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Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Five For Your Radar: Graham Norton in Bantry, Roger Waters on screen, Cian Ducrot
Literary: Graham Norton Maritime Hotel, Bantry, Friday, July 18 Wrapping up this year's West Cork Literary Festival on Friday evening is Graham Norton - now the author of five books, the most recent of which is Frankie - who will be in conversation with Ryan Tubridy. The former RTÉ presenter promised on social media that one thing it definitely won't be is boring. There are multiple events around Bantry on the final day of the litfest, including Wendy Erskine, author of The Benefactors, in conversation with Lisa Harding at Marino Church at 2.30pm. Graham Norton is in Bantry for West Cork Literary Festival. Picture: Darragh Kane Gigs: Cian Ducrot, D-Block Europe, Kingfishr Live at the Marquee, Saturday-Thursday, July 19-24 Live at the Marquee is nearing the end of its run for another summer with a whole host of sold-out shows to round things off. Local hero Cian Ducrot makes a triumphant homecoming this weekend, with D-Block Europe bringing the hip-hop vibes on Tuesday and Wednesday, before Kingfishr, who look primed to be one of the biggest acts in the country by the time 2025 is out, take to the stage on Thursday for their second gig of the series. Cinema: Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill Live From Prague - The Movie Omniplex, Wednesday, July 23 Directed by Sean Evans and Roger Waters, This is not a Drill is being screened in cinemas around the world, including Omniplex outlets in Ireland. Pink Floyd founding member Waters plays songs from his Pink Floyd days and his solo career, a timespan of 60 years, in this 2.5-hour show. Recorded in Prague in 2003 as part of his Final Farewell tour, it's a huge operation and immersive experience, that, if not seen live in the flesh, is best experienced on cinema screens. Roger Waters' live concert runs in cinemas around the world. Exhibition: Enchanted by Marlay Marlay House, Thursday, July 24 Celebrating Marlay Park's 50th anniversary of being in public ownership, Enchanted by Marlay is a joint art exhibition featuring local artists Kate Bedell, Helen Hyland, Yelena Kosikh, and Jennifer Rowe. The exhibition will be hosted in the ballroom of Marlay House and runs for three days. The opening will be officiated by historian Peadar Curran. Streaming: Mr Bigstuff Sky Max/Now TV, Thursday, July 24 A bit of a surprise hit when it hit TVs last year, notching Danny Dyer a Bafta for best male in a lead performance, Mr Bigstuff returns for season two on Thursday. Promising a host of guest stars, the opening episode picks up two weeks after the revelations of the season finale. Mr Bigstuff is created by Ryan Sampson, who stars alongside Dyer as two estranged brothers. Set in suburban Essex, the series was a huge hit with audiences, becoming Sky Max's highest-rated new original comedy in three years.
Irish Examiner
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
The Irish reading roadtrip: Aoife Barry's literary tour of the Emerald Isle
Every Irish writer takes their hometown with them to the page, whether that influence is obvious or not. Some of our finest writers dwell in the world of imagination, like Brian Friel, who spun the town of Ballybeg out of memories of childhood summers in Glenties, Donegal. Aoife Barry has gathered 15 books to sum up Ireland's modern literary age. Photograph Moya Nolan Others stick to reality, creating a universe of characters who can live in a range of Irish locations, like Anne Enright. So why not take a 'reading roadtrip' around Ireland, and experience life in different counties without leaving your house? We've gathered a mix of 15 contemporary favourites and new novels together to help you begin the journey around the island of Ireland. Antrim The Raptures by Jan Carson (2022) Ballymena-born author Jan Carson excels in writing fiction with a magic realism twist, and this is her at the peak of her powers. The Raptures is set in Ballylack, a fictional small village inspired by the Ballymena (and surrounding areas) that Carson grew up in. Something strange begins happening in Ballylack in 1993 to young pupils in the village school. At the centre of the story is a young girl called Hannah, who escapes a mystery illness but finds herself visited by her dead classmates. A gripping and astute novel that brings us into the world of evangelical Protestantism and explores its impact on young people. Belfast The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine (2025) One of this year's best novels comes from Belfast's Wendy Erskine, who is already well-known as a stellar short story writer. In The Benefactors, we meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh, three mothers whose lives collide when their teenage sons are accused of a crime. While the main plot might be dark, Erskine is always able to bring a shimmering levity to her work, and the novel is crammed full of amazing characters. Plus, she also creates a Greek chorus of Belfast voices that paint a multifaceted picture of the city. Simply stunning. Clare The Green Road - Anne Enright (2015) The Madigan children were all brought up by their mother Rosaleen in a house called Ardeevin in Co Clare. In The Green Road, Anne Enright - one of the country's finest writers, and the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction - lets the Madigans tell their stories as the grown-up children head back for a last Christmas at their childhood home. There's so much here to enjoy about the various Madigans and their foibles and struggles, as well as the humour Enright injects into so many of the situations (particularly around how she depicts Celtic Tiger excesses). While she journeys throughout the globe in this novel, the north star for this story is the family's Co Clare home. Cork The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue (2023) This funny, perceptive book about a close friendship between two students (one a relatively wild young woman and the other a closeted young man) captures Cork city in the 2000s perfectly. O'Donoghue, who grew up in Rochestown, creates utterly real characters - the book is partly based on a friendship of hers - who bumble their way carelessly through life as they try to figure out how to live as adults. This is a real time machine back to a Cork of a certain era. Channel 4 is currently adapting the book into a TV series. Carlow Dinner Party: A Tragedy by Sarah Gilmartin (2021) Although Sarah Gilmartin is from Limerick, her first novel is set between Carlow and Dublin. This is a family saga that moves between past and present, opening and closing with a family dinner party. At the centre of the story is Kate, who is holding the dinner party to mark the 16th anniversary of her sister's death. Regardless of where in the country you read this, you'll find much that's compelling in the story of this fractious Carlow family. Donegal The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr (2025) 'We were a hardy people, raised facing the Atlantic.' So opens this debut novel from Garrett Carr, set in the fishing port of Killybegs in Co Donegal. This epic part of Ireland's coast is a fitting location to set a book about something as dramatic as the discovery of a baby alive in a barrel. Lyrical, moving and full of beautiful descriptions of nature, this is a novel that brings us right into life in rural Donegal. Dublin Youth by Kevin Curran (2023) There are countless books you could read to give you a sense of Dublin past and present - from Dubliners by James Joyce, to Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney, to The Commitments by Roddy Doyle. But to get a glimpse of an underexplored part of suburban Dublin, try Youth by Kevin Curran. This polyphonic novel, set in Balbriggan (where Curran is an English teacher in the local secondary school) is a propulsive, empathic book centred on the voices of four young people growing up in the town, each dealing with their own issues. Galway Let Me Go Mad In My Own Way, by Elaine Feeney Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way by Elaine Feeney (2025) The latest novel from Elaine Feeney is set, like her previous two novels, in her home county of Galway. Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way (which takes its name from the Sophocles play Electra) is a story about home, about memories that linger and family ghosts that still haunt. At its opening, Claire O'Connor is living in London. But soon she is back home in Co Galway, dealing with the loss of her mother and caring for her dying father. Through Claire's story, Feeney deftly moves through Irish history and examines the reasons why people have such strong links to the land. This is a book that contains multitudes (and trad wives). Kerry Haven by Emma Donoghue (2022) The Skellig islands are one of Ireland's true wonders, not just because of their beauty but because of their sheer, raw power. The idea of people living on Skellig Michael seems absolutely unbelievable, which is why Donoghue's novel is so interesting. Haven tells the story of three monks who set off from Clonmacnoise to make their home there in early medieval times. She explores in fascinating detail exactly what it took to live that remotely - those who aren't into eating seabirds, look away. Kildare Snowflake by Louise Nealon (2021) Though you might consider this a 'Trinity novel', as the protagonist Debbie goes to the university in Dublin, it's partly set in Kildare. Debbie lives on a dairy farm with her mother and uncle, and it's these scenes that give this book its emotional heft. Rather than being the typical story of someone who decamps to Dublin for college, Snowflake draws its tension from Debbie returning each evening to her eccentric and at times difficult life at home. Nealon herself grew up in Kildare, so you never have to doubt her love for the county. Laois There Came A-Tapping by Andrea Carter (2025) Thriller fans will find plenty to be spooked about in this standalone novel from Andrea Carter. Her Inishowen series sees her focus on the activities of a solicitor based in Donegal, but in There Came-A-Tapping she brings us to Laois, and specifically the foot of the Slieve Bloom mountains. The beauty of the area becomes threatening as a heartbroken Allie moves into a tiny cottage to try and cope with the disappearance of her partner. Carter grew up in the area, so is well able to mine its dark sides - as well as the more lovely sides of rural life. But you might not look at a raven the same way after reading this. Mayo Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh (2025) Admittedly, this is set on a fictional island off the coast of Co Mayo. But there's so much to Fun and Games that feels utterly real - its depiction of island life, how the 17-year-old protagonist John Masterson tries to figure out love and relationships while hanging out with friends, working shifts in the local hotel and going to GAA practice. This is a trip to the west coast but it's also a trip back to those heady, unforgettable teenage years. Tipperary The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (2013) Donal Ryan is a native of Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and it's in North Tipperary that he set his first novel, a series of stories told by locals from a small town. Set just after the recession, this captures all the heartbreak and confusion of that time, but is deeply rooted in the individual voices of those he focuses on, from single mother Réaltín who lives on a ghost estate to Vasya, a Siberian worker learning about life in Ireland. Nature always features massively in Ryan's work, as it's through the changing of the seasons and the tiny details among the hedgerows that he often finds meaning. Wexford Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín (2014) Enniscorthy native Colm Tóibín has returned frequently to his hometown in his novels, and it would be easy to pick Brooklyn or his latest novel Long Island to showcase the vivid stories he conjures from the area. But one of his most heartbreaking books is Nora Webster, about the titular character trying to get her life back together after her husband dies. There is a real truth to how Tóibín captures the comfort and drama of living in a small town, where everyone knows your business before you even know yourself. Waterford The Amusements by Aingeala Flannery The Amusements by Aingeala Flannery (2022) Welcome to Tramore in the Sunny South East, a place that will immediately lead to images of funfairs and summer craic. This all lies in the background of Aingeala Flannery's debut novel, which is a series of interlinked stories about life in the town, featuring characters who move in and out of the foreground. With such a wide variety of stories, you really feel that you get to experience life in Tramore, both good and bad. Flannery is a native of the town, meaning she captures many small details that others might not notice.
Irish Examiner
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Author interview: ‘I don't really think too much about writing when I'm doing my day job'
Wendy Erskine is talking to me on Zoom from the kitchen in her home in Belfast. 'I've positioned this so you can't see the devastation,' she laughs. The author, who has a full-time job as a secondary school teacher, is musing on the reality of balancing writing with all her other responsibilities: 'You have other priorities and you do what you can. So many people all have other things going on. 'If you've got a full-time job but you also have to act as a carer for somebody, how is that much different than me trying to write a novel? 'People elevate these things as though they're a big deal but so many people have got stuff that they have to deal with.' Such empathy, deployed with incisive intelligence and wit, underscores all of Erskine's work — from her acclaimed short story collections Sweet Home and Dance Move, to her recently published debut novel, The Benefactors, which has been attracting deserved rave reviews. That her energies are not all directed into writing has also been very much to her benefit. She began publishing fiction in her 40s and her talent was swiftly recognised. As a writer, and one senses as a person, Erskine is very much grounded in the everyday and the many little epiphanies it can deliver to someone who is curious and interested in human nature. In The Benefactors, a cast of memorable characters coalesce when teenager Misty Johnson, from a hardscrabble background, is sexually assaulted by three boys with a more privileged upbringing. When she goes to the police, their mothers and stepmother — Miriam, Bronagh, and Frankie — pool resources to protect the boys. Big themes intersect throughout the book — misogyny, class, sex, power, parenthood — but for Erskine, it all starts with character. 'It wasn't that I started with a list of topics, ingredients that I wanted to include,' she says. 'For me, it has to be driven by the characters, and the preoccupations of the novel have to arise in a reasonably organic way, from the presentation of the characters.' Erskine was also interested in exploring the possibilities of writing in a different form. 'I did not want to write a long short story,' she says. I wanted to write something that would be able to encompass all sorts of different preoccupations and ideas. In The Benefactors, Misty is raised by her mother's ex-partner Boogie, a cab driver who, although not her natural father and still only in his 20s, steps up to the plate. The reader very much roots for Boogie, who seems to have the nearest thing to a moral compass in the book. He has been raised by his grandmother, Nan D, the definition of a tough old bird with a brilliant line in dry sarcasm. Erskine's characters are so authentically drawn that one could be forgiven for thinking that they are based on real people, a notion that Erskine is at pains to dispel. 'I've always felt that I want to live in the real world and not alienate people — it's my job as a writer to invent things' she says. 'I don't really know anybody that is like any of those particular characters. But it's got to start somewhere — it might well be just the way somebody walks in the street that I'll pay attention to. 'Or it could be something about the way somebody says — or doesn't say — thank you in a shop. 'It's normally quite small things that end up building up a character.' For example, with Boogie, I just happened to come across a video on YouTube of this guy with his kids doing that Mentos exploding in the Coke thing. 'I just remember thinking there was just such fun and joy in having a laugh with your kids, that started him off for me.' Misogyny is woven throughout the book and it was a topic that Erskine wanted to explore from a less obvious viewpoint. Rather than being sleazy or predatory, Misty's adventures in the world of fan-cam content are imbued with an almost touching naivete. The character of Frankie is groomed as a teenager in care, later acquiring one form of power when she marries a wealthy businessman. 'There's no point in me writing something to say 'sexually assaulting people is wrong'. People don't need to be told it's wrong. I was trying to look at this in terms of different types of experiences,' she says. 'Some of the misogyny is overt, some of it is implicit; some of it is class-based as well. 'Frankie ends up with this rich man and there are these conversations about maximising your assets. So I was looking at how the language of finance is then applied to women's bodies.' Frankie identifies with Misty but she can't afford to indulge that. The Benefactors might deal with weighty topics — one of the first-person vignettes that are scattered throughout the book delivers a seriously short and sharp shock — but like much of Erskine's work, it is also shot through with humour. She recognises that it can be a delicate balancing act. 'We can find things funny, and find things desperately sad and upsetting, and the idea that these things can't co-exist isn't realistic,' she says. 'But it also depends on a reader being attuned to that. And I think that's a very unpredictable thing.' Erskine also captures the world of a teenager very well, perhaps unsurprisingly as someone with plenty of experience in that area, as both a mother and teacher. However, she says her teaching has a limited influence on her writing. 'I don't think I've ever had one conversation with students about my books,' she says. 'But it is an interesting one, because the nature of teaching is that you are listening to a lot of people a lot of the time. 'It was the writer Neil Hegarty who pointed out to me that my job is very polyphonic. So there's that dimension. 'But the nature of what I do is very much about making sure that pupils feel confident writing about literary texts and it is very much pupil-centred. 'I don't really think too much about writing when I'm actually doing my day job. It's very, very distinct.' Even though she is working on another novel — 'I need to get a bit further to decide if I actually like it enough' — she has not abandoned the short story. She does not have any truck with those who believe you haven't really made it as an author until you write a novel. She says: 'People's attitudes sometimes, it's like it's just rookie prep, you do the short stories as a bit of throat-clearing before you start on the main event of the novel, which is absolutely not to have enough respect for the form itself and what it can do.' Erskine is now looking forward to returning to the West Cork Literary Festival next month: 'I was there before a few years ago and I did a creative writing workshop, it was wonderful. I just love Cork, I would move there.' As for how she feels about discussing her work, she is refreshingly honest: 'I wrote the book so people could read the book, so sometimes it seems a little strange to be talking about it because it can seem reductive. 'But mostly, I really like talking about it, I mean, you should be grateful that anybody is interested.' Going on the evidence so far, I don't think she needs to worry. Wendy Erskine will be at the Marino Church, Bantry, at 2.30pm on July 18, alongside Lisa Harding as part of the West Cork Literary Festival Read More Summer books catch-up: 20 of the best novels so far in 2025
RTÉ News
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Book Of The Week: The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
When John William De Forest coined the expression 'Great American Novel' in 1868, he anticipated a work which had the ability communicate the tableau of contemporary living through "the ordinary emotions and manners of American existence". Mark Twain was touted as an early contender, as was Henry James, who internalised the concept so enthusiastically that by the time he reached the later stages of his career, he wrote obsessive tracts of self-criticism that ended up pummelling his sentences into meta-commentaries on their own construction. The term had barely been born before authors started missing the point. The 'Great American Novel' was meant to simplify as well as elucidate; to mirror American society back on itself so that the spirit of the nation could be recognised more easily. Given the evident impossibility of the task, it's as well that Irish literature has not developed some lofty equivalent. Contenders for greatness are by this point so innumerable that anybody caught striving is rightfully scorned for having 'notions'. We have texts comprising a national body of work which seeks to add to the whole rather than trying to encapsulate it fully. We have great novels about Dublin, great novels about Cork, great novels about Limerick and of course, great novels about Belfast. Listen: Oliver Callan talks to Wendy Erskine The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine is one such great novel. Written in a mixture of third-person present tense and first-person past, the polyphonic narrative of the book belies its relatively short length. At just over 320 pages, The Benefactors has the lush feel of a Dickensian epic; one in which the city of Belfast fulfils its role as hidden protagonist of a tale spanning everything from gender politics and class to intergenerational trauma and the legacy of the Troubles. Which isn't to say that the book is without wit. Erskine has one of the keenest ears for dialogue in the business meaning that, even under the most horrendous circumstances, her characters can still be disarmingly funny. "Most people are stupid and do stuff without too much consideration or forethought," one character considers. "Read too deeply into individuals' actions and you end up crediting them with too much intelligence. Way too much intelligence." The Benefactors has the lush feel of a Dickensian epic At its core, The Benefactors is a novel about three mothers and three sons – each from varyingly affluent backgrounds – as they use their power and influence to try and defuse the potential fallout from a sexual assault allegation. In lesser hands, such explosive material might come across as polemical or, worse, heightened to the point where its hard-won realism comes across as frenzied. Yet Erskine navigates the subject with compassion; emphasising the frailty of human endeavour such that we can't help but be moved by the mothers' plight even as we are disgusted by their conduct and behaviour. If I have one quibble, it's that the sheer volume of characters and voices at times threatens to overwhelm the integrity of the narrative. One can't help but wonder whether Erskine's training as a short story writer motivated the story's fragmentary construction, littered as it is with asides separate from the main thread. Thankfully it all comes together. Erskine is a skilled medium and while The Benefactors is not the all-encompassing 'Great Irish Novel' that elucidates everything in the national character, it is a vital puzzle piece; one that confirms Belfast as an important site for the imagination, holding no less than the world within its sagging redbrick walls.
Daily Mirror
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Largest-ever cast for an audiobook brought together for exciting new project
Writer Wendy Erskine's The Benefactors is one of the most hotly anticipated books of the year for 2025. Audiobook fans are in for a treat, as a cast of more than 30 narrators record this debut novel Irish writer Wendy Erskine 's debut novel has been hotly anticipated since it was snapped up by Sceptre in 24-hour pre-empt in September 2024. Centring around a sexual assault, the novel explores pushing family connections to their breaking point, the implications of wealth and class in contemporary Belfast. All of life is here in the pages of Erskine's The Benefactors, and so, it is no surprise that a polyphonic array of voices from the city appear in the audiobook, too. The main narrative is spread over five points of view, three of which are mothers whose sons have sexually assaulted a schoolfriend, Misty. Misty and her own step-father, Boogie's narratives bring the reader close to the horrors of seeking justice. But while this is a novel about a traumatic event, Erskine's style is to fuse humour and heart throughout. Publisher of The Benefactors Hodder & Stoughton commissioned its largest-ever cast for the audiobook. More than 30 narrators contributed to the audiobook, making it the largest cast to date for the publishers' audiobook production. Open casting submission sought to find voice-talent, which was then chosen by Erskine for inclusion in the audio-recording. As in the audio editions of her two short story collections, Erskine herself narrates the majority of the book. But interspersed between this through-line story of sexual assault in modern Belfast are more than 30 narrators. One of which is David Torrens, the owner of Belfast-based independent bookshop No Alibis, a stalwart in supporting the Irish writing community. The Benefactors is refreshing for its expansive narrative net it casts around the city. No city is defined by one event, and so too is Erskine's Belfast not solely focused on a sexual assault case. These narratives range from a woman seeking her long-lost son, and it going horribly wrong, to life amongst the dead in funeral parlours. Erskine told The Bookseller: 'The experience of this book moving from the page to audio was – and this is no exaggeration – wonderful. Right from the beginning, the approach was innovative and predicated on giving listeners the most authentic experience of the book. 'I was there for the recording of many of the monologues, most of which were done by people with no previous experience of that kind of thing and wow, what they brought to my words was beyond what I could possibly have anticipated.' Erskine burst onto the literary scene with her short story collection Sweet Home, published by the Stinging Fly and Picador in 2018. Her follow-up collection Dance Move was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. She has been listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award and the Edge Hill Prize. She was awarded the Butler Prize for Literature and the Edge Hill Readers' Prize. Taken as a whole, Erskine's works form a census of modern Belfast, taking in everything from conversations in hairdressers' salons to the aftermath of sexual assault.
