Dublin Writers Festival - Yann Martel June 6, 2010

In what promises to be one of this year’s Festival highlights, Canadian novelist Yann Martel unveils Beatrice and Virgil, the much anticipated follow-up to his Booker-winning literary phenomenon Life of Pi.

When Henry receives a letter from an elderly taxidermist, he becomes embroiled in the strange and remarkable lives of Beatrice and Virgil – a donkey and a howler monkey. Together they undertake an epic journey… With the same narrative verve that made Life of Pi such a resounding success – 7 million copies worldwide! – Beatrice and Virgil takes the reader on a haunting odyssey. En route Martel asks some profound questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity.

A persuasive advocate for Art as a cornerstone of society, Martel has spent the last three years lobbying the Canadian premier by sending him a book every fortnight. Join him as he takes a brief hiatus from this literary ‘campaign’ to share his own words and thoughts on the liberating power of fiction.

Official Website: http://www.dublinwritersfestival.com/festival-2010/yann-martel