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Rongyuan Liu visits Dublin Book Festival.
The long-awaited Dublin Book Festival 2025 finally kicked off last week. With a wide range of events taking place in more than 20 venues in Dublin, including the National Library of Ireland, the Museum of Literature Ireland, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the 5-day festival was an absolute feast for fans of literature. The festival was composed of four sections—Main Programme, School’s Programme, Family & Children’s Programme, and DBF After Dark—offering a host of author talks, discussions, workshops, walking tours, and performances for people passionate about literature.
Most of the time, reading and writing are private and solitary activities. But a festival like this makes them more social and communal. At the event named “The Art of Writing for a Living”, Naoise Dolan, Martin Doyle, Lisa McInerney, and Gemma Tipton discussed the challenges faced by writers, such as how to make a living as a writer, how to build up readership at the beginning, and how to get a work published once they finished. Their experience and insights resonated with some writers in the audience who were also working on their works. Most importantly, this conversation gave readers a deeper understanding of writers’ world.
The book festival, unexpectedly, was not limited to books. It impressed the audience with the diversity of storytelling. Among all of the brilliant storytellers, Keith Donald shared his stories through the captivating Irish melodies, while Niall de Búrca, a traditional storyteller, fully engaged the audience with his vivid oral storytelling and his adventures around the world as a storyteller. They told people in their own ways how inclusive and appealing literature can be. Meanwhile, by providing these immersive experiences, these events gave people a moment of relaxation in their hectic lives.
All of the events throughout the festival centered around the idea of igniting interests in literature and encouraging people to explore the world of literature. This idea was realized through the insightful conversations on the stage, the chats among book lovers before and after the event, and sessions like “Book Clinic” and “Book Swap” for children to talk about the books they like. To some degree, people not only came closer to literature, but also to one another.
Although the festival ended, our passion for literature endures. See you next time at Dublin Book Festival 2026!