The Art of Reading is a monthly book club hosted by Colm Tóibín, the Laureate for Irish Fiction.
Each month, the Laureate meets a different library book club to discuss a book by an Irish writer, highlighting outstanding Irish writing and celebrating the reader and book clubs.
The selected titles celebrate new work by contemporary Irish writers and the latest episode features Colm in conversation with Kevin Curran about his novel, Youth - watch above.
Youth deals with the lives of four teenagers in Balbriggan, Ireland's most diverse town. When the protagonists intersect, the connections they make will change the course of their lives. 'Irish-English has always been wild,' Roddy Doyle has written in the Irish Times. 'Youth, at its liveliest, seems to be telling us that we’re only starting'.
Kevin Curran is from Balbriggan and has been a secondary-school teacher in his hometown for over a decade. Youth, his third novel, was published to critical acclaim in 2023. His first novel, Beatsploitation (2013), brought him national attention due to his depiction of Ireland's new multicultural landscape. He has also published a second novel, Citizens (2016), and numerous short stories in major anthologies and literary journals such as The Stinging Fly. His fiction largely concentrates on working class life in the Dublin suburbs. He has also written non-fiction for The Guardian and The Observer.
The Art of Reading Book Club is an initiative of the Arts Council and the Laureate for Irish Fiction, in partnership with Libraries Ireland. Find out more here.
