Takin’ the Mic with Dublin Book Festival

The Irish Writers Centre’s bilingual Takin’ the Mic returns to Dublin Book Festival for an evening of poetry, prose and song in English and Irish. It will take place live at the Centre on Wed November 10, with up to 14 performers taking part. In line with current COVID restrictions, a number of audience members will be able to attend. The celebrated MC for the evening is writer and musician Colm Ó Snodaigh and the special guest is esteemed poet Enda Wyley.

Colm Ó Snodaigh has written one book of short stories entitled Turasóireacht (Tripping/Touring) which was published in 1995 by Coiscéim. Subsequent stories have been published in the anthologies Scéalta ón Aer (2000) ag Cathal Póirtéir and in Lón Léitheoireacht 2 (2008). His début novella Pat the Pipe – Píobaire was published in 2007 and was turned into a radio drama for Raidió na Life by his brother Rossa. His most recent publication is a translation of Swiss-Scottish author Vivienne Bailie’s book An File, which was published by Coiscéim in 2019.

Enda Wyley has published six collections of poetry, from her debut Eating Baby Jesus, (1993 ), through to Borrowed Space, New and Selected Poems, (2014), and her most recent, The Painter on his Bike (2019 ). Awards include the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize, Melbourne University and she is a recipient of a Katherine and Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship for Poetry. She has been widely broadcast, translated and anthologised, including in The Harvard Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry. Her books for children include, I won’t Go to China! and The Silver Notebook, O’Brien Press. She co-hosts the podcast Books for Breakfast, about books and writing. Enda has been a 2021 judge for the International Dublin Literary Award. She is a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of artists.