Oscar-winning filmmaker Neil Jordan runs parallel careers as a director and novelist, and his latest book is his most cinematic. The Ballad of Lord Edward and Citizen Small tells of the true-life friendship between aristocrat turned revolutionary Lord Edward Fitzgerald and the runaway American slave who saved him. Published by Lilliput. More here: https://www.lilliputpress.ie/product/the-ballad-of-lord-edward-and-citizen-small Presented+produced by Martina Devlin Music Daragh Dukes

“As someone prone to get lost in the darker currents of my own head I’ve found it healthier to get lost in a book,” says Danielle McLaughlin. She speaks candidly about feelings of anxiety and how immersing herself in writing is a positive way to deal with them. Her debut novel is The Art of Falling, about art and infidelity. Her short story collection is Dinosaurs on Other Planets. https://www.johnmurraypress.co.uk/titles/danielle-mclaughlin/the-art-of-falling/9781473613683/

“The number 63 has come up for me time and time again in very strange ways,” says writer Louise O’Neill. “I have put it in each of my books." One of her favourite reads is Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes, which she read in St John o’ Gods suffering from anorexia. It helped her understand her own the addiction. Her latest novel is After the Silence from Quercus. More information: https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/landing-page/after-the-silence/ Produced and presented by Martina Devlin

Poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin talks about a time when books were banned in Ireland. And how her mother, distinguished children's writer Eilís Dillon, had a cupboard of them. “It was, of course, nonsensical that they were banned," says Eiléan, winner of China’s prestigious 1573 International Poetry Award. Produced and presented by Martina Devlin. Eiléan's Collected Poems available from the Gallery Press website here: https://www.gallerypress.com/authors/m-to-n/eilean-ni-chuilleanain/

“I don’t know if Ireland is the same any more,” says Booker Prize winner and former Laureate for Irish Fiction Anne Enright. Previously hidden things have become “knowable, newly sayable” in the last 30 years and this has contributed to an altered Ireland. Funded by the Arts Council, supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and the Museum of Literature Ireland.  Produced and presented by Martina Devlin. More on Actress: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/1009089/anne-enright.html

Louis de Bernières is known worldwide as the author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin - but at nineteen, teaching in Colombia, he was known for something else. Dancing like a chicken. He talks to City of Books about how "we raised a lot of dust, raised a lot of fun" during that life-changing period in South America. For more on his latest novel, The Autumn of the Ace: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1117235/the-autumn-of-the-ace/9781787301337.html Produced and presented by Martina Devlin.

In her first podcast interview since winning the An Post Irish Book of the Year award for 2020, Doireann Ní Ghríofa describes how she shares her life with a famous 18th century widow. A Ghost in the Throat pays tribute to a passionate love affair that ended in tragedy. It traces the life of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill – composer of The Lament For Art O’Leary, which she recited over his murdered body. More information: https://tramppress.com/product/a-ghost-in-the-throat-by-doireann-ni-ghriofa/

Eoin McNamee blurs fact and fiction to produce art, whether exploring secret intelligence agencies or speculating on why Princess Diana died in a high speed car accident. His novels are gritty and poetic but sometimes attract criticism for being near the knuckle - which he sees as their function. He also writes for Valhalla, the Vikings spinoff. More info on his latest novel The Vogue: https://www.faber.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/index/order/date_of_publication/dir/desc/q/Eoin+McNamee/

Writer Emma Donoghue us how she wrote an Oscar-nominated script working with director Lenny Abrahamson on 'Room'. She also talks about her latest novel 'The Pull of the Stars' set during the 1918 flu pandemic – with parallels that sound a familiar note today. For more on Emma’s book: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/emma-donoghue/the-pull-of-the-stars/9781529046151 City of Books host Martina Devlin Music Daragh Dukes

Ireland's man in Washington, Ambassador Daniel Mulhall, talks us through the rhyme and reason of poetry - and how literature can act as a cultural bridge. He practises what he preaches by tweeting daily poems. Also in this episode, Professor Chris Morash of Trinity College Dublin discusses who's in the shakeup for a valued and valuable award: the Dublin International Literature Prize worth €100,000. Produced and presented by Martina Devlin. Music by Daragh Dukes.

Lemn Sissay shoots from the hip and speaks from the heart in this interview about mother and baby homes, the Black Lives Matter campaign and his experience in the British care system.   “My name was changed, I was treated as property,” the poet and playwright Lemn tells City of Books presenter Martina Devlin. His story is told in a powerful memoir, My Name Is Why. But poetry gave him a sense of belonging in a world he couldn't fathom. More info: www.lemnsissay.com

Richard Ford is listing his failures. He wanted to be a lawyer in the US Marines. Didn’t work out. He wanted to be “a lawyer, period”. Didn’t work out. He became a writer – and by any standards the Pulitzer Prize winner is a success. Even so, he sometimes thought he was through with fiction and imagined doing other jobs. And between books, he claims to “flounce” around finding reasons not to work. Sorry For Your Trouble is his latest book, a short story collection published by Bloomsbury.

Doyenne of domestic noir Liz Nugent’s work has an army of fans including Graham Norton, who describes her latest hit Our Little Cruelties as part rollercoaster, part maze. Here, Liz talks to Martina Devlin about coping with pain stemming from a childhood brain haemorrhage, and overcoming challenges large and small – such as one-handed typing. “Shakespeare wrote all his plays one-handed with a feather,” she says. She also reveals her favourite fictional antihero. Clue: he's sexy but mean.

Writer Colum McCann talks about his hope that his book, Apeirogon, may contribute to peace. It fictionalises the true story of two fathers, an Israeli and a Palestinian, who each lose a child in the conflict. He also reads from his novel. Produced and presented by Martina Devlin. Music by Daragh Dukes. Apeirogon is published by Bloomsbury https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/apeirogon-9781526607874/

The Maamtrasna murders were sparked by a blood feud in 19th century Ireland. A family of five was killed by neighbours - but the trial proved to be just as notorious as the murders. Professor Margaret Kelleher of University College Dublin and Mr Justice Peter Kelly, president of Ireland's High Court, discuss the case and its political context. For more on Margaret Kelleher’s book follow the link: https://www.ucdpress.ie/display.asp?isbn=9781910820421& Host: Martina Devlin

Three Fs have been a consistent part of international bestseller Joanna Trollope's life: Fiction, family and feminism. She explains why here. The international bestseller says, “There will always be women who want to stay at home in the kitchen and make jam tarts with the three-year-old, and there will always be women who want to rule the world.” Which kind is she?

The magic of storytelling, why famine stories continue to grip us and the powerful use of the child's voice in Tatty - the 2020 Dublin One City One Book choice. All this and more from Marita Conlon-McKenna, much-loved author of Under The Hawthorn Tree.

RTÉ Arts and Media Correspondent Sinéad Crowley, also a crime novelist, talks about books, her love of running, her passion for ghost stories and 'Tatty' - the 2020 Dublin One City One Book choice.

Writer Carlo Gébler, son of Edna O'Brien, talks about One City One Book choices in the second of four weekly City of Books podcast extras. On his mother's classic trilogy, The Country Girls, he says it stands the test of time because it “talks about the truth of human experience”.

Writer and editor Sinéad Gleeson talks Tatty – and more – in the first of four City of Books podcast extras. Weekly to coincide with Dublin’s One City One Book programme featuring the novel by Christine Dwyer Hickey. Presented and produced by Martina Devlin Music by Daragh Dukes For more on Tatty follow this link https://www.newisland.ie/fiction/tatty For more on Sinéad Gleeson follow this link http://www.sineadgleeson.com

We snoop along Paschal Donohoe’s bookshelves, in episode three. And we also hear from Christine Dwyer Hickey, author of Tatty – Dublin’s One City One Book choice for 2020 –about how alcoholism shapes an entire family

In this episode, the international bestseller talks about everything from why she believes in supporting other women, to why bulimia is possibly the cruellest addiction. Marian also talks about her latest novel Grown Ups. ----- A monthly podcast supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature in association with the Museum of Literature Ireland (MOLI). ----- Presented & Edited by Martina Devlin Produced by Steve Byrne Music by Daragh Dukes

In this episode, artist Robert Ballagh discusses his autobiography A Reluctant Memoir, published by Head of Zeus Later in the episode, writer Mary Costello takes a tour of the iconic James Joyce Tower in Dublin where Joyce set the opening chapter of his masterpiece Ulysses. ----- A monthly podcast supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature in association with the Museum of Literature Ireland (MOLI). ----- Presented & Produced by Martina Devlin Produced by Steve Byrne

Martina Devlin talks books with people who believe stories matter. And that you can never have too many books.  A monthly podcast supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature in association with the Museum of Literature Ireland (MOLI). Subscribe now!