Loose Leaves

A literary roundup

Vast literature line-up at Kilkenny Arts

John Banville and Hugh Hamilton in a combined reading and a forum on Forty Years of Feminism: Where We Were, Where we Are, and Where We're Goingare part of the wide-ranging literature programme at this year's Kilkenny Arts Festival curated by Colm Tóibín. The festival runs from August 6th-15th.

Members of the Fourth Estate are very much part of Tóibín's literary line-up with journalists sprinkled here and there at many events. Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for The Independentand author of Pity the Nationand The Great War of Civilisationgives the Hubert Butler Annual Lecture in St Canice's Cathedral on Saturday August 7th. Fisk will talk about his experiences as a journalist from his early days as Belfast correspondent of The Timesand his belief that journalism should "challenge authority, all authority".

Journalists are also included in the feminism debate on Friday, August 13th, in the Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle, marking the founding of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement in 1970 . Chaired by UCD's Prof of Modern Irish History, Diarmaid Ferriter, the panel consists of historian Margaret MacCurtain; journalist Nell McCafferty; Bridget Fitzsimons, incoming editor of the student newspaper The University Observerat UCD and Catriona Crowe, archivist and manager of the 1901-1911 Irish Census Online.

The wide remit of this side of the festival's programme is also evident in a symposium on pension reform When I'm Sixty-Fouron Wednesday, August 11th, in St Canice's, introduced by Catriona Crowe and chaired by Fintan O'Toole. The panel – which includes Teresa Ghilarducci, Prof of economics at the New School for Social Research in New York – will explore possible solutions to the pensions crisis in Ireland and beyond. Ghilarducci will talk about the radical plan she has developed to fund retirement in the US.

But there are plenty of creative writers too, including John Boyne, Joseph O’Connor, Paul Durcan, Andrew O’Hagan, Michael Coady Ciaran Carson as well as journalist turned novelist Ed O’Loughlin and Alaskan writer David Vann.

Tóibín himself will introduce a celebration of the screen career of actor Gabriel Byrne featuring screenings of some of Byrne's best-known roles including Into The Westand Miller's Crossing. See kilkennyarts.ie

Exploring changed attitudes to intimacy

The influence of cinema and popular culture on Irish attitudes to the body and intimacy – and the need to open up investigations of inner life in Ireland will be among the topics touched on next week by academic Luke Gibbons, back in Ireland after a long stint in the US.

Now based in NUI Maynooth his inaugural lecture takes place there on Monday at 6pm, at the opening of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures conference.

In his talk Technologies of Desire: Inner Life, Modernity and the Media in Irish CultureGibbons will address the fact that while attention has focused on the role of the Catholic Church in shaping Irish attitudes to sexuality, very little research has addressed the counter-currents in Irish cultural history, especially the influence of the mass-media on emotional histories here.

He will also talk about some of the transformations now taking place in Irish life due to the impact of new media and the changing role of personal connections in the digital age. Contact foras.feasa@nuim.ie or 01-708 6173.