This event is part of the annual Swift and Vanessa Festival 2025 in Celbridge. Check out full programme of events here! https://www.swiftandvanessa.com

About this event

Paul Lynch (official website: https://www.paullynchwriter.com/)

Paul Lynch is the Booker Prize-winning author of five internationally acclaimed novels: Prophet Song, Beyond the Sea, Grace, The Black Snow, and Red Sky in Morning. Widely celebrated for his lyrical style and emotional intensity, Lynch’s work explores universal themes of the human condition, often drawing comparisons to literary greats such as William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy, Seamus Heaney, and Samuel Beckett.

His most recent novel, The Prophet Song, won the 2023 Booker Prize and the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. It has been described as “a prophetic masterpiece” by The Washington Post and “soul-shattering” by the Booker Prize jury. The novel has also been shortlisted for several major international awards, including the Dublin Literary Award 2025, Italy’s Strega European Prize, and the Kirkus Prize in the United States.

Martina Murphy/Reilly – writer and director.

Martina Murphy is the author of 23 novels. The 24th ‘The Bone Fire’ was published in 2024. It is the fourth novel featuring DS Lucy Golden, a crime series set on Achill Island. Her novels have been published in many languages including Italian, French, and Greek. She has been the recipient of a number of book awards.

Martina has written plays for stage and her play ‘The InBetween’ was read as part of the Dun Laoghiare Play Platform. She was one of the producers and writers on the FRACTURED podcast – a limited series podcast telling the story of an Irish family during the Irish War of Independence.

For more information on the festival: https://www.swiftandvanessa.com.

Discussion with Paul Lynch. Booker Prize 2023 winner for 'The Prophet Song'