‘Dark Lies The Island’ by Kevin Barry, read by the author, 6 to 10 May
Kevin Barry reads from his latest short story collection ‘Dark Lies The Island’.
Three stories will be read over the week:
Monday: ‘Across The Rooftops’.
Tuesday: ‘A Cruelty’.
Wednesday to Friday: ‘Doctor Sot’.
'Dark Lies The Island' by Kevin Barry is published by Jonathan Cape.
'The China Factory' by Mary Costello, read by Caitríona Ní Mhurchú, 29 April to 3 May
From Monday to Wednesday, we'll hear 'The Sewing Room' in which a retired schoolteacher recalls the single event of her youth that changed her life forever.
And on Thursday and Friday, in 'Things I See', a married woman is unsettled by a visit from her younger sister, a cellist.
'The China Factory' by Mary Costello is published by The Stinging Fly Press.
'Strumpet City’ by James Plunkett, read by Barry McGovern, 1 to 26 April
To tie in with the ‘Dublin: One City, One Book’ initiative, for four weeks in April James Plunkett’s epic novel is The Book on One.
‘Strumpet City’ – which tells the story of the mass lockout of trade unionists by employers in Dublin in 1913 – features a wonderfully memorable cast of characters, not least of which is the city itself.
A new edition of ‘Strumpet City’, which was first published in 1969, has been issued by Gill & Macmillan.
'A Spring In My Step' by Joan McDonnell, read by Martina Carroll, 25 to 29 March
To mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Post Polio Support Group, The Book on One features Joan McDonnell’s lively, humorous account of growing up with polio in the Limerick of the 1950s and 60s.
'A Spring In My Step’ by Joan McDonnell is published by Collins Press.
‘Even The Dogs’ by Jon McGregor, read by Gary Murphy - 18 to 22 March
‘Even The Dogs’ - the winner of last year’s International Impac Dublin Literary Award – moves through the minds of a group of homeless heroin addicts in the wake of their friend’s death.
Jon McGregor’s uncompromising novel – which pieces together one man’s story and the gradual disintegration of his world – is an intimate portrait of lives lived at the edge of society.
‘Even The Dogs’ by Jon McGregor is published by Bloomsbury.
Scéalta le Seán Mac Mathúna - 11-15 Márta
Is é an scríbhneoir Seán Mac Mathúna a bheidh linn ar an Book on One an tseachtain seo. Léifidh an túdar é fhéin dhá scéal dúinn, ‘Págánaigh’agus ‘Na Catacómaí’.
Tá ‘Págánaigh’ foilsithe ag Cois Life sa leabhar ‘Banana’.
Stories by Seán Mac Mathúna
Writer Seán Mac Mathúna is our featured author on The Book on One this week. He will read two of his own short stories, ‘Págánaigh’ and ‘Na Catacómaí’.
'Págánaigh' is published by Cois Life in 'Banana', a collection of short stories by Seán Mac Mathúna.
'The Sisters Brothers' by Patrick deWitt, read by the author - 4 to 8 March
Patrick deWitt’s offbeat Western follows Charlie and Eli Sisters, two professional hitmen making their way to California during the Gold Rush in 1851.
DeWitt’s award-winning novel is a darkly comic tale, told from the point of view of the younger brother, Eli, who has become disillusioned with his life.
'The Sisters Brothers' by Patrick deWitt is published by Granta.
‘The Best of Everything’ by Rona Jaffe, read by Megan Riordan - 25 February to 1 March
Rona Jaffe’s debut novel, which caused a scandal when it was first published in 1958, follows the lives of four young women who move to New York looking for romance and hoping to build their careers.
'The Best of Everything' by Rona Jaffe is published by Penguin.
'A World of Love' by Elizabeth Bowen, read by Fiona Shaw - 18 to 22 February
To mark the 40th anniversary of Elizabeth Bowen’s death, The Book on One features an archive recording of Fiona Shaw reading from Bowen’s 1955 novel ‘A World of Love’.
The story centres on a group of relations staying in a run-down country house in Co Cork, and the repercussions following the discovery of a packet of love letters in the attic.
The producer of the 1999 recording of 'A World of Love' was Séamus Hosey.
'A World of Love' by Elizabeth Bowen is published by Vintage.
'Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen, read by Karen Ardiff - 11 to 15 February
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife…’
So begins one of Jane Austen’s best-loved novels, which celebrates its 200th birthday this year.
Throughout Valentine’s week, listeners to The Book on One will be treated to the tale of the relationship between Austen’s feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet and the aloof Mr Darcy.
'The Buddha In The Attic’ by Julie Otsuka, read by Caitríona Ní Mhurchú - 4 to 8 February
Julie Otsuka’s multi-award-winning novel tells the story of Japanese ‘picture brides’; thousands of young women brought by boat from Japan to settle in America almost a century ago.
‘The Buddha In The Attic’ by Julie Otsuka is published by Penguin.
As there was no programme broadcast on Wednesday 6 February, a double episode of The Book on One aired the following night, and is available for playback.
'The Forgotten Waltz' by Anne Enright, read by Cathy Belton - 28 January to 1 February
Set against the backdrop of the financial crash, Enright’s most recent novel focuses on the repercussions of an adulterous affair.
‘The Forgotten Waltz’ by Anne Enright is published by Vintage Books.
'The Bottle Factory Outing' by Beryl Bainbridge, read by Alison Glennie - 21 to 25 January
Beryl Bainbridge’s 1974 novel centres on two very different women – shy Brenda and outspoken Freda – who work in an Italian-run wine-bottling factory and share a bedsit. When Freda decides to organise a work outing for all the factory employees, nothing will ever be the same again.
‘The Bottle Factory Outing’ by Beryl Bainbridge is published by Little, Brown.
'Canada' by Richard Ford, read by the author - 14 to 18 January
'First, I'll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later.'
So begins Richard Ford's most recent novel 'Canada' which tells the story of 15-year-old Dell Parsons, and the impact that his parents' actions have on the course of his life.
'Canada' by Richard Ford is published by Bloomsbury.
'The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am' by Kjersti A. Skomsvold, read by Rosaleen Linehan - 7 to 11 January
Mathea Martinsen is in her nineties and afraid her life will be over before anyone notices she has lived. And so she sets out to make her mark in the world.
'The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am' by Kjersti A. Skomsvold, translated from the Norwegian by Kerri A. Pierce, is published by Dalkey Archive Press.
'Happiness' by Mary Lavin - Tuesday 1 to Friday 4 January
A very special series of The Book on One runs over four nights this week.
On 7 October 1979, Mary Lavin and the American poet Elizabeth Bishop were scheduled to read together at the Sanders Theatre in Harvard University, at an event organised by Ploughshares Literary Magazine.
When Elizabeth Bishop died unexpectedly the day before, the event became a tribute to her, during which Mary Lavin read her short story 'Happiness.'
That reading of 'Happiness' has never been broadcast before now. It begins with Mary introducing the story to the audience, by describing how she came to write it.
This recording is broadcast on The Book on One by special permission of the Lavin literary estate, and Ploughshares Literary Magazine.
The 1979 event at Harvard was organised by the founders of Ploughshares - DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley. You can visit the journal's website at www.pshares.org
'Happiness and Other Stories' by Mary Lavin is published by New Island.
