PICK OF THE WEEK
International Literary Festival Dublin
We all know the old James Joyce canard about crossing Dublin without passing a pub, but in the summer months, it seems you can't cross the country without bumping into a literary festival or three.
This week, the International Literary Festival Dublin brings a particularly heavyweight lineup to the capital.
On Saturday prospective authors can meet agents at a workshop in Belvedere House. The poet Sepideh Jodeyri will also be in town to discuss her Persian translation of Blue is the Warmest Colour, and how it drove her into exile to Prague, along with a screening of the Palme D’Or-winning film version of the graphic novel starring starring Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux.
Sunday has a starry celebration of 150 years of Alice in Wonderland with live readings and more from biographer Robert Douglas- Fairhurst, actress Fiona Shaw, and Vanessa Tait, the great-granddaughter of Alice Liddell, the girl who inspired the Alice character. And in the Liquor Rooms, Ryan Gatiss will present a musical journey through his acclaimed new novel All Involved.
Johann Hari derailed his journalism career over plagiarism, but now he’s on the comeback trail and his exhaustive study of the US War on drugs has won no little acclaim. His event is on Monday.
Tuesday night’s star attraction Jon Ronson hardly needs an introduction at this stage. And on Wednesday, the Big Book Club Show features thriller writers Liz Nugent (Unravelling Oliver) and Sinéad Crowley (Can Anybody Help Me?), and offers the crowd the chance to pit their literary wits against a panel of experts.
See ilfdublin.com for tickets and more.
ELECTRO/SYNTH
Indiana
The Workman's Club, Dublin 8pm €13
theworkmansclub.com
Let's be honest, there aren't too many brilliant musicians and songwriters from Loughborough, Leicestershire, a fact that leaves Lauren Henson in virtually a class of her own. No Romeo is the debut album Henson/ Indiana will be rifling through; those who admire gritty, ghostly electro-pop will be well looked after.
SINGER-SONGWRITER
King Creosote
Róisín Dubh, Galway 9pm €16
roisindubh.net
Fife-based singer-songwriter Kenny Anderson is a strong adherent to the DIY aesthetic – so much so that he wouldn’t be the most commercially efficient musician out there, but enough of a canny Scot nonetheless to know that with such a modus operandi you get to keep most of the cash yourself. Sparse songs, smart guy, then.
