One Dublin, One Book: The Role of the Sea in Contemporary Irish Literature

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.