Rolling Stones biographer for Dublin Festival

Currently visiting professor at Laval University (Quebec) and at Montreal University (Montreal), Bon devoted several years to a trilogy on rock’n roll and the history of the sixties and seventies. His latest work is entitledL'Incendie du Hilton.

The theme of this year's festival is The City/La Ville. "All sorts of issues are raised," a spokesperson told Hot Press. "Why is the theme of the city used increasingly in literature? How can we describe our modern day metropolis? Is the city a source of realistic or utopian ambition? How can we imagine the suburbs of tomorrow?"

There is a strong emphasis on comics among the visiting writers. Among those appearing is Herge biographer, Tintin expert and comic book writer Benoît Peeters, whose latest work is entitled Souvenir de l’Éternel Présent (2009). Since 1983, with François Schuiten, who also appears at the festival, Peeters has been developing the series Les Cités Obscures, fifteen opuses alternating between comic books, illustrated tales and DVDs. This series has won many prizes and the works have been translated into ten languages.

Among the Irish contingent are Kevin Power, whose debut novel Bad Day At Blackrock, loosely based on the Annabels killing of Brian Murphy, won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and Claire Kilroy, who won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2004.

The full list of participants reads: Pat Boran, Claire Kilroy, Kevin Power, PJ Lynch, Ĕilís Ní Dhuibhne, Gerard Smyth, François Bon, Véronique Ovaldé, Benoît Peeters, Jacques Réda, François Schuiten, Martine Sonnet, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Michael Kleeberg, Catherine Mavrikakis and Enrique Vila-matas.

The festival takes place at Dublin Castle and the Alliance Francais, on Kildare Street.