Kevin Barry reads a brand-new short story, Toronto and the State of Grace, from his forthcoming collection That Old Country Music. This is a special preview ahead of the book launch next week, on October 15th in Ireland and the UK. Kevin is joined by his longtime Dutch translator, Auke Leistra.

For each episode of 'Talking Translations' we have paired a story with a language, and asked the author and translator to read their work aloud. It is our hope to share these stories with listeners around the world, heard in languages where the author may not yet  be widely published – or, in this case, to share a new story from a well-established relationship.

Literature Ireland Promotes Irish literary authors and their work worldwide and is funded by Culture Ireland and the Arts Council. To read the full stories in English and Dutch, and to learn more about what we do, visit www.literatureireland.com. For any queries, or to say hello, please email [email protected]. The intro/outro music in this series is kindly used with permission from David Hilowitz.