International Literature Festival: Dublin City Council
International Literature Festival Dublin is a Dublin City Council initiative with funding support from The Arts Council.
Formerly Dublin Writers Festival, the festival runs for 10 days in May and continues to champion Dublin’s position as a UNESCO World City of Literature, celebrating the local alongside the global and the power of words to change the world.
Founded in 1998 the Festival brings to the fore the full diversity of the word and celebrates emerging and established poets, fiction and non-fiction writers, journalists, playwrights and lyricists among many others. Over its 17 year time span the Festival has presented luminaries such as James Salter, Seamus Heaney, Ruth Padel, Thomas Keneally, David Mitchell, Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, Richard Dawkins, Rebecca Miller, Rebecca Solnit amongst many others. In recent years the Festival has also substantially expanded its children’s programmes catering for all age groups featuring writers and illustrators such as Oliver Jeffers, Anthony Horrowitz, Sarah McIntyre and Hervé Tullet. Types of events vary from readings, interviews, discussions, debates, workshops, masterclasses, outdoor family events, performances and screenings.