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Burning Books Ireland

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If your house was on fire, what books would you save from the flames? 




The Books Ireland podcast features authors and well-known cultural figures discussing the titles that have formed the backdrop to their lives—their childhood memories perhaps, or books they fell in love with. Maybe there are authors they return to over and over, or novels which formed their world view—stories that shaped them or books which offered a refuge or a life raft. Editor Ruth McKee asks each guest which books they’d save, which they’d leave behind, and what other non-book treasure they would rescue from the flames. 
63 Episodes
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59: Caitríona Lally

59: Caitríona Lally

2026-10-1401:27:35

Caitríona Lally has published two novels, Eggshells (2015) and Wunderland (2021). She won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2018 and a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction in 2019. She was the inaugural Rooney Writer Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub in 2022, and was one of the 2024 A Post Book Awards 20 Best New Irish Writers. Her first memoir, Home Economics, is published by New Island.
58: John O’Donnell

58: John O’Donnell

2026-06-2954:54

John O’Donnell’s fiction has been published in Counterparts (The Stinging Fly Press), The Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction,  The Sunday Tribune,  The Sunday Independent, The Stinging Fly,  Books Ireland, The Irish Times, and RTÉ’s The Book on One.  Awards include the Hennessy Award for Emerging Fiction and Cúirt Festival of Literature New Writing Prize for Fiction. He has also published four poetry collections, the latest of which is Sunlight: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 2018). His latest short story collection is Mr Hoo and Other Stories (Doire Press). 
57: Niamh MacCabe

57: Niamh MacCabe

2026-06-0546:46

Niamh MacCabe tells Ruth McKee which books she would save if her house was on fire. Niamh Mac Cabe is an award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and hybrid prose. She's also a visual artist, and a lecturer on the Degree in Writing & Literature, the Degree in Performing Arts, and the Masters in Creative Practice programmes at ATU Sligo. Her debut short story collection Four Night Seas, is published by The Lilliput Press. 
Danielle McLaughlin tells Ruth McKee which books she would save if her house was on fire. Danielle McLaughlin's debut collection of short stories Dinosaurs on Other Planets was published in Ireland by The Stinging Fly Press in 2015 and her first novel The Art of Falling (John Murray) was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award in 2022. In 2023 she was a recipient of a Markievicz Award. Her latest novel Rituals is out now with The Stinging Fly Pres
55: Charleen Hurtubise

55: Charleen Hurtubise

2026-03-2742:25

Charleen Hurtubise tells Ruth McKee which books she’d save if her house was on fire. Charleen Hurtubise is a novelist, essayist, and artist. She is author of The Polite Act of Drowning, published in Ireland and the UK by Eriu/Bonnier in 2023.  She holds an M.Sc. from Trinity College Dublin and an MFA in creative writing from University College Dublin, where she has facilitated creative writing seminars. Her latest book, Saoirse, is out now with Eriu (UK/Ireland) and with Celadon in the US. 
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