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ESTABLISHED AUTHORS AND EMERGING WRITERS – Laura McKenna

11th August 2021, 5pm

We are pleased to present Laura McKenna, who will discuss her debut novel Words to Shape My Name in conversation with Dermot Bolger as part of our Emerging Writers’ series.

The interview will be available to watch on this page on Wednesday 11th August at 5 pm.

As part of its remit, the ICC provides a platform for Irish authors to launch, promote and discuss their work. While we enjoy showcasing established authors, we are very keen to encourage and support emerging writers by offering them a platform from which they can introduce and be interviewed about their work.

We are currently working with established writers, alongside creative writing courses, literary agents and publishing houses in this ongoing series which features an established author introducing and interviewing a debut writer.

About Laura McKenna

Laura McKenna is a writer of fiction and poetry, and has worked for many years as a child psychiatrist. Words to Shape My Name formed the creative element of her PhD in creative writing. It was longlisted for the 2019 Bath Novel Award and shortlisted for The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award 2021.

Laura has been nominated twice for a Hennessy Literary Award in poetry and also for a Forward Prize (single poem). She was awarded a John Montague Mentorship Bursary from the Munster Literature Centre, an Arts Council of Ireland Literature Bursary and a Tyrone Guthrie Bursary from Cork County Council.  Laura’s work has been published in The RTÉ Guide, Southword, Banshee and New Irish Writing.

About Dermot Bolger 

Dermot is a journalist, editor, publisher, and one of Ireland’s best known and most prolific authors whose work has attracted many awards. He has written 14 novels, 29 plays, 12 collections of poetry and he has edited 12 books. He established Raven Arts Press in 1977 and he subsequently helped co-found New Island Books, currently one of Ireland’s leading publishers. Positions held include Writer Fellow in Trinity College, Dublin; Playwright in Association with the Abbey Theatre; Writer in Residence at the National Museum of Ireland; and Fellow at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy.  Dermot is a regular contributor to the major Irish newspapers and he has written for The Guardian, The Observer and Le Monde.