Big names booked for festival

UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage launched the 2019 Red Line Book Festival with a special poetry reading at Rua Red, Tallaght.

The festival, which will run from October 7 – 13 in venues across South County Dublin, will see more than 40 events taking place.

Details of this year’s exciting programme reveal that some of the greats of the literary world, as well as an array of exciting new voices, will be brought together for the first time.

Some of those in the line-up include Irish Laureate for Fiction, Sebastian Barry, Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan, Kevin Barry, Sarah Webb, Alison Spittle, Joseph O’Connor, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Colm O’Regan and Laura Dodsworth.

An initiative of South Dublin Libraries and Arts, the Red Line Book Festival brings local, national and international authors, alongside talks, workshops, theatrical productions and creative writing competitions, to venues across South Dublin County each October.

South Dublin County Council Chief Executive Daniel McLoughlin said: “The Red Line Book Festival is a wonderful opportunity for people of South Dublin to enjoy the very best the literary world has to offer – right here on their own doorstep.

“This year’s programme is, once again, an eclectic mix of established international and national writers as well as exciting new voices on the cutting edge.”

Mayor of South Dublin County Council, Cllr Vicky Casserly, added: “The Red Line Book Festival continues to enrich the literary and cultural life of South Dublin by attracting both fresh new voices and household names and offering a programme for readers of all interests and ages.

“I invite everyone, from South Dublin County and beyond, to participate in as many events as possible.”

New to this year’s programme is the Changing Ideas strand, with a number of events featuring writers whose work is pushing boundaries or affecting social change.

‘The Bare Reality: A Vagina Dialogue’ sees photographer and writer Laura Dodsworth discuss her body of work.

Elsewhere, multi-disciplinary artist and provocateur Franko B joins Will St Leger in conversation with Catherine Dunne.