Programme

Join author Sheila Armstrong, whose writing includes the acclaimed short story collection How to Gut a Fish, as she discusses the short stories in the anthology and delves into the tradition of short story writing in Ireland.

Sheila Armstrong is a writer from the north-west of Ireland. She is the author of How To Gut A Fish, a collection of short stories, and Falling Animals, a novel. She has been nominated for the Irish Book Awards, the Society of Authors Awards, the Kate O’Brien Award, the Edge Hill Prize, and the RSL Ondaatje Prize. She is currently working on her second novel.

Take a seat, surrounded by Ireland’s foremost public collection of contemporary and modern art, for a lecture on the art of Dublin. This illustrated talk will explore the wide range of artists in the Hugh Lane Gallery’s collection who were inspired by life, topography, landscape, buildings and people of Dublin. From Walter Osborme’s evocative paintings of the area around St Patrick’s cathedral to Christo’s proposed wrapped walkways project for St Stephen’s Green and more recently Mairead O’hEocha’s painting Antelope, Natural History Museum, Dublin be inspired by the city of Dublin in this illustrated talk led by Dr Anne Cormican.

Join us in Tallaght Library for ‘Dublin You Are’, a unique cultural event to celebrate the spoken word voices of Tallaght and the One Dublin One Book anthology, Dublin, written in our hearts. Featuring some of the best poets and theatre makers with a connection to, and love of, Tallaght, including Emmet Kirwan, Jan Brierton, Colm Keegan, Stephen James Smith and Sheila Ryder. Presented by David Hynes of Rising Tide, with music from Sandii Jane.

Emmet Kirwan is an actor, playwright and theatre maker from Tallaght in Dublin. Emmet has worked in Irish and British Theatre, performing on many stages including Project Arts, The Abbey, The Gate, Donmar warehouse and The National Theatre.

Jan Brierton is a published poet, mam and a fashion stylist. She has appeared on RTE Nationwide, TV3’s Six O Clock show, RTE Radio 1’s Brendan O Connor Show, The Irish Times Women’s podcast and Mamia & Me with Amy Huberman.

Stephen James Smith, born in Dublin, is an Irish poet, writer, performer, playwright, and educator. His creations have been extensively published, translated into eight languages, and have received numerous awards and nominations.

Sandii Jane is a Singer from Tallaght who has been performing and recording for the past 15 years with many different original touring and corporate bands.

Colm Keegan is an award winning writer and poet from Tallaght. His debut collection “Don’t Go There” was released to critical acclaim and his latest collection “Randomer” is available from Salmon poetry.

Sheila Ryder is a poet and founding member of Rising Tide. She has performed at festivals and as an All-Ireland Poetry Slam finalist. Her poems have been published in journals and online and she was 2024 Fingal Libraries Poetry competition winner.

David Hynes is a poet and organizer and is the curator and host of Spoken Word at The Word tent in Mindfield. He’s a member of The Rising Tide and The Poetry Kiln Collective

Told through three different voices and centered around a high-end restaurant chef who faces accusations of sexual assault, Service by Sarah Gilmartin is an acutely observed look at power and complicity, the lies we tell and the courage it takes to face the truth. Join the author in conversation with Ellen Howley from DCU’s School of English, along with the book clubs from Raheny Library.

Sarah Gilmartin is an Irish writer and arts journalist. Her short fiction has been published in The Dublin Review, New Irish Writing and The Tangerine. She won the Máirtín Crawford Short Story Award in 2020. Her bestselling debut novel Dinner Party (One, 2021) was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and the Kate O’Brien Award. Her second novel Service (One, 2023) was a Waterstones Book of the Month and a Washington Post top books of summer. She is the 2025 writer-in-residence at Dublin City University.

Dr Ellen Howley is an Assistant Professor at DCU’s School of English. She writes primarily about Irish and Caribbean literature and her book Oceanic Connections: The Sea in Irish and Caribbean Poetry will be published in 2025, by Syracuse University Press. She is the co-author of Seamus Heaney’s Mythmaking, a collection of essays that explores Heaney’s use of myth across his work. She has appeared on RTÉ’s Drivetime and Newstalk’s Moncrieff and Lunchtime Live and has published work in the Irish Times, RTÉ Brainstorm and The Conversation.

How do you begin the process of selecting pieces for an anthology? What motivates editors to pick and choose from an embarrassment of contemporary writing styles each as good as the next? Join us as founding editor of The Stinging Fly, Declan Meade, gives us a deeper insight into the anthology, discussing the pieces in it with literary editor Madeleine Keane.

Declan Meade is founding editor and publisher of The Stinging Fly literary magazine, which he established in Dublin in 1997. He has edited several other anthologies, including These Are Our Lives (2006), Let’s Be Alone Together (2008), Beyond The Centre (2016), Stinging Fly Stories (with Sarah Gilmartin, 2018), and The Writer’s Torch (with Phyllis Boumans and Elke D’hoker, 2023).

Madeleine Keane is the Literary Editor of the Sunday Independent. She lectures on writing at UCD and the Irish Writers’ Centre. She is the Chair of Children’s Books Ireland.

Eggshells, the prize-winning debut novel by Caitriona Lally, is the story of a lonely misfit who finds solace in navigating life through stories. Taking us on a journey through the streets of Dublin, this is a poignant, delightful and ultimately hopeful story of loneliness and the search for belonging, acceptance and friendship. Join the author in conversation with arts journalist Sophie Grenham.

Caitriona Lally has published two novels, Eggshells (2015) and Wunderland (2021). She won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2018 and a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction in 2019. She was the inaugural Rooney Writer Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub in 2022, and was one of the 2024 New Voices 20 Best New Irish Writers.

Sophie Grenham is a freelance arts journalist from Dublin who spent her formative years in Hong Kong. She has written widely for a variety of publications including the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, IMAGE and Social and Personal, and currently contributes to the Sunday Times Ireland and the Sunday Independent. Her short story, ‘14’, was published in the inaugural issue of Tír na nÓg magazine.

This event is now fully booked!
Similar event in Pearse Street library on Saturday 26th April.

Join author Seán O’Reilly, whose works include novella Watermark and the short story collections Curfew and Levitation for a masterclass exploring the art of short story writing.

Saturday 12th April, 10.00 am – 12pm and 1pm – 3pm

Seán O’Reilly. Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, Sean O’ Reilly is the author of the novels, Love and Sleep and The Swing of Things, a novella Watermark, and the short story collections, Curfew and Levitation. He works also as a teacher, primarily on the Stinging Fly Writing Workshop. He is a member of Aosdana.

Karl Whitney in conversation with Gavin Corbett

In Hidden City, Karl Whitney brings us on a captivating and eye-opening tour of Dublin, illuminating the many fascinating hidden places and untold stories of this deeply mythologised city, including the hidden rivers of Dublin’s Liberties. Join the author in conversation with writer Gavin Corbett.

Karl Whitney is the author of Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin and Hit Factories: A Journey Through the Industrial Cities of British Pop – both Guardian books of the week. He has worked as an editor at Penguin Classics and as a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at universities in the UK. His journalism has appeared in the Irish Times, the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books, and his essays have been published in the White Review, the Dublin Review and Gorse. His column about writing is published regularly in the Irish Examiner.

Gavin Corbett has written three novels: Innocence (Simon & Schuster, 2003), This Is the Way (4th Estate, 2013) and Green Glowing Skull (4th Estate, 2015). He has been writer-in-residence at Trinity College, UCD, the University of Galway and Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. He lives in Dublin, and is passionate about its history, architecture and literature.

This event is now booked out. Waiting list available. 

Walking tour with Karl Whitney

Meeting point: Dublin Liberties Distillery

In ‘The Hidden Rivers of the Liberties’ from Hidden City, Karl Whitney brings us on a captivating tour of one of Dublin City’s oldest and most historic neighbourhoods, illuminating hidden places and untold stories. Join the author on a walk of the Liberties, learning about its underground rivers, history, city planning, and the sometimes invisible boundary lines that exist there.

Karl Whitney is the author of Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin and Hit Factories: A Journey Through the Industrial Cities of British Pop – both Guardian books of the week. He has worked as an editor at Penguin Classics and as a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at universities in the UK. His journalism has appeared in the Irish Times, the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books, and his essays have been published in the White Review, the Dublin Review and Gorse. His column about writing is published regularly in the Irish Examiner.

IRISH FILM INSTITUTE PRESENT – About Adam

About Adam
Directed and written by Gerry Stembridge

Refreshingly playful about sexual shenanigans, whatever the permutations, About Adam is a romantic-comedy which wholly captures the free-spirited nature of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger boom. The film hinges on the enigmatic Adam (Stuart Townsend), a dynamic and unpredictable lothario who woos waitress Lucy Owens (Kate Hudson), followed by her two sisters and then her brother. Despite the infidelity and betrayals, the family remain enamoured of this handsome rogue; sisters Laura (Frances O’Connor) and Alice (Charlotte Bradley) brother David (Alan Maher) and their irrepressible mother (Rosaleen Linehan) find their lives invigorated by spending time with Adam. The story rolls out against a vibrant, cosmopolitan Dublin filled with wine-bars, galleries and Winding Stairs, populated by comfortable middle class types who, until then, had rarely been seen on film. The whole is infused with writer/director Gerry Stembridge’s wry humour and astute social observation.

93 minutes, Ireland/UK/USA, 2000
The film will be introduced by director, screenwriter, novelist Gerry Stembridge

Estelle Birdy’s striking debut novel, Ravelling, set in Dublin’s Liberties, captures modern Dublin as never before portrayed. Vibrantly exploring themes of youth, masculinity, prejudice, multicultural communities, class and more, this book channels the energies and agonies of the city’s young men, balancing their hopes with the harsh realities of their present. Join the author in conversation with author, playwright and creative writing lecturer, Declan Hughes.

Estelle Birdy is a writer, book critic and yoga teacher who has lived at the edge of The Liberties in Dublin since her late teens. Born in London, she grew up in the most beautiful county of Louth but is still happy enough to have (almost) raised four young Dubs. Her debut novel Ravelling, set chiefly in and around The Liberties, focuses on five teenagers in their Leaving Cert year, their families, community and their city – Dublin. Ravelling was part of the Arts Council’s Read Mór promotion for Culture Night 2024. Estelle is an Arts Council Peer Panellist and is a member of the Irish Book Awards Academy. In her spare time she works for the union.

Declan Hughes co-founded Dublin’s Rough Magic Theatre Company. His plays include I Can’t Get Started; Digging for Fire; New Morning; Twenty Grand; Shiver and The Last Summer. Declan’s first novel, The Wrong Kind of Blood, won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel and the Le Point magazine prize for best European crime novel. Subsequent novels include The Colour of Blood; The Dying Breed; All the Dead Voices; City of Lost Girls and All The Things You Are. Declan teaches at the Mary Lavin Centre for Creative Writing, UCD, and is Literature Adviser to the Irish Arts Council.

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 

Join historian in residence Elizabeth Kehoe as she reveals the history behind the statues in O’Connell Street, which feature in Nuala O’Connor’s ‘Jesus of Dublin’ and Peter Sirr’s Intimate City. Nuala O’Connor will read her flash-fiction piece from the anthology and discuss how O’Connell Street inspired her.

Nuala O’Connor lives in Co. Galway; her sixth novel Seaborne, about Irish-born pirate Anne Bonny, is nominated for the Dublin Literary Award and was shortlisted for Eason Novel of the Year at the 2024 An Post Irish Book Awards. Her fifth poetry collection, Menagerie, is published by Arlen House, spring 2025.

Elizabeth Kehoe is Historian in Residence for the Dublin Central area. In 2015 she returned to formal education and completed a degree in history at Trinity College Dublin followed by an M. Phil. in Modern Irish History. She is an independent tour guide and researcher based in Dublin, working in Ireland and online. She shares her love for history with established local communities, new Irish communities, and visitors to this island.

Join us in Pearse Street library for ‘Dublin You Are’, an event as part of One Dublin One Book to celebrate Dublin in all its cultural glory. It will be an enthralling experience featuring the best poets from the spoken word scene in Dublin, including John Cummins, AnnaD, Cormac Mac Gearailt, Lizzy Byrne & Dave Hynes. Presented by Leon Dunne from Rising Tide with music from $ONA BLU€.

John Cummins Poetician, one of Ireland’s most unique voices, has brought his spoken word poetry to every corner of our isle. From festival fields to our national concert hall.

Anna D is a poet and former All-Ireland Poetry Slam champion from Dublin. She is known for her raw, visceral performance style and deeply personal and political spoken word.

Cormac Mac Gearailt is a multi-award-winning bilingual spoken word poet based in Dublin, Ireland. He is the current All-Ireland Poetry Slam Champion, and the UNESCO Cities of Literature Slamovision Champion.

$ONA BLU€ is poised to leave an indelible mark on the Dublin music scene. Her voice, a melodic blend of strength and vulnerability carries the weight of her lyrics with a grace that can only be described as captivating.

Lizzy Byrne is a spoken word artist residing in Dublin. Her pieces embody life and all of its tribulations. She captures what it is to be human and although her writings can at times take a tone of darkness it is always the light that steals the focus.

David Hynes is a poet and organizer and is the curator and host of Spoken Word at The Word tent in Mindfield. He’s a member of The Rising Tide and The Poetry Kiln Collective.

A Rising Tide Co-founder, Leon Dunne has competed both nationally (2022 All-Ireland Winner) and internationally (2023 UNESCO’s Slamovision, 2024 European Poetry Slam). He has held multiple residencies with Poetry Ireland and JCSP Libraries.

Short fiction has long captivated writers and readers alike. Seán O’Reilly’s Levitation takes us through the streets and haunts of Dublin with great wit and dark humour, while Nuala O’Connor’s Jesus of Dublin shows us O’Connell Street and its characters through the eyes of one who sees it all. Join the authors in conversation with presenter and book critic Breda Brown, as they explore the power of short fiction.

Nuala O’Connor lives in Co. Galway; her sixth novel Seaborne, about Irish-born pirate Anne Bonny, is nominated for the Dublin Literary Award and was shortlisted for Eason Novel of the Year at the 2024 An Post Irish Book Awards. Her fifth poetry collection, Menagerie, is published by Arlen House, spring 2025.

Seán O’Reilly. Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, Sean O’ Reilly is the author of the novels, Love and Sleep and The Swing of Things, a novella Watermark, and the short story collections, Curfew and Levitation. He works also as a teacher, primarily on the Stinging Fly Writing Workshop. He is a member of Aosdana.

Breda Brown is the presenter of the Inside Books podcast and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Irish Writers Centre. She also reviews crime novels for the Sunday Independent. Her day job is Co-founder and Communications Director of Unique Media, a strategic communications advisory firm.