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World famous authors head up writers’ festival

Thursday, 12 June 2008

THE Dublin Writers’ Festival has managed to bag two world-class literary attractions who will both make guest appearances at this year’s celebrations.
Tom Stoppard and JP Donleavy will make personal appearances at the event which runs from Wednesday, June 11 to Sunday, June 15 at various locations around the city centre.
Over the four days, Dublin will host over 40 Irish and international writers, poets, journalists, political commentators, and even lawyers for a series of readings, discussions, debates and public interviews.
The festival will explore themes such as war, loss, national identity, Irish values, childhood, crime and the art of the short story.
The 2008 line-up includes a special, rare retrospective event at the Project Arts Centre with multi-million selling author Donleavey.
The festival will also celebrate the remarkable career of one of the seminal playwrights of 20th and 21st-century British culture, Tom Stoppard, at the Hamilton Building at Trinity College Dublin.
Speaking at the launch of the Festival, Programme Director Liam Browne said that this year’s event will be truly an international one.
“As well as the Irish and UK participants, we’re also welcoming writers from the US, Nigeria, South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, Israel, Canada, and Norway,” he said.
“With some making first visits to Dublin, some reading here for the first time and many staying for a number of days across the festival, it promises to be a wonderful celebration of books and writing.”
Modern Irish values will be the topic of a wide-ranging discussion with Ivana Bacik, Roy Foster, Alan Gilsenan and David McWilliams at the Project Arts Centre.
In her first visit to Dublin, Linn Ullmann, daughter of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann, will join Esther Freud, daughter of Lucien Freud, for an exploration of childhood memory, family secrets and absent patriarchs.
Tobias Wolff, one of the great masters of the short story, teams up with Booker Prize Winner Anne Enright for an examination of the challenges and the rewards that the short story can bring.
The theme of war runs right through the festival programme this year and includes a special event entitled ‘War Games – the true cost of the war on terror’.
International lawyer Philippe Sands will provide what’s being described as “a devastating critique of US-sanctioned human rights abuses”.
Sands will be joined by Paris Review editor, Philip Gourevitch, author of ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ - the first full reckoning of what really took place in the now infamous Iraqi Abu Ghraib prison.
Israeli novelist and political commentator, David Grossman, in his first Dublin appearance, will visit the Gate Theatre to discuss his works including ‘The Yellow Wind’ and ‘Sleeping on a Wire’, the acclaimed, controversial studies of the Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank.
‘Dust to Dust - Laying the Troubles to Rest’ is the title of a very special event set for The Peacock Theatre.
Catherine McCartney, Carlo Gébler, Susan McKay and Patrick Maguire will look beyond the politics to the personal tragedies that, for many, have defined The Troubles. The event will look at the injustices, the grief, and the reconciliation born out of forgiveness.
Other festival highlights include a brunch with Kathy Lette - best-selling author of ‘Dead Sexy’, ‘Foetal Attraction’, ‘Girls’ Night Out’ and ‘Nip ‘N’ Tuck’ at the Morrison Hotel.
Marian Keyes will discuss her latest book ‘This Charming Man’ at a special event at the Project Arts Centre and fans of the crime novel will be treated to an investigation of the genre with best selling crime novelist Ian Rankin.
The Dublin Writers’ Festival is a Dublin City Council initiative supported by the Arts Council. Full details of the festival can be found online at www.dublinwritersfesti val.com.

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