Plenty afoot these days for literary lovers, what with the World Book Day book share kicking off tomorrow. In case you missed it, this involves Irish authors leaving signed copies of their books in public places all over the country for people to pick up, peruse and pass on. On top of which, those with a book surfeit are encouraged to leave some of their own treasured tomes in public places for others to pick up and pass on. As a book horder, it’s the passing on bit I’d have a bit of trouble with, but the size of my house means a book cull is well on the way, so those of you in the Dublin 7 area may find all sorts of goodies about the place in the coming days, if I can bear to part with a few to make space for food and people and the like. And if that weren’t enough to get your literary pulses racing, how about the Literary Death Match, this Friday, where  Colm Liddy and Nuala Ní Chonchúir go head to head with Marty Mulligan and our own Brian O’Connell in what the organisers describe as “a marriage of the literary and performative aspects of Def Poetry Jam, rapier-witted quips of American Idol’s judging (without any meanness), and the ridiculousness and hilarity of Double Dare…”. Right so. Judges Cowell, Cole et al will be played on the night by journalist and radio presenter Nadine O’Regan, playwright Philly McMahon and journalist and TV presenter Una Mullally. The Death Match kicks off at 9.15 sharp (allegedly), but if you get there early, you’ll catch a Stinging Fly launch at 7.30 p.m. My money’s on O’Connell . . . .