Top authors for Dalkey Book Festival

THE final countdown to the 2017 Dalkey Book Festival is now on.

The full event line up, with over 65 conversations, workshops and performances will be taking place between Thursday, June 15 and Sunday 18.

Set in the beautiful seaside town of Dalkey, with its rich literary heritage, the festival is set to showcase some of the greatest authors and thinkers from across the globe, including award winning novelist Sebastian Barry, lournalist and author David Goodhart, film directors Lenny Abrahamson and Bruce Robinson, and Man Booker Prize winning author Marlon James. 

The cultural event, which has quadrupled in size since its 2010 debut, will host more than 100 speakers, as well as family fun events such as Yoga Storytelling with YoYoYoga, Cartoons and Comics Workshop and The Dalkey Young Writers Workshop.

On Thursday Sebastian Barry will open the festival at 6pm and this will be followed by ‘New World Order’ with Catherine Mayer, Marlon James, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, David Goodhart and Dearbhail McDonald at 7.30pm.

Humans of Dalkey: more than… photographic exhibition will open the second day at 1pm. This will be followed by ‘Hyeonseo Lee’, with North Korea escapee and activist Hyeonseo Lee at 4pm.

The theme for this year’s Dalkey Book Festival, presented by Zurich, is ‘empathy through storytelling’, with events spanning literature, politics, ideas, comedy, world affairs, theatre, film, history, medicine and more. Tickets are on sale from €10.

There’s also a wide range of family fun activities to take place at the festival, making it the perfect place for a day out.

 “It is an extraordinary privilege to bring some of the world’s greatest writers, thinkers and agitators to Dalkey,” commented Sian Smyth, Dalkey Book Festival Director. 

 Patrick Manley, CEO of Zurich Insurance plc, added: “Zurich is pleased to support the Dalkey Book Festival again this year. 

“We have supported this event since its inception in 2010, reflecting Zurich’s continuing commitment to the arts and local communities. 

“The Dalkey Book Festival has become a landmark event in the literary and arts calendar in Ireland.”

Other highlights (see above for full listing) include: Truth Matters: Media in an Age of Fake News, Elif Shafak: Three Daughters of Eve and Desire, the Kama Sutra and Other Stories, with Seema Anand and Mariella Frostrup

The Papers: A Snigger on Sunday with the Financial Times and Yassmin Abdel-Magied in conversation will be popular on Sunday.

To learn more and to buy tickets visit the dedicated website: www.dalkeybookfestival.org

FULL LISTING OF EVENTS

Thursday June 15

Sebastian Barry – 6pm.

New World Order, with Catherine Mayer, Marlon James, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, David Goodhart and Dearbhail McDonald – 7.30pm. The Future is Female, with Catherine Mayer – 9pm.

Friday June 16

Humans of Dalkey: more than… photographic exhibition – 1pm. 

Hyeonseo Lee, with North Korea escapee and activist Hyeonseo Lee – 4pm.

Directors Talk Books, Lenny Abrahamson, Bruce Robinson  and Neil Jordan – 5.30pm. 

Colm Tobin – 7pm.

Can you be a good Muslim and a feminist? with Elif Shafak, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Mehreen Khan and Ayisha Malik – 8.30pm. 

Saturday June 17

Truth Matters: Media in an Age of Fake News, with Simon Kuper, Ross Golden Bannon, Jon Williams, Mark Little and David Goodhart – 1pm.

Elif Shafak: Three Daughters of Eve – 1pm.

Desire, the Kama Sutra and Other Stories, with Seema Anand and Mariella Frostrup – 2.30pm. 

Brexit: its true meaning for Ireland, the UK and Europe, with Louis de Bernieres, Alec Russell, Roy Foster, Mehreen Khan and Ray Bassett – 5.30pm.

Marlon James in Conversation – 7.00pm

Sunday June 18

The Papers: A Snigger on Sunday with the Financial Times, with comedians Colm O’Regan and Karl Spain, with  Mehreen Khan and Alec Russell from the FT– 11.30am.

Yoga Storytelling with YoYoYoga – 1pm.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied in conversation – 1pm. 

Jack the Ripper: An Establishment Cover Up – 4pm. 

The Dalkey Orchive, with Paul Howard (aka Ross O’Carroll-Kelly) – 7pm.

David O’Doherty – 8.30pm.