THE legendary Stephen Fry will join over 100 speakers in Dalkey in June for the 10th anniversary of its famous book festival.
Over one long weekend, from June 13 to 16, authors from around the world will be on the Southside for the annual event.
Fry will join some of the world’s leading intellectuals such as three times Pulitzer prize winner, Thomas Friedman, and giants of literature Marlon James, Deborah Levy, Richard Flanagan and Donal Ryan.
Book lovers will also be hearing hotly-anticipated new work from Joseph O’Connor and Kevin Barry. Alongside these established names there will be debut writers such as Emma Dabiri, Sinead Gleeson, Emilie Pine, Lynn Ruane, Wendy Erskine and Kevin Breathnach.
With 70 events squeezed into four inspirational days, the festival will cover a truly broad canvas.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary, this year the festival theme is ‘Inside the Mind: Creativity and the Brain’.
In ‘Constellations’, Sinead Gleeson will explore the connections between our bodies and our minds, while, in ‘Matchstick Men’, Julia Kelly will describe living with someone who has Alzheimer’s.
Ian Hughes will offer a compelling and timely account of the dangers posed by narcissistic leaders in ‘Disordered Minds: how dangerous personalities are destroying our democracies’.
Aoife McLysaght, Professor of Genetics at Trinity, and neuroscientist Ian Robertson, are just two of many scientists speaking at Dalkey this year.
Historians Peter Frankopan and Diarmaid Ferriter will jump to the defence of history and, in an era marked by a shift towards science, maths and technology, they will explain why the subject still matters.
John Brennan, retired head of the CIA, is the man Donald Trump loves to hate. This is a unique chance to understand how America works from deep inside the system.
As the closing day of the festival is June 16, there will be a Bloomsday Special with Deborah Levy, Lana Citron, Pamela Druckerman and Zuleika Rodgers.
James Joyce, the ultimate modernist, made Ireland’s most famous literary character, Leopold Bloom, Jewish. Does this make ‘Ulysses’ one of the first Jewish novels?
The Jewish diaspora has carved out a unique identity over the centuries, which has allowed for the creation of some truly unique voices, narratives and humour.
As you can see, there is something to appeal to all tastes at this year’s festival in Dalkey.
Tickets from €10 are available now.