Irish Debut Novelists | Roisín O’Donnell, Garrett Carr & Louise Hegarty
Sat 26 Apr 2025 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Ireland has always produced powerful and inventive writers – from reinventors of the form such as James Joyce to barrier-breaking Edna O’Brien and lyrical geniuses Sebastian Barry and Colm Toibin. In recent years, a new generation of novelists has come to the fore – Sally Rooney, Paul Murray and Colin Barrett among them. We’re delighted to play host to three of the brightest debuts of the year from the island of Ireland.
Nesting, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision to escape from a controlling marriage, taking her young daughters on a journey of reinvention. Set against the backdrop of Dublin’s broken housing system, this is a poignant story about motherhood, independence, and finding safety in unexpected places.
The Boy from the Sea takes us to the rugged coast of Donegal, where a mysterious baby found on the beach is adopted by fisherman Ambrose. Over two decades, this story unfolds through the eyes of a tight-knit community, exploring the boy’s search for identity, the complexities of family, and the impact of place.
In Fair Play, we follow a couple, their complex relationships, and the blurred lines between love, competition, and creativity. Set in the world of professional tennis, this novel explores ambition, desire, and the personal stakes behind public success.
Join us to explore the depth and diversity of Ireland’s new generation of writers, tackling themes of identity, community, and the human experience.
Selected by and in conversation with Alex Clark.
Venue: Old Divinity School
Duration: 1 hour
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Author biography
Roisín O’Donnell won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards in 2018, and was shortlisted for the same prize in 2022. She is the author of the story collection Wild Quiet, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, the Irish Times and many other places. Other stories have been selected for major anthologies such as The Long Gaze Back, and have featured on RTÉ Radio. Her debut novel Nesting will be published in 2025. Roisín is represented by Eleanor Birne at PEW Literary.
Garrett Carr teaches Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, and he is a frequent contributor to The Guardian and The Irish Times. His non-fiction The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland’s Border was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. The Boy from the Sea is his debut novel.
Louise Hegarty’s stories have appeared in Banshee, The Tangerine, The Stinging Fly and The Dublin Review and have been featured on BBC Radio 4. She was the inaugural winner of the Sunday Business Post/Penguin Ireland Short Story Prize and recently her story ‘Now, Voyager’ was produced as part of A City and A Garden, a new state-of-the-art sonic experience commissioned by Sounds from a Safe Harbour in association with Body & Soul and presented as part of Brightening Air | Coiscéim Coiligh. Fair Play is her debut novel
Chair Biography
Alex Clark is a broadcaster and journalist, who writes for many publications including the Guardian, the Observer, and the Times Literary Supplement. She is a co-host on the Graham Norton Book Club for Audible and hosts the TLS podcast. She is a professional chairperson and appears all over the UK at Cheltenham, Hay and the Southbank Centre. Alex is a festival honorary patron.
