Martina Devlin
City of BooksEpisodes
Episodes of City of Books
Mark All
Search Episodes...
The Raptures is Jan Carson’s most autobiographical novel, dealing with a child raised in an evangelical Christian community in 1990s Northern Ireland – which mirrors her own background. In her book, a class of children from the same village fal
“I really don't like the fact that sometimes I'm referred to as kind of a controversial novelist because I don't feel that I am,” says John Boyne, whose novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold 11 million copies and mounting, and has been
Andrew Meehan is nailing his colours to the mast. He writes love stories, he says – although it took him until his third and most recent novel to recognise it. It was only as he was working on his latest novel, Instant Fires, that realisation d
One of history’s most famous royal love affairs is threaded through Emily Hourican’s latest novel. The backdrop to The Other Guinness Girl is the 1936 abdication crisis, when the newly-crowned King Edward VIII surrendered this throne to marry h
Happily ever afters don’t have to involve a fairy tale wedding followed by staying together for the sake of the children, come what may, says début author Cristín Leach. The art critic speaks candidly about her marriage breakdown in her memoir,
“Fiction sometimes unearths truths – and truths we’re not even aware of knowing,” says novelist Catherine Dunne. She’s talking about her novel, A Name For Himself, and Lia Mills’s novel Another Alice, reissued in new editions as part of the Arl
As Somerville and Ross they were a dynamic literary partnership. When Ross died, Edith Somerville convinced herself they could continue to collaborate on books - by communicating beyond the grave through spiritualism. Martina Devlin talks about
Sara Baume is unafraid to use her own life in her writing, while insisting on its status as fiction. She does it again in her new book Seven Steeples, a gentle and thought-provoking novel spanning seven years. It’s about a couple and their two
If you think you’re obsessed with being online, you should meet the characters in début author Catherine Prasifka’s novel None of This Is Serious. Her book deals with the preoccupations of Gen Z, coming of age right now. Despite their shiny new
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” said William Faulkner – and the past is ever-present, but with a twist, in Rosemary Jenkinson’s short story collection Marching Season. The Belfast playwright and short story writer tackles rioting,
Everyone is talking about Edel Coffey’s debut novel which deals with Forgotten Baby Syndrome, every exhausted-by-the-juggle parent’s nightmare. Breaking Point tells of a high-powered career woman who accidentally leaves her baby in the car on a
“Birds sing because they have to – because they must,” says the man who knows more than most about the subject, Professor David Rothenberg, an American musician, philosopher and writer whose books include Why Birds Sing, Nightingales in Berlin
“I had to create her out of nothing,” says JR Thorp of her debut novel Learwife, which explores the untold story of King Lear’s wife, written out of literary history. The idea first occurred to Thorp at the age of eleven when she read Agatha Ch
Famously, King Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. That's what everyone knows about the Greek myth. But Carlo Gébler sets out to humanise the story. He talks about his novel I Antigone set in the seventh century BC, and why Antigo
A chance meeting with a professor of circus fired children’s writer Sarah Webb’s imagination and led to her latest novel. Sarah learned how Ireland had the second circus in the world in the late 1700s, with stunt riding, clowns, acrobats - and
Michael Collins is the most famous casualty of the Irish Civil War but there is a lot of “what-if-ery”about him, says Ireland’s best-known historian. “Some “vey fanciful” claims are about the kind of leader he would have become if he had surviv
Playwright Rosaleen McDonagh talks about her activism, disability campaigning, journey through adult education which led to a Phd, and weaving together elements of Traveller culture and settled culture, forging an identity from them. She tells
A delicate, rare bloom which is “like the blood diamonds of the flower world” and fetches millions of euro is the subject of poet Paul Perry’s first solo novel. The Garden centres on an orchid farm in Florida, where the owner is desperate to re
Violet Gibson, an Irishwoman who attempted to shoot Italy’s fascist leader Mussolini, is one among a host of fascinating characters in Evelyn Conlon’s new short story collection, Moving About The Place. In 1926, she fired on ‘Il Duce’ as he wal
From social change to gender change - all bases are covered in this wide-ranging conversation with one of Ireland's most sparkling writers. Lisa McInerney's The Glorious Heresies trilogy is a memorable take on a seamy slice of life. The latest
A new collection of essays which reflect on the perils and compulsions of authorship, the vagaries of success and failure - and what counts as either. Twenty-one contributors tell it like it really was. All of them came of age when equality leg
At the age of 20, three months after meeting James Joyce, Nora Barnacle left everything she knew behind to share the adventure of a lifetime with him. She was a maid in a Dublin hotel when they met, and he was a clever and ambitious young man w
“One of the brilliant things about books is that you can buy a book by the very best writers and if it still costs a tenner – it doesn’t cost any more than bad writing,” says Rónán Hession. He's author of the 2021 One Dublin One Book choice Leo
John Banville, who has killed off his own Benjamin Black pen name, is disturbed by explicit depictions of violence in popular culture. He warns that people are constantly bombarded with graphic images. “There has to be more violence, more shock
Oscar-winning filmmaker Neil Jordan runs parallel careers as a director and novelist, and his latest book is his most cinematic yet. It’s an historical novel, The Ballad of Lord Edward and Citizen Small, about the true-life friendship between a
Join Podchaser to...
- Rate podcasts and episodes
- Follow podcasts and creators
- Create podcast and episode lists
- & much more
Unlock more with Podchaser Pro
- Audience Insights
- Contact Information
- Demographics
- Charts
- Sponsor History
- and More!
- Account
- Register
- Log In
- Find Friends
- Resources
- Help Center
- Blog
- API
Podchaser is the ultimate destination for podcast data, search, and discovery. Learn More
- © 2024 Podchaser, Inc.
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service
- Contact Us