The stresses, strains and joys of setting up a festival post-Covid

When the Dalkey Book Festival kicks off next week in one giant celebration of literature, politics, economics, science, history and culture — with 105 speakers, from 23 countries, in 74 events over four days — all my sleepless nights will be forgotten. Right now, with a week to go, I’m afflicted with what could be termed checklist head — the procession of worries that afflict those of us who put on festivals in Ireland during our meteorologically challenging summers.

It’s 3.37am and I’m wide awake, pen in hand, worried about, in no particular order: ticket sales, flights and Dublin Airport, hotel rooms, taxi drivers, fuel costs and whether the festival content is adequately current. Then there is the weather, always the weather (an unexpected typhoon one year meant flying marquees and disappearing venues). I worry about Dublin Airport security, visas, printers, the global paper shortage, the cost of chair rental (doubled since 2019), the soaring price of everything, diesel for the generators, annoying the neighbours, insurance, guests’ schedules, clashing events, AV equipment, stage heights, the guests’ last-minute partners, vegan menus, parking for the film crew, tickets for our sponsors, our ageing family dog, the locals, ticket sales and more ticket sales, the Dalkey Literary Awards, staff shortages, traffic management plans, traffic cones, rubbish collection, portaloos, first-aid responders, running water in fields, and again ticket sales. And then I’m back to Met Éireann’s website …

However, the moment it all comes together, there is nothing like it and it is a joy to see crowds of various types of book-lovers milling about at events and book signings, chatting in the bars, cafes and beautiful parks of Dalkey. After a virtual event in 2021, it is such a relief to be putting on a real live festival in person this year in a town with stunning views, intimate venues and such a unique and special atmosphere. There were moments in the past two years when I felt we might never be back. But here we are, ready to go.

This year’s festival will be special not simply because we are back live, but due to the extraordinary events we are living through. Like you, I woke up on February 24th hardly believing what I was hearing. A brutal invasion in Europe in 2022? It was clear to me from that moment, that our programme had to reflect the times. Literature does not exist in a vacuum. From Dante to Shakespeare, Moby Dick to Ulysses, the standout works and writers, whether subtly or overtly, tell the story of their world.

Can we finally say goodbye to shaming women for letting their hair go grey?

---

100 great restaurants and places to eat around Ireland this summer

---

Robert De Niro’s raging at Trump outside courthouse was an extraordinary moment in American public life

---

Midlands-North-West: Battle for final seat could end with a small party making a breakthrough

---

A hundred years ago, Lenin said that there are decades when nothing happens and weeks where decades happen. It feels like we are living through such weeks and the worst of times require the best of minds. In what could be one of the most pivotal years of our lifetime, the festival brings together over 100 thinkers and writers from all over the world.

Curating is not just about securing big names. I try to think a little bit laterally about what might make an event interesting, mixing guests who wouldn’t normally be put together. In 2019, iPhone designer Jony Ive talked to Stephen Fry and Bono about the object of language and the language of objects. These combinations are magic and can’t be seen anywhere else. It is also an enormous privilege to invite writers who I adore, especially those who are less well-known; I love building trust with the audience by introducing them to new work.

Ten years ago, Salman Rushdie called us “the best little festival in the world” but today with writers coming from Albania to Argentina, Scotland to Sudan, and Italy to Iran, and an expected 20,000 tickets, the festival isn’t that little any more. The town may be compact but the festival covers the world. Dalkey has always been more than a literature festival; we prefer to think of it as an ideas festival, and it covers a truly broad canvas from fiction to history, politics, philosophy, science, journalism, technology, comedy and economics.

Long-time friends of the festival like Fintan O’Toole and David Puttnam will be back. Joining some of the world’s leading intellectuals like Simon Schama are giants of literature Elif Shafak and Sarah Winman. From the US, we will welcome Gary Shteyngart, Karen Duffy and Mark Blyth, while from the UK, journalists James O’Brien and Simon Kuper will dissect Brexit, Boris Johnston and what happens next to our closest neighbour. On Russia and Putin, we are delighted to have Fiona Hill, Russia expert and security adviser to George W Bush, Obama and Trump. Hill, who is no stranger to Putin, famously took down Trump at the opening of his first impeachment trial. Ramita Navai, Lea Ypi and Merve Emre are all unique thinkers, whose names might not be so familiar but, trust me, you will be impressed. National treasures Blindboy, Marian Keyes, Annie Mac and Patrick Freyne will be on stage, as will five of Ireland’s greatest novelists in one event — Sally Rooney, Nuala O’Connor, Kevin Power, John Banville and Claire Keegan – where would you get it?

We programme the festival carefully, putting the best writers with the most curious hosts, on the most exciting panels, covering the most relevant topics, so that the weekend is not a round-up of who has the latest book to flog, but is a few summer days aimed at generating light not heat. With event titles such as From Pushkin to Putin, Understanding Russia, The Role of Culture in a World Unhinged, The Morality of Capitalism or Why Dante is for Everyone, Dalkey offers an eclectic range of topics, with something for every inquiring mind. I’m delighted that more than half the speakers are women this year.

In 2020, we founded the Dalkey Literary Awards with the support of Zurich. They are the largest awards purely for Irish writers with a prize fund of €30,000. This year, the winners will be announced at the festival and presented with an exquisite hand-crafted award made locally from seven layers of different Irish native storm-felled trees. Hope to see you there!

From June 16-19th. Tickets: dalkeybookfestival.org