South Dublin Library's Readers' Day

Just back from Fingal County Library Readers day which was great. The main highlights for me (other than being read to, which I adore) was a tip from Jill mansel on how she plots timelines for her novels and doesn't get lost with a long concertina of paper that shows the progress of the novel with plot details stuck on using post-it notes. If a bit of the plot moves, she just moves it along the timeline. Think of the timeline posters you often seen in schools for the industrial revolution or King and Queens or a History of Guns or whatever.
The other highlight was Sarah Webb reading a real pitch letter. My pitch letters are so boring by comparison. Will have to look into that.

Anyway, South Dublin Libraries do their own Readers Day. They always have a good mix and spend more money on the names and less on food and drink. Perhaps Fingal could look at that. More big names please, Fingal.
When: Saturday November 8th. 10:00 to 16:00
Where: Tower Hotel, Tallaght

10pm-10.10 Introduction by Mayor of South Dublin County.

10.15 – 10.45 – Dublin Lives – over the past year poet Dermot Bolger has created a sequence of poems as part of South Dublin County Council’s In Context 3 Percent for Art Scheme. Following an invitation to other writers to compose poems to accompany his own, this unique reading by many of those involved grows into a tapestry of voices capturing life across South Dublin County during one single day.

10.45 – 11.15 – Patricia Scanlan
One of Ireland’s most popular authors, Patricia Scanlan in conversation with Dermot Bolger about her own hugely popular novels, their misspent younger days as library assistants and her involvement with the innovative Open Door series, which she edits.

11.30 – 12.15 Photographing Beckett
John Minihan's world famous photograph of Beckett having coffee with him in a Paris cafe has become one of the iconic images of the late twentieth century. In a rare public interview with Dermot Bolger, Minihan – one of Ireland’s most distinguished living photographers, who is especially noted for his portraits of writers – discusses his experiences of photographing Beckett and their friendship which started when he showed Beckett his photographs of the last wake ever held in Minihan's native Athy. With a fascinating slideshow of Minihan's iconic images of Beckett and his images of a changing Athyshot over three decades, this intimate conversation with Minihan is a treat for lovers of literature and photography.

12.15 – 12.45 Claire Kilroy
A reading by one of Ireland’s most exciting new talents, Claire Kilroy, author of the acclaimed novels, All Summer and Tenderwire.

12.45pm – 2pm lunch

2pm – 2.30 Brian Keenan
Brian Keenan reads from and discusses his works, including An Evil Cradling and Four Quarters of Light.

2.30 – 3pm Glenn Patterson
Glenn Patterson’s novels have brilliantly chronicled the changing face of Belfast over the past four decades. He presents a reading from his fiction and from his acclaimed new family memoir, Once Upon A Hill.

3pm – 3.15 coffee

3.15 – 3.45 – John Boyne
The author of the internationally acclaimed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, reads from his latest novel, Mutiny on the Bounty, in conversation with Dermot Bolger.