As James Joyce mania prepares to descend on Buffalo for the 2009 North American James Joyce Symposium that kicks off on Saturday, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1285 Elmwood Ave.) is hosting an evening of film and literature to whet the city’s already insatiable appetite for all things Irish. The event, dubbed “Irish Writers in Film,” gets under way at 5 p. m. today with a screening of “Following James Joyce, Dublin to Buffalo,” a film by Patrick Martin and Stacey Herbert about Buffalo’s importance in the world of James Joyce devotees. That’s followed by a screening of Irish playwright and film director Martin McDonagh’s “In Bruges” at 6:15, introduced by News Arts Editor Jeff Simon. The main event of the evening will come at 8:30 p. m., when renowned Irish writer Colum McCann will read from his recent book “Everything in This Country Must,” among other works. McCann’s forthcoming novel, “Let the Great World Spin,” already released abroad, has been highly praised. The evening will wind down with another screening, this one of a short film with a screenplay by McCann and collaborator/director Gary McKendry, “Everything in This Country Must,” and finally a reception and book signing in the gallery’s Muse restaurant. The night is sponsored by Cinegael Buffalo, an organization dedicated to Irish film and a subsidiary of Riverrun, another group devoted to Irish-American cultural programming. For more information, call 882-8700 or visit www.riverrunbuffalo.org. —Colin Dabkowski