This event took place on 22 November 2024. The information below is correct as of the publication date.

A special event to launch the British Library’s Irish Writers’ Weekend 2024 with leading writers Graham Norton, Louise Kennedy and Paul Muldoon in conversation with Alex Clark.

At a time when Irish literature is receiving more attention worldwide than ever before, three of Ireland’s most acclaimed writers come together to discuss their reading passions and creative lives.

Graham Norton has just published his new novel, Frankie, which, just as its four bestselling predecessors, is full of heart, intelligence and compellingly written characters. Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses is an unforgettable debut novel of people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary times. Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon is one of the most significant poetic voices working today.

They talk to leading literature journalist, and co-host of Graham’s Book Club podcast, Alex Clark.

Presented with the generous support of Culture Ireland and The Embassy of Ireland, London.

Graham Norton is an author, actor and television host whose latest novel Frankie was published in September. His fiction writing has won him critical acclaim and his four other novels have all been bestsellers in the UK and Ireland. Holding won the An Post Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction. A Keeper was shortlisted for both the Specsavers Popular Fiction Award and the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction. Home Stretch won the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction and has been optioned for a major TV series. Holding was also made into a high-profile ITV drama, directed by Kathy Burke, and Forever Home was shortlisted at the 2022 Irish Book Awards.

Louise Kennedy grew up a few miles from Belfast. She is the author of Trespasses, which won Novel Of The Year for 2023 at the An Post Irish Book Awards and Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards and was short listed for the Women's Prize; and the acclaimed short story collection, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac. She is the only woman to have been shortlisted twice for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award (2019 and 2020). Before starting her writing career, she spent nearly thirty years working as a chef. She lives in Sligo.

Paul Muldoon was born in County Armagh and lives in New York, where he has taught at Princeton University for thirty-five years. He is the author of fifteen collections of poetry, most recently Joy in Service on Rue Tagore. Among his awards are the 1972 Eric Gregory Award, the 1980 Sir Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award, the 1994 T.S. Eliot Prize, the 1997 Irish Times Poetry Prize, the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, the 2003 Griffin International Prize for Poetry, the 2004 American Ireland Fund Literary Award, the 2004 Shakespeare Prize, the 2006 European Prize for Poetry, the 2015 Pigott Poetry Prize, the 2017 Queens Gold Medal for Poetry, and the 2020 Michael Marks Award.

Alex Clark is a critic, journalist and broadcaster. A co-host of Graham Norton’s Book Club and the Times Literary Supplement podcast, she is also a regular on BBC Radio 4 and writes on a wide range of subjects for the Guardian, the Observer and the Irish Times. She is a patron of the Cambridge Literary Festival, and has judged many literary awards, including the Booker prize. She is an experienced chair of live events, and lives in Kilkenny, Ireland.

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