awais Khan and Lilja Sigurðardóttir in conversation with Sam Blake

Join Vanda Symon, Awais Khan and Lilja Sigurðardóttir in conversation with Sam Blake for an evening of crime! Crime writers from four UNESCO Cities of Literature: Dublin, Lahore, Dunedin and Reykjavík meet to discuss the influence their home cities have had on their writing, how crime fiction crosses geographical divides and what prompted them to start a life of crime.

In partnership with Gay Community News

Join Dublin Book Festival for an evening of delving into Queer Love: An Anthlogy of Irish Fiction (Munster Literature). The anthology was conceived as an attempt to redress the lack of acknowledgement of LGBTQIA+ community and representation in Irish literary anthologies. At this online event, editor of the collection Paul McVeigh is joined by two of its contributors, Emma Donoghue and Neil Hegarty to discuss their contributions to the anthology, the importance of producing this anthology, and developing LGBTQIA+ presence and representation in the Irish literary community.

Please join columnist, features writer, and co-host of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast, Róisín Ingle, in conversation with authors Naoise Dolan, Susannah Dickey, and Hilary Fannin whose debut novels Exciting Times (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Tennis Lessons (Doubleday) and The Weight of Love (Doubleday Ireland) were released earlier this year to rave reviews. With their distinctively Irish voices, Naoise and Susannah deliver incisive and contemporary commentary on the awkward coming-of-age years and what it means to be young and female today, while Hilary tackles a turbulent marriage and the various ways in which we can love and be loved. These exciting debut novelists will talk about all of this and more in what promises to be a compelling conversation with Róisín.

Join Belfast Book Festival Patron, Lucy Caldwell in conversation with two stellar short story writers, Lucy Sweeney Byrne and Yan Ge.

Having recently been shortlisted for the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize Lucy’s debut short story collection Paris Syndrome (2019), explores travelling the world alone as a young woman. After writing and publishing in Chinese for many years, Yan Ge began writing in English in 2016 and was featured in Being Various: New Irish Short Stories.

Join these three brilliant writers in a conversation about their work, and a celebration of the short story.

Tune in to this podcast, hosted by PR Director and co-founder at Unique Media, Breda Brown, for a discussion between best-selling historical fiction writer Marita Conlon-McKenna and debut historical fiction writer Marianne Lee. Marita Conlon-McKenna became a household name after the exceptional success of her Children of the Famine trilogy, beginning with Under the Hawthorn Tree. This year, the writer released The Hungry Road (Penguin), a novel for adult readers set during the Great Irish Famine. In her debut, A Quiet Tide (New Island), Marianne Lee breathes life into the personal story of  Ellen Hutchins, a nineteenth century botanist who lived a rich but  tormented life. Breda Brown will host a conversation between these two  writers of historical fiction on the difficulties of, and reception to,  historical novels.

Marita Conlon-McKenna is one of Ireland’s favourite authors. Her books include the award-winning Under the Hawthorn Tree which is set during Ireland’s great famine. Widely translated and  published, it is now considered an Irish classic. Her other books  include bestsellers The Magdalen and Rebel Sisters. She is a winner of the International Reading Association Award, USA and a former chairperson of Irish PEN.

Marianne Lee grew up in Tullamore, Co. Offaly and now lives in Dublin  with her husband. She has a degree in Visual Communications from the  National College of Art and Design and an MPhil in Creative Writing from  Trinity College Dublin. Marianne works as a designer and copywriter and  has published a selection of poetry as well as self-recorded an album  of music. She sings Bach and paints landscapes. A Quiet Tide is her first novel.

Breda Brown is the presenter of the Inside Books podcast. In each  episode of Inside Books, Breda chats to people associated with the world  of books – including well-known authors, publishers, editors, agents,  critics, booksellers and more.

Interviewees have included local and international authors Rachael  English, Martina Cole, Anthony Horowitz, Pat McCabe, Stephen McGann,  Peter James, Alan Shatter, Jo Spain, Patricia Gibney, Peter Carey,  Dermot Bolger, Mary Kenny, Martina Fitzgerald, Paul Howard, Sarah Webb,  Emily Hourican, Stefanie Preissner and Catherine Fulvio. Industry names  interviewed on Inside Books include Michael McLoughlin (Penguin),  Vanessa Fox O Loughlin (Writing.ie), Declan Meade and Sarah Gilmartin  (Stinging Fly), Lisa Coen and Sarah Davis Goff (Tramp Press), Maria  Dickenson (Dubray Books) and Madeleine Keane (Sunday Independent Books  Editor). Inside Books is available on all audio channels and the twitter  handle is @InsideBooksIRE

A former print and radio journalist, Breda also reviews crime novels  for the Sunday Independent, MCs and moderates events and contributes  regularly to radio and TV programmes. She is also the co-founder of  Unique Media, the communications firm that produces the Inside Books  podcast.

Trumpet is Poetry Ireland’s bite-sized literary pamphlet  packed with reviews, essays, and strong opinions on poetry and the arts.  Its ninth issue themed ‘Fear and Release’ is due for publication in  autumn 2020.

Join its editor, Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan for a wide-ranging conversation, which will delve into the diverse and provocative responses to Trumpet #9’s theme of ‘Fear and Release’. This insightful discussion with Abby Oliveira, Tapasya Narang, and Evgeny Shtorn explores the frisson between these two states within the contexts of  parenthood, activism, immigration and queer identity, while  investigating the role poetry plays in multiple disciplines.

Abby Oliveira is a writer & performer based in the North-West. In  2016 she toured her spoken-word show in Australia (supported by Arts  Council NI), and was a featured writer at Singapore Writer’s Festival  2017.  Her play Legends of the Coven premiered in 2018. She  loves working collaboratively, and has done so with artists  such as  Mark Graham/King Kong Company, Basork, Tinderbox theatre company and  many more.

Tapasya Narang is a PhD student at the School of English, Dublin City  University. Her work explores the connections between Irish and Indian  contemporary poetry with particular focus on ephemeral publications like  small-press literary magazines and chapbooks.

Evgeny Shtorn is a writer, activist, and researcher from St  Petersburg. Due to his involvement in civil society work he was forced  to leave Russia in 2018. In 2019, he was granted international  protection in the Republic of Ireland. He currently works as a Social  and Cultural Diversity Consultant collaborating with different  universities and organisations, and co-facilitates a project with people  seeking asylum ‘Something From There’ in the National Gallery of  Ireland. Evgeny’s writing has been published in academic journals,  anthologies and new media outlets in Russia, Spain, Germany, and  Ireland. As an activist, he has been involved in human rights and LGBT  advocacy for almost two decades. He is a co-founder of Queer Diaspora  Ireland, an initative that supports LGBT people in direct provision. In  2020, Shtorn was awarded the GALAs Person of the Year by the National  LGBT Federation of Ireland (NXF).

Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan is a Dublin-based arts manager, writer, and  performer from India. She has been published in Writing Home: The ‘New  Irish’ Poets, Honest Ulsterman, Banshee, and Poetry Ireland Review.  Chandrika is currently guest editor of Poetry Ireland’s Trumpet, and book reviewer for Inis magazine. She has recently been shortlisted for the Fingal Poetry Prize.

View the full Dublin Book Festival programme at dublinbookfestival.com