Two of Ireland’s most accomplished writers gather to share their insights into the art of the short story. Mike McCormack and Mary O’Donnell, both champions of the short story, will discuss the process of writing short stories whilst focussing on their own bodies of work. This highly engaging conversation will be facilitated by the multi award winning author Christine Dwyer Hickey.
Mike McCormack comes from the west of Ireland and is the author of two collections of short stories Getting it in the Head and Forensic Songs, and four novels Crowe’s Requiem, Notes from a Coma, Solar Bones and This Plague of Souls.
In 1996 he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Literature and Getting it in the Head was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In 2006 Notes from a Coma was shortlisted for the
Irish Book of the Year Award. In 2016 Solar Bones was awarded the Goldsmiths Prize and the Bord Gais Energy Irish Novel of the Year and Book of the Year; it was also long-listed for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. In 2018 it was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award. He is a member of Aosdána
Mary O’Donnell has been writing award-winning poetry, novels, short fiction collections and essays since 1990. In 2023 she received an An Post/Irish Book Award for her political poem ‘Vectors in Kabul’. In late 2026 Wake Forest University Press will publish her ninth poetry collection, ‘Tenderness’. A short fiction collection, ‘Walking Ghosts’ was published this year by Mercier, and short stories in Spanish—‘Nomadas’—will appear in Argentina next year.
In March 2026 her new novel, ‘SWEEP THE COBWEBS OFF THE SKY’ will be published in the UK by Époque Press.
Christine Dwyer Hickey has published 9 novels, a short story collection and a full-length play. Many of her novels and short stories have been longlisted, shortlisted or won various prizes. In 2020, her novel The Narrow Land won both the Walter Scott Prize and the Dalkey Literary Award. The Cold Eye of Heaven won the Kerry Group Novel of the Year in 2012. Her novel Tatty, first published in 2004, was nominated for The Orange Prize and was Unesco One City One Book 2020. Her latest novel Our London Lives was published last year and the paperback along with reissues of four previous novels has just been published by Atlantic Books.
Her work has been translated into several languages both European and Arabic. She is an elected member of Aosdána.
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