Yiyun Li: Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life

WED 23 MAY | 6PM | Main Space | €12/10

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Startlingly original and shining with quiet wisdom, Yiyun Li’s memoir is a luminous account of a life lived surrounded by books and the healing power of reading. Written over two years while she battled suicidal depression, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life is a painful yet richly affirming examination of what makes life worth living. Yiyun Li’s life has been sustained by a profound connection to the writers and writing she loves, and the title of the book – taken from a Katherine Mansfield letter – celebrates writing as a source of hope.
“A meditation on the fact that literature itself lives and gives life.” Marilynne Robinson

Documentary Poetics

WED 23 MAY | 6PM | Boys’ School | €5

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Writing and reading are our primary mode of communication, yet the implication of digital technologies on the literary arts is still under-explored. Poet and poetry editor of gorse Christodoulos Makris, and EVA award-winning artist Jonathan Mayhew, present poetic texts made out of material that already exists through a process comprising selection, framing and editing decisions.

Women and the Essay: Daisy Hildyard, Joanna Walsh & Ashleigh Young

WED 23 MAY | 8PM | Main Space | €10/8

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The essay, that brilliantly elastic literary form once described by Zadie Smith as the best way to reflect ‘messy reality’, is making a glorious comeback. Daisy Hildyard’s collection The Second Body is a brilliantly lucid account of the dissolving boundaries between all life on earth. The essays in Ashleigh Young’s collection Can You Tolerate This? roam freely between preoccupations, yet are consistently entertaining in their search for clarity amid uncertainty. In her artful, intelligent collection Break.up, Joanna Walsh simultaneously flees and pursues an ambiguous partner. Our panel discuss the contemporary essay, and debate whether information overload has created a demand for personal voices.

The event is chaired by writer and broadcaster Sinéad Gleeson.

Presented in association with Creative New Zealand in partnership with Publishers Association of New Zealand.

Laoch na Laochra: Tionscadal na Tána / The Greatest Hero: The Táin Project

WED 23 MAY | 8PM | Boys’ School | €10/8

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Scéal Chú Chulainn a insítear sa Táin, ceann de mhóreipicí litríocht an domhain. Liam Carson atá ina choimeádaí ar an ócáid seo. Pléifidh Darach Ó Scolaí agus Réamonn Ó Ciaráin tábhacht na heipice seo le Cathal Póirtéir, údar agus craoltóir, agus an chúis a bhfuil éifeacht ag an Táin orainn go dtí an lá inniu. Bheadh An Táin Bó Cuailgne de chuid Uí Scolaí agus Laoch na Laochra: Scéal Chúchulainn an Chiaránaigh molta dá mbeimis inár dtost. Is éachtach an maisiú atá déanta ag Dara Vallely ar an dara leabhar. Feicfear cuid de na híomhánna sin agus íomhánna eile nach iad sa seó sleamhnán atá réitithe ag Margaret Lonergan.

Arna léiriú i gcomhar le IMRAM Féile Litríochta Gaeilge.

One of the greatest of Irish mythological narratives, the Táin Bó Cuailgne tells the tragic and unforgettable story of Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster. In this event curated by Liam Carson, Darach Ó Scolaí and Réamonn Ó Ciaráin discuss the Táin’s enduring allure with broadcaster and writer Cathal Póirtéir. Ó Scolaí’s An Táin Bó Cuailgne was praised by critic Máire Ní Annracháin for its rich natural style, while Réamonn Ó Ciaráin’s Laoch na Laochra: Scéal Chúchulainn is a potent retelling, with beautiful art work by Dara Vallely. These images, and those of other artists, feature in projections by Margaret Lonergan.

Presented in association with IMRAM Irish Language Literature Festival.

Check out the full programme of ILF Dublin events: