08/09/2015
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
Red Line Book Festival 2015 – Launch with Mayor Sarah Holland and award winning author Catherine Dunne
The Red Line Book Festival (www.redlinebookfestival.ie)returns this autumn to South Dublin from 11-17 October with more of the best national and international writers and speakers including Jennifer Johnston, Joe Duffy, Conor Kostick, Mary Costello, Carlo Gébler and Dutch historian Joost Augusteijn.
This year’s programme was officially launched yesterday at County Library Tallaght by Mayor Sarah Holland and special guest, award winning author Catherine Dunne. The launch was attended by enthusiastic book club members, authors participating in this year’s programme, staff and councillors from South Dublin County Council and representatives from the festival’s venues and partners.
Red Line Book Festival is funded by South Dublin County Council and managed by South Dublin Libraries and Arts. Since its inception in 2012 the festival has been growing in popularity attracting over 2,000 people every year.
At the launch, the Mayor highlighted how “the extremely positive response to the Red Line Book Festival so far has been pivotal in promoting South Dublin County as an attractive place to visit and as a hub of cultural activity”.
Speaking at the launch, Catherine Dunne said that “Red Line Book Festival is an embarrassment of riches: its vision, as ever, is to be entertaining, inclusive and stimulating”.
With low admission fees for theatre events and free admission for events for schools and in libraries, there is something for everyone interested in books and literature in this inclusive Festival.
South Dublin is now firmly placed on the map of literary festivals with such high quality venues as the Libraries, Civic Theatre, RUA RED Arts Centre, Pearse Museum, St Enda’s Park and ITT Dublin.
Red Line Book Festival 2015 will feature 33 events and 59 authors. Festival highlights include:
- Readers Day - renowned writers in conversation with Dermot Bolger. Writers include Jennifer Johnston, Carlo Gébler, Hugo Hamilton, Mary Costello, Martina Devlin, and popular broadcaster Joe Duffy;
- History Ireland’s Hedge School: Padraig Pearse, proto-fascist eccentric or visionary?Coming to Tallaght for the first time this event features leading historians Dr Ruth Dudley Edwards, Dr Roisin Higgins, Dr Joost Augusteijn and Dr John Gibney, chaired by Tommy Graham;
- Exploring Dublin: a panel discussion featuring travel writers Pat Liddy, Karl Whitney and Julianne Mooney;
- Windows into Other Worlds – short story panel with award winning writers Michael O’Higgins, Maire T. Robinson and Niamh Boyce, chaired by Ferdia MacAnna;
- Lunchtime talks include Aoife Carrigy (food and wine correspondent and editor of the ICA Book of Tea and Company), Colman Noctor (psychologist and author of the parenting book Cop On), and Pete Wedderburn (Pete the Vet, veterinary surgeon, author and radio/tv broadcaster);
- Haunted Ireland – an atmospheric event at Pearse Museum with author and photographer Tarquin Blake whose tales of the unknown will certainly either amuse or terrify you!
The Festival will incorporate the sixth TEDxTallaght (www.tedxtallaght.com), a TED event showcasing the best of Irish and international thinkers and innovators. The theme for this year’s TEDxTallaght is “Considered Perspectives” – from 3D printing of prosthetic limbs to mathematics and creativity, nano-technology and much more, this promises to be an interesting evening.
A key feature of Red Line Book Festival is its support for new writing. As in previous years Creative Writing workshops will be available. Poet Colm Keegan will lead a Library After Dark Writers Café showcasing some of the writing produced this year by the group from Clondalkin who participated in this initiative.
The programme also includes quality events for school audiences including Young Rebels at St Enda’s Park Rathfarnham with author Morgan Llewlellyn, and a celebration of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes with the highly entertaining Wayne O’Connor. For a family audience, the UK based Lyngo Theatre will stage their Puss in Boots performance for young children in the Civic Theatre.
Red Line Book Festival, brought to you by South Dublin Libraries and Arts, is delighted to receive this year support from the Arts Council of Ireland, RTE Supporting the Arts Fund and Carnegie Trust UK.
“This Festival deserves to go from strength to strength as it has done so since its inception – I urge everyone to turn up, take part, argue, question, debate…and above all, have fun” Catherine Dunne speaking at yesterday’s launch of Red Line Book Festival
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For more information:
Website: www.redlinebookfestival.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedLineBookFest?ref=hl
Contact:
Domitilla Fagan domitillafagan@sdublincoco.ie
Caroline Higgins chiggins@sdublincoco.ie
Patricia Fitzgerald pfitzgerald@sdublincoco.ie
South Dublin Libraries Development Office Tel: 01-4597834
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Mayor Holland at Library Square