Women Writers of the West is a new online book club which aims to shine a spotlight on the especially vibrant space of contemporary women’s writing in the West of Ireland.

This online book club will start on Tuesday 16 February and will continue each Tuesday evening from 7.00pm to 8.00pm over 6 weeks during February and March.

Featuring special guest appearances from the authors each week, this book club will explore the work of three award-winning writers based in Co. Galway: Elaine Feeney, Mary Costello and Nuala O’Connor. Each session is different - session 1 eases into the novel and in session 2 we ask the author broader questions about the book in the context of the writer's inspiration, processes, recent work and about any writing tips they might like to share.

An initiative of Galway Public Libraries, with the support of Creative Ireland, 'Women Writers of the West' will be facilitated by writer and curator, Emily Cullen, who facilitated two of our previous highly successful online book clubs: ‘Eilís Dillon: Language, Landscape & Legacy*’ and ‘Journeys in Words - From Galway to Dublin’ which discussed the short stories of Maeve Brennan and Liam O’Flaherty.

The focus returns now to the longer form of the novel and each fortnight members will discuss the following respective books by Feeney, Costello and O’Connor: As You Were (Harvill Secker, 2020), Academy Street (Canongate Books, 2015) and Becoming Belle (Piatkus, 2019).

Please note that the novels chosen for our book club are popular and widely available in local bookshops. Unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions our Libraries are closed and our services are temporarily suspended.

Join us for another exciting voyage as we enter the diverse, vivid worlds of three memorable characters: Sinéad Hynes, Tess Lohan and "Belle" Bilton.

Tickets are free but places are limited and registration, via the event page, is essential.

Bookclub schedule:

Week 1 - Tuesday, 16 February - As You Were - Elaine Feeney

Week 2 - Tuesday, 23 February - As You Were - Elaine Feeney

Week 3 - Tuesday, 2 March - Academy Street - Mary Costello

Week 4 - Tuesday, 9 March - Academy Street - Mary Costello

Week 5 - Tuesday, 16 March - Becoming Belle - Nuala O'Connor

Week 6 - Tuesday, 23 March - Becoming Belle - Nuala O'Connor

Praise for the novels:

Booker prize winning Irish author, Roddy Doyle has praised Feeney’s As You Were, stating that the novel is: ‘Riveting … I was exhilarated reading this.’

Academy Street was praised in The Guardian as ‘An extraordinarily compelling narrative… Costello's writing is so controlled and convincing. She captures with great acuity the complex inner world …. with enormous impact on the reader.’

The Irish Times had this to say of Becoming Belle: ‘[The novel] is rich with authentic, nuanced depictions of Victorian London and it is clear that O’Connor has undertaken meticulous research… O’Connor’s fictionalised account of this remarkable true story is an accomplished work of historical fiction.’

Biographical Information:

Elaine Feeney lectures at the National University of Ireland, Galway and published three poetry collections including The Radio was Gospel & Rise. She wrote the award-winning drama WRoNGHEADED. Feeney’s Sojourn is included in The Art of The Glimpse. Her novel As You Were was nominated for Irish Novel of the Year, Kate O’ Brien Award, Rathbones-Folio Prize & featured in Best of 2020 lists, including The Telegraph, Sunday Times, Guardian & Observer.

Mary Costello’s first book, The China Factory, was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award and an Irish Book Award. Academy Street won the Irish Novel of the Year and the Irish Book of the Year Awards, and was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, the Costa First Novel Prize and the EU Prize for Literature. The River Capture (2019) was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Novel of the Year and the Dalkey Novel Award.

Nuala O'Connor lives in County Galway. Her fifth novel, NORA, is about Nora Barnacle, wife and muse to James Joyce, out January 2021 in the USA with Harper Collins and Ireland in April 2021 with New Island. Her chapbook of historical flash fiction, Birdie, was recently published by Arlen House. Nuala is editor at flash e-zine Splonk. www.nualaoconnor.com Twitter: @NualaNiC

Emily Cullen is a poet, cultural producer and harper based in Galway. Her third poetry collection, Conditional Perfect (Doire Press, 2019) was included by Martina Evans in her Irish Times roundup of the ‘best new poetry of 2019’. Emily holds a PhD in English from NUIG (2008) and publishes widely on Irish cultural history, music and contemporary poetry. She teaches creative writing part-time at NUI Galway and is poet-in-residence at Scoil Phobail Mhic Dara in Carna.

Please note that Galway Public Libraries will be recording these sessions for our archives and with the intention of making part of each session (introduction & author interview) accessible on our Youtube channel soon.

* The 'Eilís Dillon: Language, Landscape & Legacy' book club sessions, recorded during October 2020, are now available to view on Galway Public Libraries YouTube channel