Burning Books Ireland podcast | Listen online for free

61 episodes

57: Niamh MacCabe
05/06/2026 | 46 mins.
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.
56: Danielle McLaughlin
28/04/2026 | 53 mins.
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
27/03/2026 | 42 mins.
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.
54: Gerard Beirne
23/03/2026 | 1h 11 mins.
Author Gerard Beirne tells Ruth McKee which books he would save if his house was on fire.
Gerard Beirne is a novelist, poet, and short story writer, and curates the online magazine The Irish Literary Times. His work includes the novels The Eskimo in the Net (Marion Boyars, 2003), Turtle ( Oberon, 2009), Charlie Tallulah (Oberon, 2013), and The Thickness of Ice (Baraka Books, 2024). He currently teaches on the BA Writing and Literature Program at the Atlantic Technological University in Sligo.
53: Tanya Sweeney
06/02/2026 | 48 mins.
Tanya Sweeney tells Ruth McKee which books she’d save if her house was on fire.
Tanya Sweeney is a journalist and Weekend magazine columnist at the Irish Independent and is a regular contributor on Irish radio & TV. Her work in the music, film & TV industries helped inspire her debut novel, Esther is Now Following You (Penguin), a funny, fresh and deeply affecting story about celebrity fandom and what happens when it all becomes a bit too real.

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About Burning Books Ireland

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.

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