Nora by Nuala O'Connor (2021) read by Cathy Belton: Monday 4 - Friday 8 April, Monday 11- Thursday 14 (there is no Book on One on Friday 15 and Monday 18 April), Tuesday 19 - Friday 22 and Monday 25 - Friday 29 April 2022.
Nora is the 2022 One Dublin One Book. Narrated by Nora Barnacle it tells the love story of herself and James Joyce. When they meet in Dublin, she is 21 and Joyce 22. They go on to spend the rest of their lives together, navigating their personal lives and his writing life against the backdrop of a changing and turbulent Europe including two world wars. It is published by New Island.
Over Nine Waves by Marie Heaney (1994) and read by the author: Monday 28 March - Friday 1 April 2022. A selection told in her own words of some of the great Irish legends. It includes the story of the boy Setanta and how he got the name Cú Chulainn; Deirdre and how because of her there would be great sorrow in Ulster; the story told by Oisin to St Patrick to convince the saint that Oisin is the son of Finn, returned from Tír na nÓg; and over 2 excerpts the story of the Children of Lir.
The Aran Islands by John Millington Synge (1907) read by Bosco Hogan: Monday 21 - Friday 25 March 2022. His time spent there changed Synge's writing and 20th century theatre. The excerpt relates Synge's experience of his first journey to the Islands and his early observations of the place and its people; about the storyteller Pat Derrane, pampooties and of the winds and telling the time on the islands; the nature and wildlife of Inis Meán, a funeral, water supply, gathering and harvesting kelp and the horses of the island; visiting Kilronan, a day of evictions and Aran's growing links with the mainland with the arrival of a new boat service; and his deepening relationship with the Islands and seeing them again in the distance from the Mainland
Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726) read by Barry McGovern: Monday 14 - Friday 18 March 2022. In the excerpts Gulliver recalls that the year was 1699 when he took up the offer to travel to the South seas; he tells of the Lilliputians in whose land Gulliver found himself after being separated from the ship and crew with whom he had been travelling to the South Seas; he describes the Academy of Lagado; he recounts his time in Brobdingnag where his tiny size was a novelty to its people; and about the Houyhnhnms, an intelligent equine race.
Ólann Mo Mhiúil as an nGainséis le Gabriel Rosenstock á léamh ag an údar / My Mule Drinks from the Ganges by Gabriel Rosenstock read by the author: Monday 7 - Friday 11 March 2022. The book is about his travels with his wife Eithne. The excerpts include their experience in Japan: a haiku museum, Kyoto and a poignant visit to Hiroshima; in India, in Mumbei; a visit to temples and a mountain trip on mules; a visit a coastal resort and a health clinic there as he contemplates deep connections between Ireland and India; and to New Delhi where he gives a poetry reading and meets other writers.
Dance Move by Wendy Erskine (2022) read by the author: Monday 28 February - Friday 4 March 2022. It is published by The Stinging Fly Press. In Nostalgie, read across two episodes Drew who enjoyed a brief success as a singer back in the 1990s is now somewhat flattered by an out of the blue email from an ex-brigadier over in Northern Ireland he is about to perform again. In Dance Move, read across three excerpts Kate a mother of a young teenage girl, is repelled by and drawn to the allure of dance.
A Quiet Tide by Marianne Lee (2020) read by Caitríona Ní Mhurchú: Monday 14 - Friday 18 and Monday 21 - Friday 25 February 2022. At the time of her death in 1815 twenty-nine -year-old Ellen Hutchins had catalogued over a thousand species of seaweed and plants all gathered from around the lands, coastal areas and islands around Ballylickey House, her family home outside Bantry, Co Cork. The novel bears witness to the extraordinary scientific achievements of Ireland's first female botanist as well as her private glimpses of personal happiness. It is published by New Island.
Over the Backyard Wall by Thomas Kilroy (2018) read by the author: Monday 7- Friday 12 February 2022. The excerpts relate to his time as a student in St Kieran's College, Kilkenny and of hurling there; his days as a student in University College Dublin and critical meeting prominent writers of the time; getting his first paid employment after university; his travels in the American Deep South and meeting Flannery O'Connor; and the first professional productions of his plays. It is published by Lilliput Press.
The House on Eccles Road by Judith Kitchen (2002) read by the author read by the author: Monday 31 January - Friday 4 February 2022. It is published by Pocketbooks/ Townhouse. Canadian author Judith Kitchen was inspired by Ulysses. She named her novel 'the house on eccles street’ for the address of 7 Eccles Street, Dublin where in Ulysses in 1904 Leopold Bloom and his wife, Molly live. Like Ulysses, Judith Kitchen’s novel takes place over one day. It is June 16th 1999 in Dublin Ohio. It is Molly and Leo Blum’s wedding anniversary. Though they wake up together they spend the day apart…and Molly is all too aware that her husband has forgotten the significance of the day. Across the excerpts we about Molly and Leo: their working lives and what they carry in their minds as they go through their day; that they, like Molly and Leopold in Ulysses, lost a child; and time with Molly in traffic in her car listening to the radio as it gradually emerges that a fatal car crash has taken place.
Over the Backyard Wall by Thomas Kilroy (2018) read by the author: Monday 24 - Friday 28 January 2022. It is published by Lilliput Press. In these excerpts from what he calls a memory book one of Ireland's most admired twentieth century playwrights tells us about his life-long challenge with poor eyesight and the life changing experience of having cataracts removed; about the town of Callan, where he was reared; cultural figures of County Kilkenny who influenced him including writer Hubert Butler and the painter Tony O'Malley; a fictional take on war in his hometown of Callan called: The Arrival of Cromwell; and an excerpt relating to his parents who were both involved in and affected by Ireland's War of Independence and the turbulence years of the new Irish State.