Annie Macmanus in conversation on debut novel ‘Mother Mother’

Join internationally renowned broadcaster, DJ and first-time author Annie Macmanus, popularly known as Annie Mac, in a discussion on Mother Mother, her debut novel set in Belfast, due to hit the shelves at the end of May.

Mother Mother is a powerful coming of age novel and an intimate family study. It's about finding light in dark places, and it examines the cost of unconditional love. It’s a novel about family, grief, addiction, and motherhood. And it asks the question - if you spend your life-giving everything to the ones you love, do you risk losing yourself along the way?

Annie will be in conversation with Belfast writer Wendy Erskine. 

'A work of gilded melancholy that is going to take everyone by surprise' Una Mullally 

'Macmanus writes with flair and confidence rarely seen in a debut' Sinéad Gleeson 

Looking to buy a book by one of the writers involved in this year's programme? Check out our official Festival Bookstore partner, No Alibi’s, who have created this special Belfast Book Festival page on their website which features the books and collections of the writers at the 2021 Festival. Plus they are offering a 10% discount on all of the Festival titles! 

Wendy Erskine’s short story collection Sweet Home (Stinging Fly, 2018 and Picador, 2019) won the Butler Literary Award, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award for the story ‘Inakeen.’ Her stories and nonfiction have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and on RTE Radio 1. She hosts a show on Soho Radio for Rough Trade Books and is a full-time secondary school teacher.  Her new collection Dance Move will be published by Stinging Fly and Picador in early 2022.