Laureate for Irish Fiction Éilís Ní Dhuibhne to hosting event with two Meath writers

Irish Fiction Éilís Ní Dhuibhne will host an in-conversation event later this month at the Trim Library & Swift Cultural Centre next Tuesday (20th January).

This event, which will start from 7pm, will feature talented Meath writers Oisín Fagan and Roisín O’Donnell as panellists.

The event, which is in partnership with Meath Libraries, is free and open to the public, but booking is essential. Tickets can be reserved online through the Arts Council events page.

The session at the Swift Theatre is the first in the ‘Island of Imagination: A Literary Tour of Ireland’ series, which will delve into contemporary Irish fiction on a journey of exploration to highlight literature emanating from every county in Ireland.

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is the Laureate for Irish Fiction 2025-2028, an initiative of the Arts Council which seeks to acknowledge the contribution of fiction writers to Irish artistic and cultural life by honouring an established Irish writer of fiction.

Ms Ní Dhuibhne is is the author of more than thirty books and has most recently won the Pen Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature, and a Hennessy Hall of Fame Award.

Roisín O'Donnell, author of the Sunday Times bestseller Nesting, is an award-winning Irish writer with her short story collection Wild Quiet being shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award and longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize, and she won the An Post Irish Book Award for Short Story of the Year in 2018. Ms O’Donnell was listed as one of the Observer’s Ten Best New Novelists of 2025.

Oisín Fagan is the author of the short story collection Hostages and the novel Nobber, which was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Woodhouse Prize, and was named a Book of the Year by The Guardian and The Daily Mail. His second novel, Eden’s Shore, was published in April 2025 and he was announced as the Arts Council UCD Writer in Residence for 2026.

Further events are expected to take place across the country over the course of the coming year, including in Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo, Waterford and Westmeath.

All of these in-person events will be recorded and available on the Arts Council’s podcast and YouTube channels.

To stay up to date with the Laureate for Irish Fiction programme sign up to the Laureate for Irish Fiction newsletter online at https://artscouncil.ie/developing-the-arts/flagship-programmes/laureate-for-irish-fiction/