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Carlo Gébler and actor Lise-Ann McLaughlin on Jennifer’s theatrical tradition, as daughter of playwright Denis Johnston and Abbey actor and producer Shelagh Richards Chair Dermot Bolger

Novelists Christine Dwyer Hickey, Sinéad Gleeson and Claire Kilroy discuss the Jennifer books they admire and re-read Chair Cauvery Madhavan

Jennifer’s son Patrick Smyth talks about important items donated to dlr Libraries and hosted in dlr LexIcon Chair Carlo Gébler

Writers and academics discuss Jennifer’s work and where she sits in the literary world, and share personal anecdotes about the writer they knew Chair Martina Devlin

Join us for an afternoon of conversation around two gripping books exploring the darkness behind perfect facades and journeys of self-discovery to regain sense of self. Caroline Madden’s The Marriage Vendetta (Eriu) is a darkly humorous story of secrets, betrayal, revenge, and dangerous influence. Assembling Ailish (Poolbeg) by Sharon Guard is a moving story of complex relationships, grief, and letting go of the past to move forward. The authors will be in conversation with writer Jackie Lynam.

As short stories continue to captivate, join us to delve into two striking collections. Mary Morrissy’s Twenty-Twenty Vision (The Lilliput Press) is a collection of stories exploring hindsight, honesty and late middle-age regret, with empathy and wry humour. Mary O’Donnell’s Walking Ghosts (Mercier Press) takes us from urban encounters to sun-drenched beaches and beyond, capturing the secret sorrows and resilient hopes of characters caught between who they were and who they might become. Join the authors in conversation with writer and critic Niall MacMonagle.

In May 2025 dlr Libraries, the Global Brain Health Institute and Creative Ireland Creative Health & Wellbeing programme delivered another session of talks and discussion around brain health. Curated by Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health, Karen Meenan and Mike Hanrahan, this day-long event focused on dementia care, featuring medical professionals, advocates, writers and musicians, as well as voices from caregivers and people living with dementia.

In May 2025 dlr Libraries, the Global Brain Health Institute and Creative Ireland Creative Health & Wellbeing programme delivered another session of talks and discussion around brain health. Curated by Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health, Karen Meenan and Mike Hanrahan, this day-long event focused on dementia care, featuring medical professionals, advocates, writers and musicians, as well as voices from caregivers and people living with dementia.

dlr Libraries were pleased to partner with Dublin Book Festival and host three events showcasing some of the best writing Ireland has to offer. Join Michael Longley in conversation with journalist and writer Olivia O’Leary. Michael Longley’s Ash Keys: New Selected Poems (Jonathan Cape) looks back on his extraordinary career, showing how his themes, genres and forms have evolved and interlaced since the 1960s. Love, violence, the natural world, art, psychodrama, family, the Great War, the Homeric past and Northern Ireland’s troubled present cohabit in these pages – as do depth, wit and beauty.

dlr Libraries were pleased to partner with Dublin Book Festival and host three events showcasing some of the best writing Ireland has to offer. Join Máiría Cahill in conversation with journalist and writer Olivia O'Leary. Rough Beast (Apollo) is Máiría Cahill‘s harrowing story, told here for the first time in full detail and with unsparing honesty. It is a story of unimaginable trauma and political corruption, but above all it is the story of one young woman’s defiance of those wielding power to inspire fear and silence, and their influence over elected politicians. Please note that this podcast contains strong language and sensitive content.

dlr Libraries were pleased to partner with Dublin Book Festival and host three events showcasing some of the best writing Ireland has to offer. Join Sinéad Gleeson in conversation with arts journalist Paula Shields. From acclaimed author Sinéad Gleeson comes Hagstone (4th Estate) a haunting and atmospheric fiction debut. Exploring themes of art, landscape, folklore and the feminine, Hagstone takes in the darker side of human nature, and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. Artist Nell lives on a wild and rugged island, between the reclusive commune of Inions up on the cliff and the strange murmurings that seem to emanate from within the depths of the island. When the Inions invite Nell into the commune, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew. Please note that this podcast contains strong language.

Creative Brainwaves returned for a three-part series of talks and workshops, exploring how our engagement in various creative arts can benefit our brain health. The sessions included brain health specialists, therapists, people living with and working with those affected by acquired brain injury, and a range of artists, musicians and writers. The series was curated and facilitated by Mike Hanrahan, Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin. On Tuesday 8th October, Alanna O’Connor, Liam Lynch, Gráinne McGettrick and Kathleen Brennan hosted the final series of talks on Innovative Arts in Acquired Brain Injury. Alanna O’Connor is a Speech and Language Therapist. Liam Lynch has worked in the Irish Defence Forces, adult education and as a transmission engineer. Gráinne McGettrick is the Director of Policy and Research with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland and a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin. Kathleen Brennan is recently retired from working with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland where her role was to actively support families affected by brain injury.

Creative Brainwaves returned for a three-part series of talks and workshops, exploring how our engagement in various creative arts can benefit our brain health. The sessions included brain health specialists, therapists, people living with and working with those affected by acquired brain injury, and a range of artists, musicians and writers. The series was curated and facilitated by Mike Hanrahan, Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin. On Thursday 3rd October, Laura Sarah Dowdall, Veronica Casey and Mike Hanrahan hosted the second series of talks on Dance and Creative Writing for Well-being. Laura Sarah Dowdall is an international facilitator and speaker on creative health, wellness and inclusion. Veronica Casey is a poet and short story writer who works with adults and children to develop their reading and writing skills. Mike Hanrahan is a writer, musician and Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health.

Creative Brainwaves returned for a three-part series of talks and workshops, exploring how our engagement in various creative arts can benefit our brain health. The sessions included brain health specialists, therapists, people living with and working with those affected by acquired brain injury, and a range of artists, musicians and writers. The series was curated and facilitated by Mike Hanrahan, Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin. On Tuesday 1st October, Gráinne Hope, David Hope and Brian Lawlor hosted the first series of talks on Amplifying Voices and Memories Through Music and Storytelling in Care Homes. Grainne Hope is a professional cellist, founder and Artistic Director of Music & Health Ireland, Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health (GBHI) and Chair with the Arts and Health Coordinators Ireland. David Hope is a professional musician, songwriter, recording artist, music educator, Music & Health practitioner. Brian Lawlor is a professor of old age psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, and Site Director of GBHI at Trinity.

On September 26 2024, dlr LexIcon welcomed legendary and bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson to talk about her first adult book, Think Again, in conversation with Aoife Barry.

On Saturday 28 September 2024, to mark what would have been the 80th birthday of renowned Irish poet Eavan Boland, dlr Libraries were delighted to host this event to celebrate the life and work of the much-loved and much-missed poet who died in April 2020. The event featured the poetry of Eavan, readings by her friends and family plus some music. Readers included members of the WEB women's writing group, established following a series of workshops for women writers facilitated by Eavan for publisher Arlen House in the 1980s. The group continues to meet monthly, and dlr Libraries were delighted to be able to support them through this event and other initiatives.

On Saturday 21 September 2024, to mark what would have been the 80th birthday of renowned Irish poet Eavan Boland, dlr Libraries were delighted to host this event that featured her poetry, readings by her friends and family plus some music. The late poet lived in Dundrum in South County Dublin, worked a lot with writing groups in the area, and was prominent in the cultural life of the county of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, in addition to being feted nationally and internationally.

Part of the One Dublin, One Book programme of events for 2024, join Louise Nealon in conversation with Sheila Armstrong, Olivia Fitzsimons and Aingeala Flannery as they meet to discuss the role of the sea in their lives, both on and off the page. At the beginning of Sheila Armstrong’s Fallen Animals, a body washes up on the Northwest coast of Ireland, and the search for his identity causes a ripple effect in the lives of people he would never meet. In Olivia Fitzsimon’s The Quiet Whispers Never Stop, a tumultuous relationship comes to blows on a beach in Donegal. The sea is a constant presence in Aingeala Flannery’s The Amusements, which explores the lives of the characters in the seaside village of Tramore, while in Snowflake; the One Dublin, One Book choice for 2024, Louise Nealon’s characters find solace on a fictional island of their own. In the gorgeous Studio space of dlr LexIcon, the writers will meet to discuss their relationship with the sea, their literary influences and more.

As part of Poetry Day Ireland 2024, we came together to celebrate the life and work of poet Eavan Boland, who died in 2020. A selection of invited writers read their favourite of Eavan's poems, and shared a memory of their connection with her. There was also music, contributing to what was a friendly and inclusive evening to commemorate the beloved poet. MC: Evelyn Conlon Readers: David Butler - Mise Éire Mary Rose Callaghan - An Irish Childhood in England:1951 Ella Barry - Legends (for Eavan Boland) Susan Connolly - The Lost Land Evelyn Conlon - The Grape Pickers Katie Donovan - The Pomegranate Anne Fitzgerald - That the Science of Cartography is Limited Catherine Phil MacCarthy - The Journey Mary Milne - In Our Own Country Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin - The Oral Tradition Mary O'Donnell - A Woman Painted on a Leaf Gerard Smyth - Unheroic Louise C Callaghan - Margin Joseph Woods - Quarantine Máiride Woods - Love Sarah Casey - Eviction Musicians: Róisín Ward Morrow & Breifne Holohan - The Wounded Hussar and Cailín as Contae Lú

Join broadcaster Rick O’Shea in conversation with authors Elaine Feeney and Paul Murray. Nominated for An Post Irish Book Awards – Book of the Year, How to Build a Boat is the beautiful novel about a young boy whose mission transforms the lives of his teachers and brings together a community. Winner of the An Post Irish Book Awards – Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Nero Prize, The Bee Sting explores the failures and vulnerability of the Barnes family and the consequences of a single moment that can change the direction of life. Elaine Feeney is a writer from the west of Ireland. Her 2020 debut novel, As You Were, was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Irish Novel of the Year Award, and won the Kate O'Brien Award, the McKitterick Prize, and the Dalkey Festival Emerging Writer Award. Feeney has published three collections of poetry including The Radio Was Gospel and Rise, and her short story ‘Sojourn’ was included in The Art of The Glimpse: 100 Irish Short Stories, edited by Sinéad Gleeson. Feeney lectures at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Paul Murray is the author of An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Skippy Dies and The Mark and the Void. An Evening of Long Goodbyes was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and nominated for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. Skippy Dies was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and longlisted for the Booker Prize. The Mark and the Void won the Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2016. He lives in Dublin. Rick O’Shea is a broadcaster with RTE, currently weekdays on RTE Gold. He was previously a presenter on RTE2FM and of The Book Show on RTE Radio 1. He runs Ireland’s largest book club - The Rick O’Shea Book Club on Facebook, hosts and curates public author interviews at festivals, and chooses the Eason Must Reads lists 4 times a year. He is a member of the An Post Irish Book Awards voting academy. Currently, Rick is literary curator for the annual UCD Festival and a board member of Fighting Words NI in Belfast. He’s a former judge of the Costa Book Awards and Dalkey Literary Awards, and a previous curator of the Waterford Writers Weekend.