The annual Dalkey Book Festival has added Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks to its speaker line-up to talk about the release of his debut novel.
Hanks’s novel, The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece, spans several decades, and has been described by his publishers as a “wildly ambitious” story about the making of film.
The novel, which will be published in early May, is about a “colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film and the humble comic book that inspired it”, according to the official synopsis.
The actor, who won two Oscars for his performances in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, will appear at the festival in Dalkey on Friday, June 16th, discussing his novel and his path from film to fiction writing. Each ticket holder will also receive a copy of the book, the organisers have said.
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It is Hanks’s second foray into fiction, having previously published a collection of short stories in 2017, called Uncommon Type.
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Hanks is the latest Hollywood star to appear at the annual June festival, following on from Matt Damon’s virtual appearance two years ago.
The Jason Bourne actor spoke to David McWilliams in June 2021 about his time living in Dalkey during lockdown, his sandwich order from The Country Bake in the village, sea swims and bags of cans.
The annual book festival, which was set up by David McWilliams and Sian Smyth in 2010, runs from June 15th to 18th. It has previously hosted a Nobel Laureate, Booker Prize winners and Oscar nominees.
To close the festival this year, Dubliners Bono and Fintan O’Toole will sit down together to talk about their very different but overlapping memoirs, Surrender and We Don’t Know Ourselves.
Other speakers include U2′s The Edge; well-known physics professor and TV presenter Brian Cox; and comedian, mental health advocate and best-selling author Ruby Wax.
The festival brings together thinkers from the worlds of literature, history, politics, journalism, comedy and science including Masha Gessen, Peter Frankopan, David Brooks, John Banville, Ramita Navai, Sebastian Barry, Jeff Goldberg, Liz Nugent, and Roddy Doyle among others.
There will also be writing workshops on offer, run by Jan Carson for adults and by Sarah Webb for children.
Tickets to the events with Tom Hanks, Brian Cox, Bono and Fintan O’Toole will go on sale at 10am on Wednesday.
