Recent years have seen an unprecedented volume of exciting new fiction coming out of the North. Kildare Readers’ Festival is delighted to welcome Derry writer Kerri ní Dochartaigh speaking with Michelle Gallen and Olivia Fitzsimons about their new books and the current thriving literature scene in Northern Ireland.

Kerri ní Dochartaigh is from the North West of Ireland but now lives in the middle, in an old railway cottage with her partner and dog. She writes about nature, literature and place for The Irish Times, the BBC, the Guardian, Winter Papers, Caught By The River and others. She is the author of Thin Places, which was highly commended by the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021.

Michelle Gallen grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles a few miles from the border. She studied English Literature at Trinity College Dublin and Publishing at Stirling University. Her debut novel, Big Girl, Small Town was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Her second novel, Factory Girls was published this year.

Olivia Fitzsimons is from County Down, Northern Ireland and now lives in Wicklow, but never lost her accent. She studied History at Trinity College Dublin and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. The Quiet Whispers Never Stop is her debut novel. It was an Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair Winner 2020. She works as a screenwriter and in film development.

Kildare Readers Festival is brought to you every year in October by Kildare County Library and Arts Service. For more information about KRF see https://kildarecoco.ie/library/KildareReadersFestival/