Sara Baume and Caitríona Lally In Conversation with Eimear Ryan
The Boole Library UCC, University College Cork, College Road, Cork, T12 Nd89
Thu 08 Oct 2026 (note: this event has already taken place)
6pm
FREE
Join us in The Creative Zone, Boole Library, UCC, for a special literary evening featuring acclaimed Irish writers Sara Baume and Caitríona Lally in conversation with Eimear Ryan.
Presented by the UCC School of English & Digital Humanities and UCC Library, this event brings together two of Ireland's most distinctive contemporary voices for an engaging discussion on writing, creativity, and their latest books.
Admission is free.
The Writers
Sara Baume is the author of the novels Spill Simmer Falter Wither, A Line Made by Walking, and Seven Steeples, as well as the non-fiction work Handiwork. Her work has earned numerous accolades, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award, the Rooney Prize, the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award, and an Irish Book Award. She has also been shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Folio Prize. In 2023, she was named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. Sara lives in West Cork. Her latest book, Opening Night (Granta Books), is available now.
Caitríona Lally is the author of the acclaimed novels
Eggshells and Wunderland. During the years in which she wrote and published these works, she returned to a housekeeping role at Trinity College Dublin, balancing the practical realities of earning a living with the demands of a creative life. Her experiences of work, motherhood, writing, and the disruptions of the pandemic form the backdrop to her first memoir, Home Economics. Bold, thoughtful, and infused with her distinctive wit and honesty, the book explores creativity, labour, and the often-unseen realities behind a writer's life.
The Books
In Opening Night, Sara Baume reflects on her friendship with artist Mollie Douthit, whom she met shortly after the pandemic. Drawn together by shared artistic commitments, solitary dispositions, and a deep connection to the natural world, the two formed a close bond through regular meetings along the West Cork coast. Beautifully illustrated in full colour, Opening Night traces the contours of that friendship while exploring themes of art, community, belonging, love, loss, and the ways creativity connects us to one another.
"Since I've had my first book published, I've earned more from cleaning than from writing. The home economics don't add up."
In Home Economics, Caitríona Lally writes with characteristic honesty and humour about the intersecting roles that shape her life: writer, mother, worker, and artist. Through reflections on personal economics, creativity, ambition, and care, she offers a candid examination of what success and failure really mean in a writer's life, and the often invisible work that makes artistic practice possible.
