Deirdre Madden in conversation with Wendy Erskine

The Belfast Book Festival is honoured to welcome Deirdre Madden to a special event at The Crescent.

Deirdre’s first novel, Hidden Symptoms, was published by Faber in 1986, and since then she has established a reputation as one of Ireland’s most significant and emotionally resonant writers. 

Deirdre’s novels, including Molly Fox’s Birthday, Authenticity, One by One in the Darkness, and The Birds of the Innocent Wood have opened windows onto the troubled heart of Northern Ireland, women’s lives and experiences in contemporary Ireland, and the relationship between art and life.

Join us for a memorable conversation with Wendy Erskine, author of two celebrated collections of short stories, Dance Move, and Sweet Home. 

Anticipated running order: 50 minutes conversation followed by 20 minutes Q&A

Deirdre Madden grew up in Toomebridge, County Antrim. Her novels include One by One in the Darkness, Authenticity, Molly Fox’s Birthday and, most recently, Time Present and Time Past. She edited the short story anthology All Over Ireland; and she has also written for children. Deirdre has won many awards for her work including the Rooney Prize, a Hennessy Lifetime Achievement Award, and she has twice been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Deirdre teaches at Trinity College Dublin and she is a member of Aosdána.

Wendy Erskine is a Belfast-based writer. Her debut short story collection, Sweet Home, was published by The Stinging Fly Press and Picador. It was shortlisted for The Republic of Consciousness Prize and The Edge Hill Prize, and was longlisted for The Gordon Burn Prize. It won the Butler Literary Prize and was optioned for TV. Her second collection, Dance Move, was published in February 2022 by Stinging Fly and Picador.