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City of Books
Martina Devlin
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Top 10 City of Books Episodes
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City of Books Trailer
City of Books
01/15/20 • 0 min

#14 The Diplomatic Arts
City of Books
09/18/20 • 53 min

#13 Lemn Sissay and the Story of Why
City of Books
08/28/20 • 39 min

#12 Richard Ford on Flouncing and Failure
City of Books
07/10/20 • 47 min
Richard Ford is listing his failures. He wanted to be a lawyer in the US Marines. That didn’t work out. He wanted to be "a lawyer, period”. That didn’t work out. He became a writer – that certainly counts as a success for the Pulitzer Prize winner.
Even so, between novels and short story collections he sometimes thought he was through with fiction and imagined doing other jobs.
But he kept going, he tells Martina Devlin in the City of Books podcast for Dublin UNESCO City of Literature. And that’s been the case for half a century.
Although when he’s between books, he claims to “flounce” around finding reasons not to work.
Sorry For Your Trouble is his latest book, a short story collection published by Bloomsbury.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sorry-for-your-trouble-9781526620026/
Produced+presented by Martina Devlin with music by Daragh Dukes

#11 Liz Nugent's Dark Materials
City of Books
06/19/20 • 47 min

#10 Colum McCann on Motorbikes and the Middle East
City of Books
06/04/20 • 48 min

#9 The Maamtrasna Murders
City of Books
05/22/20 • 35 min

#8 Joanna Trollope on Fiction, Family and Feminism
City of Books
05/08/20 • 40 min
Three Fs have been a consistent part of international bestseller Joanna Trollope's life:
Fiction, family and feminism. She explains why here.
The international bestseller says, “There will always be women who want to stay at home in the kitchen and make jam tarts with the three-year-old, and there will always be women who want to rule the world.”
Which kind is she?
And why does Jane Austen inspire her?
This episode also includes a tribute to poet extraordinaire Eavan Boland from writer Colum McCann.
For more on Joanna Trollope’s latest novel Mum & Dad follow the link https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/joanna-trollope/mum-dad/9781529003383
For more on Joanna Trollope follow the link https://www.joannatrollope.com
Presented and Produced by Martina Devlin
Music by Daragh Dukes

#7 The Child's Eye from Marita Conlon-McKenna
City of Books
04/23/20 • 28 min
Marita Conlon-McKenna is the much-loved author of many books for children and adults. They include her children's classic about Ireland's Great Famine, Under The Hawthorn Tree. She talks here about the magic of storytelling, why famine stories continue to grip us and the powerful use of the child's voice in Tatty - the 2020 Dublin One City One Book choice.
For more about Tatty by Christine Dwyer Hickey https://www.newisland.ie/fiction/tatty/
For more about Marita Conlon-McKenna and her fiction including her latest novel The Hungry Road https://maritaconlonmckenna.com/
Produced and presented by Martina Devlin
Music by Daragh Dukes

#1 Robert Ballagh on Beckett, Paisley and Prince Philip
City of Books
01/21/20 • 58 min
In this episode, artist Robert Ballagh talks about why Samuel Beckett thought he kept him waiting for breakfast, how his postage stamp design infuriated Northern Irish political leader the Rev Ian Paisley, befriending Nobel scientist James Watson and getting on the wrong side of Britain’s Prince Philip. He also discusses his autobiography A Reluctant Memoir, published by Head of Zeus
Later in the episode, writer Mary Costello takes a tour of the iconic James Joyce Tower in Dublin where Joyce set the opening chapter of his masterpiece Ulysses. During her walkabout in the 200-year-old building, she explains why she is drawn back again and again to Joyce’s work and why her latest novel The River Capture is inspired by him.
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A monthly podcast supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature in association with the Museum of Literature Ireland (MOLI).
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Presented & Edited by Martina Devlin
Produced by Steve Byrne
Music by Daragh Dukes