This International Women’s Day, join Dublin Book Festival for a day of events in the stunning Powerscourt Estate in Co. Wicklow. From conversations around wellbeing and a walking tour, to the power of words to capture deeply moving stories, this will be an engaging day spent in the company of inspiring women writers and other book lovers, all in the most beautiful of locations.

Taking Care of You with Rosanna Cooney and Clare McKenna

As wellness continues to be a priority for many in our fast-paced world, two experts join us to share their experience and deeply researched inspiration around nurturing our wellbeing. Saunas and cold-water bathing have soared as spaces not just for leisure and activity but for fostering community. Rosanna Cooney’s Sweathouse (Irelandia Press) explores the ancient roots of Ireland’s sauna tradition, illuminating how this is far from being a new craze, and charts Rosanna’s journey around Europe in search of the most magical saunas. Popular broadcaster and health coach Clare McKenna has become a renowned voice when it comes to wellbeing. In her new book Would You Be Well? (Hachette Ireland), Clare draws on her wealth of knowledge and experience to help you cut through the overwhelm and shape wellness habits that fit your life. From mindset shifts to ‘small step’ rituals, discover what works for you.

Finding Joy with Dearbhla Mescal

For years now, poetry lover Dearbhla Mescal has been inspiring and encouraging her online followers to find the joy in everyday life and celebrate the little things. Finding Joy (Eriu) is her first book. This beautiful new collection of poems, musings and recollections, filled with wisdom and compassion, encapsulate Dearbhla’s own practice of finding joy in the everyday moments. Offering both comfort and inspiration, this book invites the reader on a journey of reflection and renewal.

Moving Memoirs with Oona Frawley and Julia Kelly

Words have the power to capture the most raw and honest stories; stories that are deeply personal yet contain universal truths that resonate widely. Writers Oona Frawley and Julia Kelly have written two equally beautiful and moving memoirs exploring themes of both love and joy, grief and loss, and the rich stories to be found within families. Frawley’s This Interim Time (The Lilliput Press) is a stunning meditation on memory and family, balancing between grief at the passing of those closest to her, and joy at the emergence of new life. Kelly’s Still (New Island Books) is a love letter of sorts to her mother after her passing. It pieces back together, and breathes new life into, the story of a complex but much loved woman who found new freedom in life in her later years.

Please note an afternoon walk with Dearbhla Mescal must be booked separetely and has limited capacity.

This day of events is kindly supported by Powerscourt House & Gardens.

Rosanna Cooney is an award-winning journalist and author of Sweathouse: The New and Ancient Irish Sauna Tradition. Her writing has appeared in The Irish Times, The Irish Independent, The Sunday Times and elsewhere. She lives in Dublin and is working on her next book.

Oona Frawley was born in New York in 1972 to Irish parents and spent part of each year in Ireland as a child. She received a doctorate in Irish literature from the Graduate School and University Center in New York and taught at the City University of New York, Queen’s University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin. She has lectured at Maynooth University since 2008. She has published twelve books, including her first novel, Flight, which was published in 2014 by Tramp Press. She lives in Wicklow with her family.

Julia Kelly is an acclaimed Irish novelist and memoirist. Her previous books include Matchstick Man (2018), The Playground (2014) and With My Lazy Eye (2009), for which she was awarded an Irish Book Award and nominated for a Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and Irish Book of the Decade.

Clare McKenna has worked as a broadcaster in TV and radio for over twenty-five years. She began presenting Newstalk’s health and wellness show Alive and Kicking in 2019 and this sparked an exploration into her own relationship with her wellbeing. After embarking on a deep dive for the show and a national newspaper, Clare began to move away from the clutches of diet culture towards a life where a healthy relationship with food and body was prioritised and, in turn, so was her wellbeing. Impassioned to share this message with others Clare went on to become an Integrative Health Coach to promote lifestyle and preventative medicine. She now hosts events championing individualised wellbeing in small achievable steps, cutting through the noise and overwhelm to empower people to feel as good as they can for as long as they can. Clare is also a master breathwork teacher.

Having retired as a member of An Garda Sìochána, reared her three children, and experienced cancer, Dearbhla Mescal is now finding the time to follow her own dreams and enjoy her second act of life.

Muireann O’Connell is an Irish TV presenter and broadcaster, best known as co-host of Virgin Media One’s Ireland AM. A Limerick native, she is known for her wit, candour and relaxed on-screen presence. Muireann has presented a range of flagship programmes for Virgin Media, including The Great Big Irish Thank You and The Line Out.