The Franco-Irish literary festival will take place this year from 8th to 10th of April both in Dublin Castle and the Alliance Francaise in Kildare Street, Dublin 2. This year will be the 12th edition of this festival and some top writers will attend the event next month in Dublin, among them John Banville, winner of the 2005 Booker Prize, Claude Arnaud, Geneviève Brisac, Paul Murray, Siobhán Parkinson, Caitriona O’Reilly, Carlo Gebler, Harry Clifton, Virginie Linhart, Macdara Woods and Eric Fottorino.
The theme of this year’s festival in Dublin will be the ‘Generations’ and it will study and compare Irish, French and international literature. The festival is open to the general public and all events are free. Translation in English and French will be provided throughout the festival. Dublin was declared a ‘City of Literature’ by UNESCO in 2010 in recognition of its strong literary heritage.
For those of you literary buffs who are from outside Dublin yet fancy taking in some of the events, talks and lectures then you should consider booking accommodation as soon as possible as some Dublin hotels are currently offering competitive rates for that weekend. For example, at the time of writing, the Ashling Hotel which is is a four star hotel right beside Heuston Station and overlooking the River Liffey is offering a standard double room for the 3 nights for €240. The hotel is only a 5-minute walk away from Dublin Zoo and the famous Guinness Storehouse.
The D4 Berkeley hotel is also a 4 star hotel in the posh Ballsbridge area of Dublin . The hotel is only a 15-minute walk from the heart of Dublin and the nearest DART station is just a 2-minute walk away. Double or twin rooms are available for €303.86 for the three nights. The Grafton Capital Hotel is 500 metres from St Stephen’s Green and a 2-minute walk from Grafton Street. The excellent ‘craic’ and nightlife of Temple Bar is just 5 minutes’ walking distance from this Dublin hotel. Double rooms can be booked in this hotel from 8th April for 3 nights from €333.25.