MUSICAL VOICES AND STORIES Featuring a Novel, a Memoir and a Biography This 3-part series of interviews in which the worlds of music and literature intersect has been specially produced for ICC Digital. The highly successful singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke will discuss his recent novel The Pawnbroker’s Reward which is set during the Famine; the renowned fiddler Martin Hayes will discuss his memoir, Shared Notes: A Musical Journey; Richard Balls will discuss his biography of Shane Mc...

MUSICAL VOICES AND STORIES Featuring a Novel, a Memoir and a Biography This 3-part series of interviews in which the worlds of music and literature intersect has been specially produced for ICC Digital. The highly successful singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke will discuss his recent novel The Pawnbroker’s Reward which is set during the Famine; the renowned fiddler Martin Hayes will discuss his memoir, Shared Notes: A Musical Journey; Richard Balls will discuss his biography o...

MUSICAL VOICES AND STORIES Featuring a Novel, a Memoir and a Biography This 3-part series of interviews in which the worlds of music and literature intersect has been specially produced for ICC Digital. The highly successful singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke will discuss his recent novel The Pawnbroker’s Reward which is set during the Famine; the renowned fiddler Martin Hayes will discuss his memoir, Shared Notes: A Musical Journey; Richard Balls will discuss his biography o...

During the interview in this podcast Claire discusses her recently published novel Small Things Like These. Set in 1985 in New Ross, Co. Wexford during the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. Claire Keegan grew up on a farm in Wic...

We are pleased to present Jan Carson in conversation with Anne Flaherty. About Jan Carson: born in Ballymena, Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator now based in Belfast. Her writing includes Malcolm Orange Disappears (2014), Children’s Children, (2016), and two micro-fiction collections, Postcard Stories 1 and 2 (2017 & 2020). Jan won the Harper’s Bazaar short story competition in 2016 and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Story Prize and Sean O’Faolain Shor...

We are pleased to present Glenn Patterson in conversation with Anne Flaherty. About Glenn Patterson: born and based in Belfast, Glenn Patterson is a graduate of the University of East Anglia creative writing course. He is the author of 11 highly acclaimed novels, including Burning Your Own (1988), Fat Lad (1992), That Which Was (2004), The Mill for Grinding Old People Young (2012) and Gull (2016). He also co-wrote the screenplay of the film Good Vibrations (2013) about the Belfast music...

We are pleased to present poet Frank Ormsby in conversation with Anne Morrison. About Frank Ormsby: Born in Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, Frank Ormsby was educated at Queen’s University in Belfast and until 2010 he was Head of English at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He is the eighth Ireland Professor of Poetry, a position he took up on 1 November 2019 and will hold until 31 October 2022. Frank has consistently been seen as one of Northern Ireland’s foremost poets a...

Lucy Caldwell discusses her most recent publication, Intimacies (2021), in conversation with Keith Hopper. About Lucy Caldwell: born in Belfast and currently living in London, Lucy Caldwell is the author of 3 novels: Where They Were Missed (2005), The Meeting Point (2011) and All the Beggars Riding (2013). She has written 2 collections of short stories, Multitudes (2016) and Intimacies (2021), along with several stage plays and radio dramas. She is also the editor of Being Various: New ...

Michael Longley discusses his most recent publication, The Candlelight Master (2020), in conversation with Anne Morrison. About Michael Longley: born in Belfast, Michael Longley, the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of 12 collections of poetry, has been a central figure in the poetry of Northern Ireland since the 1960s. From his first collection, No Continuing City: Poems 1963-1968 (1969) to his most recent publication, The Candlelight Master (2020), he has received numerou...

Launching our series on Northern Irish Voices, Mary McAleese discusses her recent memoir, Here’s The Story (2020), in conversation with Carlo Gébler. About Dr Mary McAleese: Born in Belfast, Dr Mary McAleese is a law graduate from Queen’s University. In 1975 she was appointed Reid Professor of Law at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1987 she returned to Queen’s as Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies and in 1994 she became its first female pro-Vice Chancellor. ...

The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith is pleased to present the final interview in our mini-series “Life in Lockdown”. Joining resident ICC interviewer, Anne Flaherty, is stand-up comedian, writer, presenter and ICC patron – Dara Ó Briain. In addition to discussing his most recent book, Is There Anybody Out There? (2020), Dara’s conversation with Anne covers a wide range of topics: how he nearly didn’t make it home when the pandemic began, how the comedy circuit has changed in the past ye...

We are pleased to present an upcoming mini-series, Life in Lockdown. Join resident ICC interviewer, Anne Flaherty, as she chats with actor, presenter, writer and activist Siobhán McSweeney on 1st April and comedian, presenter, writer and ICC Patron Dara Ó Briain on 8th April while they reflect on their experiences in lockdown. Discussions include how the entertainment industry will bounce back, pottery, living arrangements, rushed flights home, binged TV series, what it means to be Irish in t...

The ICC Digital Literary Festival features some of the stalwarts of Irish literature alongside recent bestselling authors. This recorded conversation features our Literary Festival interviewers in a panel discussion chaired by Anne Goudsmit. About Dr Keith Hopper Keith is a lecturer in Literature, Film Studies, and Digital Humanities for Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education. He is the author of Flann O’Brien: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Post-modernist (revised editi...

The ICC Digital Literary Festival features some of the stalwarts of Irish literature alongside recent bestselling authors. This interview features author John Banville in conversation with Carlo Gébler. About John Banville John Banville is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of 17 novels, including The Sea which won the 2005 Man Booker prize and The Book of Evidence which was shortlisted for the Booker prize in 1989. Other major achievements include The Franz Kafka prize, ...

The ICC Digital Literary Festival features some of the stalwarts of Irish literature alongside recent bestselling authors. This interview features author Michelle Gallen in conversation with Keith Hopper. About Michelle Gallen Michelle’s previous work has been published in The Stinging Fly and Mslexia and she has won the Orange/NW Short Story award. She will discuss and read from Big Girl, Small Town, her debut novel, which has been described as ‘even funnier than Derry Girls, while being jus...

The ICC Digital Literary Festival features some of the stalwarts of Irish literature alongside recent bestselling authors. This interview features author Carlo Gébler in conversation with Dermot Bolger. About Carlo Gébler Carlo is the author of nearly 30 works including novels, plays, short stories, children’s fiction, travel writing, historical pieces and a memoir. His more recent work includes The Wing Orderly’s Tales (2016), The Innocent of Falkland Road (2017) and a retelling of Aesop’s F...

The ICC Digital Literary Festival features some of the stalwarts of Irish literature alongside recent bestselling authors. This interview features author Liz Nugent in conversation with Anne Flaherty. About Liz Nugent Liz is the author of four highly successful novels: Unravelling Oliver, Lying in Wait, Skin Deep and Our Little Cruelties. From the outset her work has attracted numerous awards. At the Irish Book Awards she has twice won both the Crime Fiction award and RTE Ra...

The ICC Digital Literary Festival features some of the stalwarts of Irish literature alongside recent bestselling authors. This interview features author Colum McCann in conversation with Carlo Gébler. Colum is the author of seven highly acclaimed novels, including Let The Great World Spin and Transatlantic and is the recipient of numerous awards.. He has also written three collections of short stories. Colum is the President and Co-Founder of Narrative 4, a global non-profit organization whi...

The ICC Digital Literary Festival features some of the stalwarts of Irish literature alongside recent bestselling authors. This interview features author Dermot Bolger in conversation with Anne Flaherty. First published on ICC Digital on 29/11. About Dermot Bolger Dermot is a journalist, editor, publisher, and one of Ireland’s best known and most prolific authors. He has written 14 novels, 17 plays and 10 collections of poetry. His work has attracted many awards, including the AE Memorial Pri...

The ICC Digital Literary Festival features some of the stalwarts of Irish literature alongside recent bestselling authors. This interview features author and editor Sinéad Gleeson in conversation with Carlo Gébler. First published on ICC Digital on 25/11. About Sinéad Gleeson Sinéad is a writer, editor and broadcaster. Her ground-breaking and critically acclaimed collection of personal essays, Constellations: Reflections from Life (2019), won Non-Fiction Irish Book of The Year Award and the D...