Today, ahead of the festival’s programme announcement which will take place in April, ILFDublin unveils three in conversation events which delve into the zeitgeist of our time:

TAKE A LONG LOOK : Vivian Gornick in conversation with Sinéad Gleeson
Fri 28 May, 6pm, €5

For nearly fifty years, Vivian Gornick’s essays have explored feminism and writing, literature and culture, politics and personal experience. Interviewer Sinéad Gleeson describes her as “one of the most important essayists of all time … urgent, sharp-eyed and vital”. Her new collection, Taking A Long Look: Essays on Culture, Literature and Feminism in Our Time explores the painful process of understanding one’s self that binds us to the larger world.

SCIENCE COMES TO LIFE : Carlo Rovelli & John Banville in conversation
Wed 26 May, 6pm, €8

Man Booker prize-winning author John Banville and Carlo Rovelli, the man he describes as the poet of modern physics, discuss the connections between culture and physics with Karlin Lillington.

Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli’s international bestsellers are celebrated for their compelling insight and ability to explain some of science’s most complex ideas in passionate, clear prose. In his new book Helgoland, he makes sense of the quantum revolution: one idea more than any other that has transformed our understanding of the fabric of the universe.

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT… Patricia Lockwood and Roisin Kiberd
Sat 22 May, 6pm, €5

As the distinction between virtual and IRL all but disappears, Patricia Lockwood and Roisin Kiberd talk connecting, disconnecting, and ask will the internet scroll ever end?

Poet and author Patricia Lockwood’s hotly-anticipated fiction debut No One Is Talking About This is a powerful tale of love, grief and our digital lives.

Roisin Kiberd thought she’d become the Joan Didion of basement dwellers but burned out. Her debut essay collection The Disconnect: A Personal Journey Through the Internet, described by Lisa McInerney as “a book that takes on, makes sense of and triumphs over that shapeless techno-dread” relates her personal story with wit and insight.