The Arts Council Podcast

In this episode, Éilís talks to novelists Oisín Fagan and Roisín O’Donnell about their respective novels Eden’s Shore and Nesting. Described as ‘a striking new talent’ (The Times) and ‘a true original’ (Irish Examiner), Oisín’s latest novel Eden’s Shore, set in an era of global upheaval, is an epic and intricate tale of greed, revenge and love. Roisín O’Donnell has been described as a ‘novelist wh...

In her first public event as the fourth Laureate for Irish Fiction 2025-2028, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne discussed her writing career to date and her role as Laureate with Niall MacMonagle. This event was recorded at  the National Library of Ireland on 16 September 2025.

Section 6 of the 'Artists with Disabilities at the Intersection of Work and Welfare' Report: Literature Review. VO Artist: Dorothy Grace Laity

Section 5 of the 'Artists with Disabilities at the Intersection of Work and Welfare' Report: Policy Context. VO Artist: Dorothy Grace Laity

Section 4 of the 'Artists with Disabilities at the Intersection of Work and Welfare' Report: Recommendations. VO Artist: Dorothy Grace Laity

Section 3 of the 'Artists with Disabilities at the Intersection of Work and Welfare' Report: Findings. VO Artist: Dorothy Grace Laity

Section 2 of the 'Artists with Disabilities at the intersection of Work and Welfare' Report: Background, Rationale and Methodology. VO Artist: Dorothy Grace Laity

Introduction to the 'Artists with Disabilities at the Intersection of Work and Welfare' report 2025. VO Artist: Dorothy Grace Laity

Patricia Forde, Laureate na nÓg 2023 - 2026, delivered her inaugural laureate lecture at Baboró 2024, inspired by the theme she has chosen for her laureate, “Making It Up As We Go Along”. Patricia discussed the importance of reading in a child’s creative development and the importance of immersive play in fostering the skills required to read and write creatively.

The December Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Elaine Feeney about his book 'How to Build a Boat'. “Elaine Feeney’s second novel, set in a small, fictional Irish town on the west coast, tells the story of Jamie, a boy who seeks to connect with his dead mother. ‘Feeney’s prose,’ The New York Times has written, ‘is both careful and r...

The November Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Michael Magee about his book 'Close to Home'. “Michael Magee’s first novel deals with the Troubles as both legacy and aftermath. At its centre is Sean who has returned to Belfast. The book has been described by The Guardian as ‘a staggeringly humane and tender evocation of class, viole...

The October Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Caoilinn Hughes about her novel ‘The Alternatives’. “Caoilinn Hughes’s novel deals with the lives of four brilliant sisters, lives that have been deeply scarred by the death of their parents. As Hernan Diaz has written, this is ‘a tale about sisterhood, a novel of ideas, a chronicle of...

“Paul Lynch’s novel, winner of the 2023 Booker Prize, is set in the near future in a real Dublin in which a totalitarian regime has come to power. ‘If there was ever a crucial book for our current times,’ The Guardian has written, ‘it’s Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song.’” Learn more about the Art of Reading Book Club and the Laureate for Irish Fiction programme: https://www.artscouncil.ie/Arts-in-Ireland...

The August Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Dermot Bolger about his novel 'The Lonely Sea and Sky' “The novel tells the story of the rescue by a small Irish boat of 168 German sailors during World War II. The narrator is Jack Roche, a 14-year-old Wexford lad whose father has been killed at sea. Part historical fiction, part coming...

“Set in 1994, The Coast Road tells the story of two women— Izzy and Colette. Colette has left her husband and sons for a married man in Dublin. When she returns to her home in County Donegal, her husband, Shaun, a successful businessman, denies her access to her children. ‘The last great book I read,’ the actress Gillian Anderson has said. ‘It will no doubt be a bestseller.'" Learn more about the...

The June Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Belind McKeon about her novel 'Solace' "In her compelling debut novel, Solace,’ Anna Fogarty wrote in The Irish Times in 2011, ‘Belinda McKeon succeeds in subtly reconfiguring and updating the archetypal story of a son’s quarrel with his father. In her hands, it becomes a profound and exac...

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 contradictory interior states, the water we all swim in...

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 Fox’s Birthday is a mischievous, insightful nove...

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 brilliant on fathers and sons, sibling rivalry, gr...

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 lives. ‘Irish-English has always been wild,’ Roddy Do...

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 Irish Times, ‘vital in all senses of the word, a fl...

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 metaphysical thriller, This Plague of Souls deals wit...

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 going from Ovid through to contemporary poets in...

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. ‘It took up residence in my imagination when I was...

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 thousands of Jews and Allied prisoners out of Italy to sa...