The May Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Megan Nolan about her novel 'Ordinary Human Failings'."Megan Nolan’s novel tells the story of the Green family who move from Ireland to London in the early 1990s. 'Where Nolan really excels is in the delineation of complex, sometimes contrad…

The April Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Deirdre Madden about her novel ‘Molly Fox’s Birthday’.“It is the height of summer, and celebrated actor Molly Fox has loaned her house in Dublin to a friend while she is away performing in New York. Set over a single midsummer’s day, Molly…

The March Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Paul Murray about his novel ‘The Bee Sting’ “Paul Murray’s novel is narrated by four members of the Barnes family, Dickie who runs a car showroom, his wife Imelda, and their children Cassie and PJ. The Guardian has written that Murray ‘is …

The February Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Kevin Curran about his novel ‘Youth’ “Kevin Curran’s novel deals with the lives of four teenagers in Balbriggan, Ireland’s most diverse town. When the protagonists intersect, the connections they make will change the course of their liv…

The January Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Claire Kilroy about her novel ‘Soldier Sailor’ “Claire Kilroy’s first novel in more than a decade deals with the early days and nights of motherhood. ‘Soldier Sailor is a resonant and important book,’ Sarah Gilmartin has written in The I…

The December Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Mike McCormack about his novel 'This Plague of Souls'.“In the Irish Times preview of the best novels forthcoming in 2023, Martin Doyle writes: ‘The prospect of a new novel [by Mike McCormack] is one to savour. Part roman noir, part meta…

On 3 November at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace Bellaghy, Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín delivered his second annual lecture entitled A Dream on Wings: Poetry and the Underworld. It featured poetry readings by Cathy Belton and musical performance by Martin Hayes.Colm Tóibín’s lecture charts poetry written about the underworld and traces a line…

The November Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Aingeala Flannery about her book 'The Amusements'. “Aingeala Flannery’s first collection of linked stories is set in the seaside town of Tramore. ‘The people in this book are not real but the town of Tramore is,’ Flannery has written. ‘…

The October Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Joseph O’Connor about his novel ‘My Father’s House’“My Father’s House is set in Nazi occupied Rome in the middle of the Second World War. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who, using the Vatican as his headquarters, sets about smuggling thousand…

The September Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Wendy Erskine about her short story collection 'Dance Move'.“The Guardian writes of Wendy Erskine’s collection of stories: ‘She identifies what is most fruitful about her characters’ predicaments – the emotional core, the most resonant…

The August Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Kevin Power about his novel ‘White City’“Ben, the protagonist of White City, is, John Self writes in the Guardian, the ‘son of a disgraced Dublin banker, languishing in rehab and writing an account of his wrong turns as therapy.’ As Ben g…

The July Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Nicole Flattery about her short story collection ‘Nothing Special’“Nothing Special is set at a very particular New York moment. It is 1966. Mae, the protagonist, lands a job as typist for the artist Andy Warhol who is embarking on an unconv…

The April Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer John Banville about his novel ‘The Singularities’“In this brilliant and dreamy novel, John Banville gives life to the many characters who have peopled his fiction over fifty years. He allows them to meet each other, revisit old scenes not …

The June Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Luke Cassidy about his novel ‘Iron Annie. “Iron Annie is written with astonishing energy and verve. It is set in the criminal underworld of Dundalk, but more important, it is written in a tone that is intriguing and unforgettable. It uses a…

The May Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Emma Donoghue about her novel ‘Haven’“Haven, Emma Donoghue’s fourteenth novel, is set on Skellig Michael in the year 600 when three Irishmen decide to establish a monastery on this extraordinary piece of bare rock. The Chicago Review of Book…

The March Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Philip Ó Ceallaigh about his book 'Trouble'.“Philip Ó Ceallaigh is a brilliant, uncompromising and ambitious writer who has long been resident in Bucharest. Of his collection of stories ‘Trouble’, the Los Angeles Review of Books wrote: ‘Ó …

The February Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Louise Kennedy about her book 'Trespasses'. The unforgettable protagonist of Louise Kennedy’s ‘Trespasses’ is 24-year-old Cushla Lavery, a Catholic schoolteacher living in 1975 in a small town outside Belfast. The novel narrates the sto…

The January Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Eimear McBride about her novel 'A Girl is a Half-formed Thing'.“Eimear McBride’s groundbreaking first novel uses a style that matches the conscious mind’s darting processes. It tells the story of a young woman in an Irish town in a time …

The December Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Bernard MacLaverty about his short story collection 'Blank Pages and Other Stories'.“MacLaverty offers a masterclass in how to create character, how to build scenes by accretion of detail, how to work with implication and suggestion, ho…

Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín delivered his first annual lecture on 6th November 2022 in Town Hall Theatre Galway. For those unable to join us at the event, we are delighted to be able to share a recording of this extraordinary evening.Av The Arts Council | An Chomhairle Ealaíon

The November Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Tom McCarthy about Elizabeth Bowen’s novel 'The Last September'The Laureate says “This is another novel set during the Irish War of Independence. Just as Martina Devlin’s book is about solitude and introspection, this centres on a house…

Warning: This episode contains mild swearing.The Curiosity Series is an Arts Council podcast commissioned as part of the Council’s 70th anniversary celebrations hosted by writer, comedian and podcaster Maeve Higgins.In each episode, you’ll hear artists involved in music, dance, poetry, literature, visual arts and theatre in conversation with Maeve …

The October Art of Reading book club features Colm in conversation with writer Martina Devlin about her book Edith.The Laureate says “Edith is an engrossing and sensitive portrait of the writer Edith Somerville during the War of Independence when her writing partner Violet Ross is dead and her own career as a writer not flourishing. It is a portrai…

The Curiosity Series is an Arts Council podcast commissioned as part of the Council’s 70th anniversary celebrations hosted by writer, comedian and podcaster Maeve Higgins.In each episode, you’ll hear artists involved in music, dance, poetry, literature, visual arts and theatre in conversation with Maeve as they get curious about each other’s work, …

The Curiosity Series is an Arts Council podcast commissioned as part of the Council’s 70th anniversary celebrations hosted by writer, comedian and podcaster Maeve Higgins.In each episode, you’ll hear artists involved in music, dance, poetry, literature, visual arts and theatre in conversation with Maeve as they get curious about each other’s work, …

The September Art of Reading book club features Colm in conversation with writer Una Mannion about The Ante-Room by Kate O'Brien.The Laureate says “This novel is written with great intensity, being set over a time period of three days in which the focus is on the entire life of a single family, all the secrets and treacheries coming into the open. …

The Curiosity Series is an Arts Council podcast commissioned as part of the Council’s 70th anniversary celebrations hosted by writer, comedian and podcaster Maeve Higgins.In each episode, you’ll hear artists involved in music, dance, poetry, literature, visual arts and theatre in conversation with Maeve as they get curious about each other’s work, …

The Curiosity Series is an Arts Council podcast commissioned as part of the Council’s 70th anniversary celebrations hosted by writer, comedian and podcaster Maeve Higgins.In each episode, you’ll hear artists involved in music, dance, poetry, literature, visual arts and theatre in conversation with Maeve as they get curious about each other’s work, …

The August Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with Professor Frank Shovlin about The Barracks by John McGahern.“This bleak, unrelenting novel portrays a woman in the Irish midlands who has married a policeman and become a surrogate mother to his children in the time after his first wife’s death.…

The Curiosity Series is an Arts Council podcast commissioned as part of the Council’s 70th anniversary celebrations hosted by writer, comedian and podcaster Maeve Higgins.In each episode, you’ll hear artists involved in music, dance, poetry, literature, visual arts and theatre in conversation with Maeve as they get curious about each other’s work, …

The July Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Naoise Dolan about her novel Exciting Times.“This novel is a tour-de-force work about exile and the world of expats in Hong Kong. Seeking accommodation, looking for love, teaching English as a foreign language, dealing with foreigners, bein…

The June Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Sinéad Gleeson and writer and granddaughter of Mary Lavin, Alice Ryan, to discuss Lavin's short story, In the Middle of the Fields, from the collection of the same name. Read more about the Laureate for Irish Fiction programme here: https:/…

The May Art of Reading book club features Colm in conversation with Colin Barrett on his short story collection 'Homesickness'Av The Arts Council | An Chomhairle Ealaíon

This is an ingeniously told story, narrated by an actual book, a novel by the Austrian writer Joseph Roth, offering an account of its picaresque travels to America and back to Europe, while in the background we learn of the life of Joseph Roth himself and the dark times he lived in.” Colm Tóibín, Laureate for Irish Fiction 2022-2024…

The March Art of Reading book club features Colm in conversation with Adrian Frazier about the novel Esther Waters by George Moore. ‘In this novel, Moore works like a nineteenth century French painter in drawing a portrait of a spirited young women of reduced circumstances facing her destiny in an unforgiving world.’ Colm Tóibín…

Welcome to The Art of Reading, a monthly book club hosted by Colm Tóibín, the Laureate for Irish Fiction, and shared on the last Thursday of every month. The first Art of Reading book club features Colm in conversation with Claire Keegan about her latest work ‘Small Things Like These’.Each month our Laureate will discuss a novel by an Irish writer,…

Sebastian Barry gives his final lecture as Laureate for Irish Fiction. Introduction by Arts Council Chair, Kevin Rafter.Av The Arts Council | An Chomhairle Ealaíon

In late 1994 Donal McCann undertook to play the lead in The Steward of Christendom. The second Laureate lecture, called Still Life, with Donal is Sebastian Barry's account of the extraordinary experience of working with such a unique, challenging and veritably nuclear actor and human being.Barry's first Laureate for Irish Fiction Lecture The Lives …

On 9 September at the Gate Theatre Dublin, Laureate for Irish Fiction Sebastian Barry delivered his first annual lecture entitled The Lives of the Saints.Speaking about the lecture, Sebastian Barry said, “In forty years of writing and living, inevitably and often by mere accident, a writer encounters other writers. This lecture is an account of som…

Anne Enright delivered her first US lecture as Laureate for Irish Fiction at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House as part of the Laureate programme in April 2016.Speaking prior to the lecture, Enright said, “When I flew to New York in February 2000 I thought my life could not get better: I was pregnant, I was bringing the proofs for my first N…

In this series, the Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry sits down with some of his favourite writers to ask: What the Hell/Heaven Are We Doing? His on-going conversation about the mysteries of writing and the intricacies of the craft continues this week with award-winning Irish novelist Eimear McBride. In this conversation, Eimear and Sebas…

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking big questions about the nature of writing itself.Kevin is a multiple award-winning writer whose most recent book, Night Boat to Tangier, was published in 2019. Here, he sits down with Sebastian via video chat to puzzle out some of the d…

Award-winning short story author Danielle McLaughlin is Sebastian Barry's guest this week on What the Hell/Heaven Are We Doing?This video series features the Laureate for Irish Fiction in conversation with a selection of fellow writers as they probe the mysteries of the writing craft and ask: What is writing? What is its purpose beyond pragmatic no…

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry's compelling series, What the Hell/Heaven Are We Doing? continues this week with a discussion about the nature of writing and the intricacies of the craft with prize-winning author Nicole Flattery.Sebastian and Nicole discuss topics as wide-ranging as inclusivity in the publishing industry, Irish stor…

Welcome back to What the Hell/Heaven Are We Doing?, the series where the Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, asks big questions of fellow writers about the nature of their shared craft.What is the purpose of writing? Find out what author Tom Kilroy thinks in this episode.Thomas Kilroy was born in Callan, Co Kilkenny in 1934. He served as p…

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking big questions about the nature of writing itself.What is its purpose? What should we make of its mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age…

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland.Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in …

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing?What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism?In the latest conversation, he speaks with Louise O’Neill.Louise O’Neill was born in West Cork, where she lives and works. Her first…

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland.Yan Ge was born in Sichuan in the…

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland.Liz Nugent was born in Dublin, wh…