A Hosting

A Hosting: Interviews with Irish Writers 1991–2026 (Lilliput Press) is a fascinating new collection from Martin Doyle, Books Editor of The Irish Times, featuring conversations with some of Ireland’s most talented and influential writers.

Martin will be joined by acclaimed Irish author Kevin Barry, best known for his distinctive storytelling and darkly comic imagination. Kevin has earned widespread acclaim for novels including City of Bohane, The Heart in Winter and Night Boat to Tangier.

Together, Martin and Kevin will join arts journalist Paula Shields to discuss their individual career journeys, exploring the experiences, influences and defining moments that have shaped their work. From Martin’s decades in literary journalism and editing to his own experience as an author, and Kevin’s evolution as one of Ireland’s most distinctive contemporary writers, the conversation promises fresh insights into the worlds of books, writing and publishing, alongside reflections on the future of Irish literature.

Please note we may be capturing candid imagery at this event for use on our social media and website.

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Kevin Barry is the author of four novels and three story collections. His awards include the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and the Lannan Foundation Literary Award. His stories and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Granta and elsewhere. His novel, Night Boat to Tangier, was an Irish number one bestseller, was longlisted for the Booker Prize and named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times. He also works as a playwright and screenwriter, and he lives in County Sligo, Ireland.

Martin Doyle is Books Editor of The Irish Times and a former Editor of The Irish Post. He is the author of Dirty Linen: The Troubles in My Home Place (Merrion Press, 2023), which was shortlisted for Irish Nonfiction Book of the Year, and A Hosting: Interviews with Irish Writers 1991-2026 (Lilliput Press, 2026). He has contributed essays to The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices (Unbound, 2021) and The Routledge Handbook of the Northern Ireland Conflict and Peace (Routledge, 2023) and edited A History of The Irish Post (London, 2000).

Paula Shields is an arts journalist, working on Arena, RTE’s flagship arts show on Radio 1. Other highlights include making the IFTA award-winning TV documentary, Fairytale of New York, in 2017, judging the 2017 and 2018 Irish Times Theatre Awards, and contributing an essay to the latest Sunday Miscellany Anthology in 2023.

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