Dublin Book Festival: A feast for writers and readers alike

There are a couple of distinguishing aspects to Dublin’s largest book festival.

All its participating authors, who include titans such as Jennifer Johnston, Frank McGuinness and Patrick McCabe, are Irish, and most of its events are free.

The festival runs across four days in the middle of the month, and takes in a diverse, atmospheric range of venues such as The Gutter Bookshop in the old part of Temple Bar and the National Library of Ireland. McGuinness, whose first play in 14 years, The Hanging Gardens, has just been running at the Abbey Theatre, will be in conversation with RTÉ’s Seán Rocks on the opening evening of the festival.