Join us as two of the anthology’s contributors, both from North County Dublin, discuss the influences of suburban living on their writing. Kevin Curran and Niamh Campbell will discuss with Katy Conneely, presenter of Dublin City FM’s All about Books how growing up outside the city has reshaped their writing. 

Kevin Curran’s third novel, Youth, was published to critical acclaim by The Lilliput Press in 2023. It was an Irish Times, Sunday Independent & RTE Culture Best Book of 2023. It was also a Colm Toibin’s Laureate for Fiction’s Book Club choice for 2024. The paperback edition was published February 2025. He has published two other novels, Beatsploitation (2013) and Citizens (2016). As well as writing non-fiction for the Guardian and the Observer, he has also published short stories, most notably in The Stinging Fly 20 year anthology. For over fifteen years he has been teaching in his hometown in Balbriggan, Co Dublin.

Niamh Campbell is the author of This Happy (2020) and We Were Young (2022). She has won the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and been nominated for the An Post Irish Book Awards, Kate O’Brien Award, Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, and the John McGahern Book Prize. Her third novel is forthcoming in spring 2026 with Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Katy Conneely is from Oughterard, Co. Galway with a background in Literature and Book Publishing from NUI Galway. Based in Dublin, Katy is the presenter and producer of All About Books on Dublin City FM. She has presented the show since March 2021 and is a passionate and knowledgeable interviewer. Previous guests have included Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín, One Dublin One Book author Nuala O’Connor and many others. Katy has also collaborated with UNESCO Dublin City of Literature on All About Books: On the Road live events.

To book please email balbrigganlibrary@fingal.ie