Books

Bernard MacLaverty and Sally Rooney on shortlist for Irish Novel of the Year

'Midwinter Break' and 'Conversations With Friends' are two of five books on Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award shortlist

The winner will be announced at the opening ceremony of Listowel Writers’ Week on May 30th.

Martin Doyle's face
Martin Doyle
Fri Mar 23 2018 - 09:00

Two debutants compete with veteran writers on the shortlist for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award 2018. Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty, which won the Bord Gáis Novel of the Year award last November, is up against Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney, Harvesting by Lisa Harding, Grace by Paul Lynch and The Woodcutter and his Family by Frank McGuinness.

The judges are Jane Urquhart and Alex Preston. The €15,000 for the winning author is the largest monetary prize awarded for a novel available solely for Irish writers. Selected Poems by Colette Bryce, On Balance by Sinead Morrissey and Angel Hill by Michael Longley have been shortlisted for the €8,000 Pigott Poetry Prize Award 2018, judged by Billy Collins and Deryn Rees Jones.

The winners will be announced at the opening ceremony of Listowel Writers’ Week on May 30th. This year’s festival, which runs until June 3rd, will feature Margaret Drabble, who was unable to attend last year, Edna O’Brien, Colm Tóibín, Jon McGregor and Louise O’Neill. writersweek.ie

Sex and Sensibility is the theme of the 19th annual Franco-Irish Literary Festival / Sexe et Sentiments, co-hosted by Alliance Française and Dublin Castle (Castle Hall) this weekend, March 23rd-25th. Writers including Anne Enright, Lisa McInerney, Rob Doyle, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Léonor de Récondo, Sylvain Bosselet and Françoise Rey take part. alliance-francaise.ie

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Two world-class authors will discuss the writing process and their own work when Druid presents Alice McDermott in conversation with Mike McCormack at the Mick Lally Theatre in Galway on March 21st. The two will also give a talk at 2pm that day as part of the Druid Academy at NUI Galway. druid.ie

Michael Harding, Eoin McNamee, Audrey Magee, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, Joe Brennan, Julie Parsons and Catríona O'Reilly are just some of the writers and poets visiting Arklow and Blessington Libraries and other venues between now and May to give free readings, talks and writing workshops for all ages. The programme for Way with Words, Wicklow, a pilot literature project, runs in Arklow Library until March 24th and continues in Blessington Library throughout April and May. waywithwords.ie

Hinterland (formerly Hay) Festival of Literature and Arts, Kells has launched a Fund:it Campaign to raise €10,000 after a couple of funding setbacks to ensure this year's event takes place from June 21st-24th. Colm Tóibín, John Banville, Maggie O'Farrell, Michael Harding, Liz Nugent, Lisa McInerney, Frank McGuinness, Mary O'Rourke, and RTÉ's Caitriona Perry are already confirmed to take part. fundit.ie/project/hinterland-festival

Booking is now open for West Cork Literary Festival workshops, from July 13th-20th in Bantry, ranging from journalism to poetry and creative writing and run by Justine McCarthy, Sinéad Gleeson, Martina Evans, Eimear Ryan, Billy Ramsell, Katharine Weber, Marie-Helene Bertino, Philip Hoare, Dave Lordan and Trish Deseine. westcorkliteraryfestival.ie

The School of English in association with the Centre for Literary Translation, Trinity College Dublin, hosts a celebration of the connections between Irish poets and modern Greece, with Joanna Kruczkowska, assistant professor at the University of Lodz, at 7pm on March 28th,in Emmet Theatre, Arts Building, TCD. eventbrite.ie

Jessica Peel-Yates is the new manager of the James Joyce Centre in North Great Georges Street, Dublin. She succeeds Mark Traynor. Jessica's previous Joycean credentials include her involvement in co-authoring pocket guides to Ulysses and Dubliners in the Romping Through Literature series produced by the creative collaboration group At It Again. An experienced professional manager, she also promises to bring a highly creative approach to her tenure as manager of the centre.

UCC's School of English 2017/2018 reading series continues on Tuesday, April 10th, 6.30pm, West Wing 9, UCC with Writers on Campus: International John Montague Poetry Fellow Brian Turner and UCC Writer-in-Residence Thomas Morris and on April 17th with award-winning novelist Joseph O'Neill and UCC poet/lecturer Leanne O'Sullivan at 6.30pm in the Creative Zone, Boole Library, UCC.

Sebastian Barry, the award-winning author and new Laureate for Irish Fiction, has been added to the line-up for this year's Cúirt International Festival of Literature, which takes place in Galway from April 23rd-29th. Barry will be talking to Irish novelist Paul Lynch in the Town Hall Theatre on April 26th at 8pm.