Alain de Botton at the Dublin Writers Festival

I knew little about Alain de Botton before his talk yesterday at the Dublin Writers Festival. I knew roughly what kind of stuff he wrote about and that he had a Twitter account with "inspiring" tweets. My husband is a fan, and managed to persuade me to go see the talk. The Liberty Hall Theatre, where the talk was held, turned out to be a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing venue, which was stuffed to the gills with enthusiastic listeners.

De Botton turned out to be an excellent speaker, a pleasure to listen to even if you didn't know his work or didn't always agree with him. He spoke mostly about his latest book, Religion for Atheists, which discusses what dedicated atheists, such as he himself, might have to learn from religions. His main argument was that the secular should not automatically consider religions stupid and childish, but instead appreciate and be inspired by their methods of teaching, creating communities and producing art. He had insights into education and organisation of the humanities as well as such diverse material as the calendar year, functions of art and the necessity of beauty in architecture. Unfortunately he only touched these topics; I would have been interested to hear more about them. I suspect that he could have easily done an entire series of talks. On a number of occasions he directly or indirectly addressed Richard Dawkins (albeit not in a particularly agreeing manner), and it occurred to me that scheduling his talk the day after Dawkins's created a very interesting two-day theme of Atheism Today, or, the Problem of Religion Today, if you prefer.

You can see photographs of the talk on the festival website. The festival continues until the weekend.

Dublin Writers Festival 2012

The lineup for Dublin Writers Festival 2012 was announced yesterday. Once more, they will produce an impressive selection of wordsmiths to the pleasure and edification of the public. Consider names such as Josh Ritter, Alain de Botton, Mark Haddon, Bryan & Mary Talbot, Wendy Cope, Jeannette Winterson, Mario Vargas Llosa (gasp) and Richard Dawkins. (Who seems to be in Ireland every other month. (Does he reckon he has work to do here, I wonder?)

Aside from the major authorial ones, my attention was drawn by two other events. The festival is acknowledging two Irish literary journals, The Stinging Fly, and the Moth (what is it about flying insects?) by hosting the launch of their latest editions. I am delighted to see such involvement with these quite young, ambitious publications.

The other event that tickled my excitement is an evening titled 'Best European Fiction'. This will present three new writers from the 2012 anthology of European short fiction. One of the writers is Maritta Lintunen, a Finn, and I, as her fellow countrywoman, am of course very excited to see her feature here. If you ask me, not enough Finnish literature is translated into English, but hopefully Lintunen's presence here will awaken more curiousity about her own literary scene.

The festival will take place 4-10 June. Full programme and booking details are available here. The events vary in cost between €7.50 and €20, but some are also free.

Some events for lovers of food and the arts

Among all the things I enjoy, there are two of which I'm particularly fond: art and food. Lately there seems to be something of a trend of bringing the two together, which gets a huge thumbs up from this writer.

As part of Dublin Writers Festival, an event titled Artists in the World: Hisham Matar, Fadia Faqir, Fiach Mac Conghail, Rita Duffy, is being held on Sunday 29 May at 1.00 pm at Fallon & Byrne, one of my favourite places in the city. The speakers, variously representing the literary world and that of visual arts, will be examining the issues to do with art and its interaction with social and political change. Tickets are 10 euro.

A couple of Dublin restaurants are marking Bloomsday on 16 June. According to the Food&Wine magazine, Aqua in Howth will be holding a special brunch at 11 am, to include readings from the Ulysses and prizes for the best dressed. Caviston's in Glastule will be serving a Bloomsday breakfast from 7.30 am.

Dublin Writers Festival 2011 - Volunteers wanted

The Dublin Writers Festival is looking for volunteers:

Dublin Writer’s Festival is 13 years old and since the very start of the festival we have had a lively and enthusiastic volunteer community who return to the festival again and again. The volunteers at each of the events are a vital part of the festival.

The duties which the volunteers undertake vary from front of house (collecting tickets in venues and dealing with customers), audience research, brochure distribution and other areas. As a volunteer you will also have the opportunity to witness inspiring sessions and to meet other great volunteers!

The festival provides fantastic experience for anyone interested in writing, publishing, theatre or event management, marketing or anyone who just likes books and reading. This year as the festival has grown, with more events then ever before and we are looking for some new members to join our volunteer crew. The festival runs for seven days between 23 and 29 May, throughout the evening and at weekends.

For further details on becoming a volunteer please contact Lisa Marie Griffith at info@dublinwritersfestival.com or click or see here: http://www.dublinwritersfestival.com/support-us

Dublin Writers Festival Programme

Dublin Writers Festival revealed its impressive lineup and programme last night. The writers featuring include John Banville, Roddy Doyle, Seamus Heaney, Michael Palin and Paul Theroux, just to mention a bare few at random as a taster of what can be expected. The entire list can be seen on the Festival website.

Some of the Festival events that have caught my eye are:

• The Jekyll and Hyde Inheritance: Writers' and musicians' responses
• Low Characters and Strange places: Live performance of contemporary poetry
• Wanderlust, Mosquitos, Philosophy: Paul Theroux discusses his work
• Orpheus Sings: Tri-lingual (German, Irish, English) project on Rainer Maria Rilke
• Love, Art, Mortality: Contemporary poetry on the theme of change
• Artists in the World: Art's relationship with current events

The Festival will take place 23 - 29 May 2011 in a number of venues around Dublin city centre.

Dublin Writers Festival 2011

This year's Dublin Writers Festival runs from May 23rd to May 29th. The program will be announced on Wednesday April 27th.

As part of the Festival, Michael Palin will be in the National Concert Hall on Wednesday May 25th. Tickets are €20 (with concessions available) but if you book before March 16th you can get a ticket for €15.

Dublin Writers Festival

Coming soon, in about three weeks: the Dublin Writers Festival.

Philip Pullman versus Christ

Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, will be speaking in Trinity this weekend. It's a charge-in event as part of Trinity Week along with the Dublin Writers Festival. I've already bought a ticket.

As the linked-to page says, "Philip will be reading and discussing his latest work The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ".