This December, it’ll be 100 years since the publication of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. As debuts go, it’s a fairly sensational one, but we almost didn’t get to read it. In a fit of fury, because no one would publish The Dubliners, he threw Portrait into the fire, it was saved by his family.

Our festival opens with a panel exploring Joyce and the novel; the role of Irish writing, of emerging writers and directors, as well as those who wrote a century ago.

A panel discussion on James Joyce’s celebrated novel with His Excellency, the Irish Ambassador to the UK, Dan Mulhall, Dr Maria-Daniella Dick (Lecturer in Irish and Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow), Professor Frank Shovlin (Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool) and Professor Andrew Gibson (Royal Holloway, University of London).

Festival speeches will be given, marking the official opening of Liverpool Irish Festival 2016

Contrary to printed listings, Dr Katherine Mullin (Senior Lecturer, Leeds University) will no longer be appearing. We apologise for this change of notice.