LADYFEST returns to Dublin after 9 years with a bang!! Bringing you the best Dublin's music scene has to offer in female focused acts, LADYFEST kicks off at 7:30 in Sweeneys on Dame Street!
Tickets: €7.00 waged, €5 unwaged - available on the door.

Featuring:

Bitch Falcon

Fauve Chapman

Elaine Mai

Marita Connolly 

Temper-Mental MissElayneous

Big Girls Big Band

Toy Soldier

+ more to be announced

We had a fantastic time marching in the 2013 Dublin Pride parade. Not only was it the 30th anniversary of gay pride in Ireland, but it was also the 20th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland. It's amazing to think we've come so far as a nation in terms of LGBTQ rights in such a short time. However, there is still so much more to do. Marriage Equality, parental rights and more widespread acceptance and respect for LGBTQ people are still to be achieved. Judging by the huge numbers, energy and great atmosphere at Pride this year, it's only a matter of time! Check out some photos of our banner and display below.

The next book club will be held on Thursday, 4th of June at 7:30pm in Bewleys cafe. All are welcome!

As chosen by the last book club's attendees and those in the online group, the play of the month is: Hedda Gabler (& A Doll's House) by Henrik Ibsen.

You can read these texts for free from:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4093 &
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2542

"Hedda Gabler is the name, to my mind, of Ibsen's greatest play, and of the most interesting woman that Ibsen has created."

"Over the years, Ibsen has been called a revolutionary, a nationalist, a romantic, a poet, an idealist, a realist, a socialist, a naturalist, a symbolist, a feminist, and a forerunner of psychoanalysis."

Read more:

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/ibsen.html

http://thebluebookcase.blogspot.ie/2011/03/review-dolls-house-by-henrik-ibsen.html

To facilitate discussion, we'll have these ground rules:

-Everyone has the right to contribute to the discussion
-Refrain from personal attacks, criticise the idea and not the person
-Everyone is welcome to attend regardless of age, gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious belief, disability, membership of the travelling community, marital status or family status.

We'll be in the back of Bewleys in the restaurant section. The reservation will be under Irish Feminist Network.

Hi everyone,

From the last discussion, people decided to chat about the idea of female masculinity; gender beyond sex, beyond binary, pleasure beyond principles and what have you.

* Feminine/masculine – why can’t I be both?

* Constructing masculinities in communities and within the individual: .

Some suggestions to chat about: tdrag kings, butch/femme dynamics in relationships, genderqueers, queers, tomboys etc.


Bewleys wasn't as quiet so we're meeting up in Seomra Sproai on the evening14th May from 7pm in the social sinema room (the first room on the ground floor- there'll be donation-based food and treats too :) )

looking forward to seeing a lot of you soon! x

The next book club will be held on Thursday, 2nd of May at 7:30pm in Bewleys cafe. All are welcome!

As chosen by the last book club's attendees, the play of the month is: The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.

You can find the script online for free, or probably also printed. There's a HBO TV series, or you could go to see the play (let us know if you find an Irish production this month!)

"I was worried about vaginas. I was worried about what we think about vaginas, and even more worried that we don't think about them. . . . So I decided to talk to women about their vaginas, to do vagina interviews, which became vagina monologues. I talked with over two hundred women. I talked to old women, young women, married women, single women, lesbians, college professors, actors, corporate professionals, sex workers, African American women, Hispanic women, Asian American women, Native American women, Caucasian women, Jewish women. At first women were reluctant to talk. They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn't stop them."

Good Reads Vagina Monologues Page

Reviews:

Guardian Review of The Vagina Monologues,

http://knollpaper.wordpress.com/current-issue/gender/vday/

To facilitate discussion, we'll have these ground rules:

-Everyone has the right to contribute to the discussion
-Refrain from personal attacks, criticise the idea and not the person
-Everyone is welcome to attend regardless of age, gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious belief, disability, membership of the travelling community, marital status or family status.

We'll be in the back of Bewleys in the restaurant section. The reservation will be under Irish Feminist Network.

When: Thursday, 4th of April, 7:30pm to 9:30pm
Where: Bewleys Cafe on Grafton Street
The Book: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Facebook Event: IFN April Book Club
How to find us: We'll be downstairs in the restaurant section. Our reservation will be under Irish Feminist Network. We'll have the book displayed upright on the table.


About:

**Trigger warning: This book deals with mental illness and suicide**

Recently, Faber have released a 50th anniversary edition of the book and there's been some controversy about the cover: Guardian article on Bell Jar Cove

And here's some more info:

Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under--maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational--as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic. Goodreads Review

Book reviews:

Independent Newspaper Bell Jar Review

This one has major spoilers: Classic Lit Bell Jar Review

There's also a movie from 1979: IMBD Bell Jar Film Page

To facilitate discussion, we'll have these ground rules:

-Everyone has the right to contribute to the discussion
-Refrain from personal attacks, criticise the idea and not the person
-Everyone is welcome to attend regardless of age, gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious belief, disability, membership of the travelling community, marital status or family status.

Happy reading & hope to see you next month!