The Arts Council Podcast

The March Art of Reading book club features Colm in conversation with Adrian Frazier about the novel Esther Waters by George Moore. ‘In this novel, Moore works like a nineteenth century French painter in drawing a portrait of a spirited young women of reduced circumstances facing her destiny in an unforgiving world.’ Colm Tóibín

Welcome to The Art of Reading, a monthly book club hosted by Colm Tóibín, the Laureate for Irish Fiction, and shared on the last Thursday of every month. The first Art of Reading book club features Colm in conversation with Claire Keegan about her latest work ‘Small Things Like These’. Each month our Laureate will discuss a novel by an Irish writer, highlighting outstanding Irish writing and celeb...

Sebastian Barry gives his final lecture as Laureate for Irish Fiction. Introduction by Arts Council Chair, Kevin Rafter.

In late 1994 Donal McCann undertook to play the lead in The Steward of Christendom. The second Laureate lecture, called Still Life, with Donal is Sebastian Barry's account of the extraordinary experience of working with such a unique, challenging and veritably nuclear actor and human being. Barry's first Laureate for Irish Fiction Lecture The Lives of Saints was delivered in Dublin in autumn 2018....

On 9 September at the Gate Theatre Dublin, Laureate for Irish Fiction Sebastian Barry delivered his first annual lecture entitled The Lives of the Saints. Speaking about the lecture, Sebastian Barry said, “In forty years of writing and living, inevitably and often by mere accident, a writer encounters other writers. This lecture is an account of some of the singular individuals met in this way ove...

Anne Enright delivered her first US lecture as Laureate for Irish Fiction at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House as part of the Laureate programme in April 2016. Speaking prior to the lecture, Enright said, “When I flew to New York in February 2000 I thought my life could not get better: I was pregnant, I was bringing the proofs for my first New Yorker story in my bag, and I met Seamus Heane...

In this series, the Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry sits down with some of his favourite writers to ask: What the Hell/Heaven Are We Doing? His on-going conversation about the mysteries of writing and the intricacies of the craft continues this week with award-winning Irish novelist Eimear McBride. In this conversation, Eimear and Sebastian discuss the limits of language, what "home" f...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking big questions about the nature of writing itself. Kevin is a multiple award-winning writer whose most recent book, Night Boat to Tangier, was published in 2019. Here, he sits down with Sebastian via video chat to puzzle out some of the deeper questions about the art of writing, includi...

Award-winning short story author Danielle McLaughlin is Sebastian Barry's guest this week on What the Hell/Heaven Are We Doing? This video series features the Laureate for Irish Fiction in conversation with a selection of fellow writers as they probe the mysteries of the writing craft and ask: What is writing? What is its purpose beyond pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? In this convers...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry's compelling series, What the Hell/Heaven Are We Doing? continues this week with a discussion about the nature of writing and the intricacies of the craft with prize-winning author Nicole Flattery. Sebastian and Nicole discuss topics as wide-ranging as inclusivity in the publishing industry, Irish storytelling vs. Irish silence, and learning how to u...

Welcome back to What the Hell/Heaven Are We Doing?, the series where the Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, asks big questions of fellow writers about the nature of their shared craft. What is the purpose of writing? Find out what author Tom Kilroy thinks in this episode. Thomas Kilroy was born in Callan, Co Kilkenny in 1934. He served as play editor at the Abbey in 1977 and was appointe...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking big questions about the nature of writing itself. What is its purpose? What should we make of its mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Colm Tóibín was born in E...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in Wiltshire and went on to study Literature and Dra...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing? What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? In the latest conversation, he speaks with Louise O’Neill. Louise O’Neill was born in West Cork, where she lives and works. Her first novel, Only Ever Yours, was published in 2014...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Yan Ge was born in Sichuan in the People’s Republic of China, and currently lives...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Liz Nugent was born in Dublin, where she lives and works. Before becoming a full-t...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Gavin Corbett was born in Co. Galway and grew up in Dublin, where he studied Histo...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. The Laureate for Irish Fiction is an initiative of the Arts Council in partnership...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Claire Kilroy was born in Dublin, where she lives and works. She has written four...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Rob Doyle was born in Dublin. His widely acclaimed first novel, Here Are the Young...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Paul Lynch was born in Limerick and grew up in Co Donegal. His debut novel Red Sky...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Mia Gallagher was born in Dublin, where she lives and works. Her debut novel, Hell...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Melatu Uche Okorie was born in Nigeria and moved to Ireland in 2006. It was during...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Sara Baume was born in Yorkshire. She won the 2014 Davy Byrne’s Short Story Award,...

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. John Boyne was born in Dublin where he lives and works. He has published eleven novels f...