Becoming Belle is a witty, feminist novel set in Victorian London, based on the true story of a woman ahead of her time. In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest of three daughters of a middle-class military family, growing up in a small garrison town. By 1891 she is the Countess of Clancarty, dubbed “the peasant countess” by the press, and a member of the Irish aristocracy. Nuala O’Connor’s brilliant new novel is the story of the four years in between, of Belle’s rapid ascent and the people that tried to tear her down. The novel serves as a reminder of the author’s uncanny knack for transmuting the lives of historical characters into urgently compelling fiction.

Recorded at dlr Lexicon Studio Theatre, Dún Laoghaire on Tues 23 October, 2018.

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/nuala-o-connor-library-voices-2018

Declan Kiberd and photographer Dragana Jurišić engage in a fascinating discussion about the censorship of the 1960s and the algorithmic censorship of social media today. Chaired by Nell Regan.

Recorded at dlr LexIcon Studio on Monday 29 April 2019.

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/censorship-in-ireland-from-the-country-girls-to-100-muses

Catriona Crowe of the Royal Irish Academy and Paula Shields of RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena hold a wide-ranging conversation about Edna O’Brien, her The country girls trilogy and the 1960s society that reacted to the book.

Recorded at the Studio Theatre, dlr Lexicon on Thurs, 18 April 2019.

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/the-country-girls-the-book-the-author-and-society

Convent life gave opportunities to Irish women to get a good education, avoid ‘compulsory’ marriage and indeed the chance for ‘worldly’ adventures and travel. Find out more with Professor Deirdre Raftery, author of Nano Nagle; the life and the legacy and Professor of Poetry, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin during an evening of talk and readings introduced by Nell Regan.

Recorded at the Studio Theatre, dlr Lexicon on Wed, 17 April 2019.

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/from-convent-cloister-to-the-country-girls-the-irish-nun-in-history-and-literature

What were women reading for relaxation and entertainment during the 1950s and 60s? Find out more with Dr Caitríona Clear in this intriguing talk about women’s magazines of the period. Caitríona is the author of Women’s Voices in Ireland: women’s magazines in the 1950s and 60s and has written extensively on women and rural Ireland, household work and homemakers during the decades following independence.

Recorded at the Studio Theatre, dlr Lexicon on Mon 15, April 2019.

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/womens-magazines-and-problem-pages-of-the-1950s-and-60s

Sweet sorrow is a novel about the joy and angst of first love, the potency of friendship, the worry and the misery too. It is a tragicomedy about a turning point in the life of an unremarkable young man who is suddenly offered an opportunity to change his fortunes. David Nicholls, the bestselling author of Starter for Ten, One Day and Us, aims to make the reader think, ‘yes, I remember exactly what that felt like’. Few writers can tug at the heartstrings as convincingly and eloquently as David Nicholls. His most recent screenwriting credits include Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, adapted from the novels by Edward St Aubyn.

Recorded at dlr LexIcon on Monday 22 July 2019

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/an-evening-with-david-nicholls

To celebrate the poetry of Gerard Fanning, friend and fellow poet Gerald Dawe gave a talk entitled 'Gerard Fanning: Poet of the County' on Thursday 17 October 2019 in the Studio Theatre, dlr LexIcon. Gerald was joined by poet and novelist Conor O'Callaghan, actor Cathy Belton and piper Mick O'Brien.

Gerard Fanning, who died in 2017, lived in Blackrock and worked in the Irish Civil Service. His books of poetry include Easter Snow, Working for the Government, Water and Power, Hombre: new and selected poems and the unpublished Rookery. He was awarded The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 1993.

Recorded at dlr LexIcon on Thursday 17 October 2019

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/an-evening-with-david-nicholls

A unique evening of poetry, featuring three dynamic women poets: Rosamund Taylor, winner of the 2017 Mairtín Crawford Award, Jessica Traynor, author of two collections, most recently, The quick, and Grace Wilentz, whose chapbook Holding distance is forthcoming with Green Bottle Press. The poets will read on themes as diverse as travel, loss, sexuality, myth and witches.

Recorded at dlr LexIcon on Wed, 14 August 2019.

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/poetry-evening-with-rosamund-taylor-jessica-traynor-and-grace-wilentz

The Vogue is an unforgettable novel of ghosts, lies and the ways in which the past can return with a vengeance. Late 1944, and two teenagers dance the Vogue in silence on the projectionist’s floor of the Cranfield Aerodrome. Decades later, a ghost returns to the shifting sands. Names have long since been changed; children long since cast out; lies long thought forgotten. Set against an eerie landscape, awash with secrets, The Vogue is a grimly poetic dance through the intertwined stories of a deeply religious community, an abandoned military base, and a long-shuttered children’s Care Home.

Recorded at dlr LexIcon, Dún Laoghaire on Tues 6 November 2018.

Listen back on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/eoin-mcnamee-in-conversation-with-paula-shields