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Burning Books Ireland

Burning Books
Burning Books Ireland
Latest episode

62 episodes

  • Burning Books Ireland

    58: John O’Donnell

    29/06/2026 | 54 mins.
    John O’Donnell’s fiction has been published in Counterparts (The Stinging Fly Press), The Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction,  The Sunday Tribune,  The Sunday Independent, The Stinging Fly,  Books Ireland, The Irish Times, and RTÉ’s The Book on One.  Awards include the Hennessy Award for Emerging Fiction and Cúirt Festival of Literature New Writing Prize for Fiction. He has also published four poetry collections, the latest of which is Sunlight: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 2018). His latest short story collection is Mr Hoo and Other Stories (Doire Press).
  • Burning Books Ireland

    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.
  • Burning Books Ireland

    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
  • Burning Books Ireland

    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.
  • Burning Books Ireland

    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.
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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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