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ILF Dublin: Fri 26 – Sun 28 May


Bettany Hughes

Fri 26 May | 6pm | Main Space | €12/10

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Join historian, author and broadcaster Bettany Hughes for a dazzling historical journey through one of the world’s greatest cities. Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities is a rich and resonant biography that brings this city of three names (Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul) and its people to life. At last count archaeologists had measured forty-two human habitation layers in Istanbul. Bettany Hughes says to know it ‘is to know what it is to be cosmopolitan – this is a city that reminds us that we are, indeed, citizens of the world’.


Lemuel Gulliver, Adventurer Extraordinaire

Sat 27 May | 11am + 1pm | Boys’ School | €5

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Gulliver’s Travels as you’ve never, ever heard them before! Join Lemuel Gulliver (sailor, adventurer, VERY LOUD MAN), and Jonathan Swift (stressed, beardy, would quite like his office back) on a journey of musical comedy through stormy seas, strange lands and the shortest war in history. A rollicking and action-packed spoken-word adventure, written and performed by award-winning Knights of the Borrowed Dark author Dave Ruddenand music maestro Jerry Fish, of Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club fame!

Suitable for children aged 7+

In association with Dublin Unesco City of Literature and Children’s Art in Libraries programme for Swift 350.


Korea Focus : Han Yujoo

Sat 27 May | 12pm | Main Space | Free admission, booking essential

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Han Yujoo is one of the leading voices in the new wave of South Korean writing. Han Yujoo’s new novel, translated into English as The Impossible Fairy Tale, tells the chilling story of two schoolgirls: spoilt, attention-seeking Mia and the blank, anonymous Child. In a world in which adults have no apparent power, the children in the girls’ school create a devastatingly cruel and crushing society. Also lauded as a translator, her translations into Korean include Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table and Geoff Dyer’s But Beautiful and The Ongoing Moment.

Presented by the Korean Embassy in Ireland and Literature Translation Institute of Korea in association with ILFDublin.


Banter: Media in the Age of Fake News

Sat 27 May | 2pm | Main Space | €12/€10

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Have facts been replaced by fictions, and journalism by imagination? What is newsworthy and what is fake? Kevin Donnellan (Storyful), Lois Kapila (Dublin Inquirer), Jane Suiter (DCU) and Cathal McMahon (Irish Independent) join Banter’s Jim Carroll to discuss misinformation on social platforms, fact-checking practices and the journalistic compromises made in the name of ‘clickbait’.

Presented in association with Banter (thisisbanter.com)


How Far We Have Travelled

Sat 27 May | 4pm | Main Space | €12/€10

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How Far We Have Travelled is a book of reportage by the late Mary Holland, an outstanding figure in Irish journalism. It’s a fascinating topic for our panel of women, all of whom make a significant contribution to Ireland’s identity through their work as broadcasters and journalists: Emily O Reilly, European Ombudsman; journalists Susan McKay, Anne Marie Hourihane and Doireann Ni Bhriain; producer Betty Purcell; and in the Chair, Mary Holland’s daughter, journalist Kitty Holland. Viewed through Bealtaine’s theme of activism and the collective, come and hear how far we really have travelled…

Presented in association with Bealtaine.


Irish Pages, International Borders: Dervla Murphy, Ciarán O’Rourke, Avi Shlaim

Sat 27 May | 4pm | Main Space | €12/€10

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A biannual journal, Irish Pages publishes outstanding contemporary writing in English and in Irish from Ireland and overseas. Walls, border and migration are recurring themes in the new issue, Israel, Islam & the West. Contributions include Hasbara in Action by distinguished travel writer Dervla Murphy; new poetry on the Middle East by Ciarán O’Rourke; and Israel and the Arrogance of Power by Avi Shlaim. We’re delighted to feature these three contributors in conversation.


Loud and Clear: Lisa McInerney & Ottessa Moshfegh

Sun 28 May | 6pm | Main Space | €10/€8

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ILFDublin brings together two remarkable new voices who have taken the literary world by storm! The New York Times called Ottessa Moshfegh’s Man Booker Prize-shortlisted debut Eileen, ‘playful, sharp, wise, morbid, witty, searingly sharp’. Her new collection, Homesick for Another World explores themes of rot and decay in vivid, darkly comic prose. Self-described ‘creator of The Glorious Heresies, fitful short stories, and the occasional gourmet crisp sandwich’, multi-award winner Lisa McInerney’s second novel is The Blood Miracles. Phenomenally successful, The Glorious Heresies explores salvation, shame and the legacy of Ireland’s twentieth-century attitudes to sex and family.


Michael Longley & Leontia Flynn

Sun 28 May | 8pm | Main Space | €12/€10

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Michael Longley is loved for the quiet elegance of his assured, meditative lyrics. Angel Hill, his eleventh collection, is sure to captivate his many fans. From the moody seas and skies of Carrigskeewaun in County Mayo – the landscape central to his work for many years – to the Western Highlands, his respect and ever-keen eye for nature spill into Angel Hill. He is joined by Leontia Flynn, whom the Guardian called ‘one of the most original and accomplished poets of her generation’. Her third collection Profit and Loss was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.