This weekend was when the Castle Bailey Reading Festival blossomed. With most locals working in Dublin during the week, weekend events were always going to be important. The local police provided traffic management. They also stopped people using our disabled parking spot outside the front door to my delight.

At one point I looked across the crowd and wondered what our lovely Fire Inspection Officer would have said about the numbers. He probably would have had an utter conniption but I’ve decided not to mention it to him. We are already putting the man into an early grave with our “highly flammable” books.

The tip that Jim Shelton comes home to Ireland in December and is open to doing library talks was worth its weight in gold. His agent and life partner Pete was flawlessly polite...

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