Two of the most exciting Irish novelists – and former Waterstones Dublin colleagues – join us to discuss their latest work and the current era of brilliant Irish writers.

John Boyne is probably best known for his globally bestselling, multi-million-copy classic, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.  His writing career encompasses 14 novels for adults, six for children and short stories.  His latest, Water, is the first book of his most ambitious and powerful work to date – a quartet of intimate, interlinked novels. Earth, Fire and Air will follow at six monthly intervals.  Four individual stories with four very different narrators, all of whom have either been involved in, complicit with, or found themselves the victims of trauma, and whose experiences have been affected by the elements in each title.

Anne Griffin returns to Derby following her 2019 visit for her debut novel, When All is Said. Her latest, The Island of Longing, is a beautiful, emotional novel about love, loss, family and hope. It is the story of Rosie, who, one unremarkable afternoon, watches her daughter Saoirse cycle into town, expecting to hear the slam of the door when she returns a few hours later. But the slam never came.

Two of the most exciting Irish novelists will be in conversation with BBC’s Navtej Johal.

Tickets: £12