Limerick Literary Festival Opening Event

This event is part of The Island of Imagination – A Literary Tour of Ireland. Laureate for Irish Fiction Éilís Ní Dhuibhne delves into contemporary Irish fiction on a journey of exploration to highlight literature emanating from every county in Ireland. The Laureate for Irish Fiction is an initiative of the Arts Council.

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is the author of more than thirty books including the novels The Dancers Dancing, The Shelter of Neighbours, Fox, Swallow, Scarecrow, Dordán, Cailíní Beaga Ghleann na Blath and seven collections of short stories. Her most recent books are Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir (shortlisted for the Michel Déon Award 2020) and Little Red and Other Stories (2020), Selected Stories (2023), Fáínne Geal and Lae (2023).

Her many literary awards include the Pen Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature, and a Hennessy Hall of Fame Award and many Oireachtas Awards for her writing in Irish. The Dancers Dancing was shortlisted for the Orange Prize 2000. She has written many scholarly articles on folklore and literary topics,and is a regular book reviewer for The Irish Times. In autumn 2020 she held the prestigious Burns Scholarship at Boston College. She is a member of Aosdána, and President of the Folklore of Ireland Society. She is the fourth Laureate for Irish Fiction and holds the honour for 2025-2028.

Sarah Gilmartin is an Irish writer and arts journalist. She co-edited the anthology Stinging Fly Stories. Her short fiction has been published in The Dublin Review, New Irish Writing and The Tangerine. She won the Máirtín Crawford Short Story Award in 2020. Her bestselling debut novel Dinner Party (One, 2021) was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and the Kate O’Brien Award. Her second novel Service (One, 2023) was a Waterstones Book of the Month and a Washington Post top books of summer. She was the Arts Council DCU Writer in Residence.