Saturday, June 18, 2011

"Easy reading is damn hard writing." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne


Dalkey Book Festival June 17-19, 2011

Niamh Sharkey reading her books to the kids


Margaret E. Ward interviews Ryan Tubridy



Margaret conducted a fantastic interview!



Tom with the Heineken Cup


Me (pretending not to notice the Heineken Cup)


This weekend was the 2nd annual Dalkey Book Festival. The festival was born when David McWilliams (economist, author, and broadcaster) attended a Dalkey Business Group meeting. In an effort to come up with ideas to boost local business, he thought of using one of the most valuable local resources- writers!

We attended last year, and it was great. This year, however, I discovered that my friend from High School was interviewing Ryan Tubridy about his book on JFK. Margaret is a Garden City girl who has lived in the Dublin area for many years. She is a journalist, has written 2 books and hosts the Newstalk radio show in the mornings. Ryan Tubridy hosts the Late Late Show here, and has his own Radio Show on RTE. His book chronicles JFK's last visit to Ireland.

Margaret is often a guest on Ryan's radio show and they have an excellent Rapport. The interview was interesting and funny, and I was so impressed and proud of her! Oh, and we got to meet Ryan too.

After an afternoon at Finnegan's and dinner with Margaret and her kids, we went to see my friend Tim Pat Coogan talk about his interview with Brian O'Nolan (aka Flann O'Brien). There were so many events that I would love to have attended, if only it lasted a week! Roddy Doyle, Maeve Binchy, Conor McPherson, and Neil Jordan were among those who participated. If my readers are thinking of visiting, this would be a good thing to try and catch!

It was a wonderful day, and at the end we came across the Heineken Cup. Leinster, the Rugby Team from the province that we live in recently won the trophy. We had to take photos of that!

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