A reading by the debut novelists Brendan Casey and Noel O'Regan, both of whose books have made a distinctive mark on Irish writing in the past year.

Brendan Casey’s poetic and ecologically pulsing first novel, She That Lay Silent-Like Upon Our Shore, is the unforgettable story of a boy on a remote island who lives out a profound sense of loyalty to the natural world by defending a beached whale against the bitter suspicions of a religious community.

Noel O'Regan’s first novel Though the Bodies Fall has been shortlisted for the 2024 James Tait Black Fiction Prize. In a mature and vivid style, and with a deeply authentic sense of place and landscape, Though the Bodies fall is a gripping meditation on mental illness and the personal and community commitments that make survival and recovery possible.

Book here.