More than one hundred Irish writers will read consecutively over 28 hours this weekend in an attempt to break the world record for the most authors reading one after the other at an event to mark Bloomsday at the Irish Writers’ Centre.
Senator David Norris opened proceedings at 10am, before the first of 111 poets, novelists, playwrights and short story writers took to the stage to read for 15 minutes from their own works through the day and night.
The event was due to kick off with John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, who was to read from his latest novel The Absolutist, culminating with a reading by Jack Harte from his short story collection From Under Gogol's Nose at 1.45pm on Bloomsday, which falls tomorrow.
Kevin Barry, Gabriel Rosenstock, Dermot Bolger, Seamus Heaney, Marita Conlon McKenna, Gerald Dawe and Roddy Doyle are among the list of authors who will read throughout the event. A full schedule of participants is available on the Irish Writers’ Centre website, Writerscentre.ie.
The current record for consecutive readings is held by 75 authors who read at the Berlin International Literature Festival.
The Bloomsday event will be open to the public and streamed live to a worldwide audience on the Irish Writers’ Centre website.
The record attempt will be monitored by the accountancy firm KPMG and by representatives from American College Dublin.
Click here for a live stream.
