On this episode of TGE’s Current Read, we welcome Irish novelist Chloe Michelle Howarth. Best known for her debut novel Sunburn — a tender, searing portrait of queer adolescence and forbidden love — Chloe captured readers with her ability to balance delicacy and emotional intensity.

Sunburn was shortlisted for the 2024 Polari First Book Prize, the 2024 Book Awards: Discover Award, and the 2023 Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction, earning its place as a quiet cult classic among contemporary literary readers.

But in this episode of Current Read, we turn our attention to her second novel, Heap Earth Upon It — a multi-perspective family drama set in 1960s rural Ireland. Retaining Howarth’s poetic lyricism while stepping away from the teenage nostalgia of her debut, this novel dives into themes of repression, longing, and the shadows of family history, pulling readers into a darker, more atmospheric world with the intrigue of a literary thriller.

Chloe joins us to talk about her writing process, the atmospheric Irish countryside that shapes her fiction, and the thematic threads she wanted to explore in Heap Earth Upon It.

And as always on TGE’s Current Read, we get:

🖤 A special reading from the author

🤍 A peek at what’s on her current TBR

🖤 A hint of what Chloe is working on next

🎙️ Subscribe to TGE’s Current Read for more conversations with today’s most exciting authors.

__

🖤 LISTEN 💛 LIKE 🖤 SHARE 💛

(and let us know what you think of the episode!)

__

#ChloeMichelleHowarth #HeapEarthUponIt #Sunburn #IrishFiction #LiteraryFiction #QueerFiction #BookPodcast #WritersLife #TheGreatEqualizer #CurrentRead #BookTube #BookLovers #ReadingCommunity #AuthorInterview #NewBooks #IrishWriters #LiteraryPodcast

This episode of TGE’s Current Read was brought to you in part by Jonathan Ball Publishers.