The Eason Book Club is delighted to announce that we are supporting a very special book event with the Children’s Medical and Research Foundation (CMRF) Crumlin. The Crumlin Hospital Summer Book Event will take place at the Intercontinental Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin on Saturday, May 23rd at 1pm.
The event will feature award-wining Irish author Donal Ryan, who recently won the European Union Prize for Literature. Donal will be in conversation with comedian Colm O’Regan, author of the Irish Mammies series. A number of celebrated Irish authors will also be in attendance, including international bestselling authors Cathy Kelly and Claudia Caroll, novelist Christine Dwyer Hickey, and Kari Rosvall. whose memoir, Nowhere’s Child, is currently a No. 1 bestseller in Ireland. See below for the full list of authors who will be attending the event.
The event will include a drinks reception in the Courtyard, followed by a three-course lunch with wine. All proceeds from the day will be donated to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin.
Tickets to attend the event are €75 and can be purchased from www.cmrf.org/crumlinbookclublunch or by contacting Anna on 01-709-7100 or AKinsella@cmrf.org.
About Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital & CMRF Crumlin
Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin® is Ireland’s largest paediatric hospital. Our Lady’s mission is to constantly improve the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents in a safe environment which is driven by quality healthcare and supported by excellence in Knowledge, Education and Research. In 2014 the hospital had 34,770 emergency attendances, 17,700 day cases, 10,467 in patient admissions, 74,843 outpatient attendances and performed 14,744 surgical procedures.
CMRF Crumlin is the fundraising body for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin as well as the Children’s Research Centre and is dedicated to working to improve the quality of life of sick children. The organization plays a key role in supporting the hospital to deliver state of the art facilities; equipment, infrastructure, leisure and entertainment devices for the children, accommodation for families and other special requirements and needs. In addition, CMRF fund vital paediatric research and have been able to establish the National Children’s Research Centre (NCRC), a world class facility which provides state of the art laboratory facilities for investigation into the causes and treatments of childhood disease.
Authors in Attendance
Donal Ryan
Donal Ryan’s first novel, The Spinning Heart, was published to major acclaim. It won the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature (Ireland), and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards; it was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. The Thing About December was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. Donal is currently writer-in-residence at the University of Limerick. He lives with his wife Anne Marie and their two children just outside Limerick City.
Colm O’Regan
Colm O’Regan is a critically acclaimed stand-up comedian, columnist, broadcaster and author of the two bestselling Irish Mammies books, Isn’t It Well For Ye? (shortlisted for an Irish Book Award) and That’s More Of It Now. He writes a weekly column for The Irish Examiner and has written for The Irish Times and BBC Online Magazine. Colm’s @irishmammies Twitter account, which is the origin of the series, now has over 138,000 followers. From Dripsey in County Cork, Colm now lives in Dublin (but he’ll ring home on a Sunday evening for news).
Christine Dwyer Hickney
Christine Dwyer Hickney is a novelist, short story writer and playwright. Twice winner of the Listowel Writers’ Week short story competition and a winner of the Observer/Penguin Short Story Award, her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies world-wide. Christine’s first foray into novels was in 1995 with the publication of The Dancer, book one of her critically acclaimed Dublin Trilogy. Published in April 2015, her ninth novel, The Lives of Women, was selected as one of four finalists for April’s Book of the Month in the Eason Book Club.
Kari Rosvall
Kari Rosvall was born in Norway in 1944, during the Second World War. She grew up and spent her early life in Sweden, and in 1997 moved to Ireland, which she now considers her home, with her husband Sven. Her memoir, Nowhere’s Child, was published in April 2015 by Hachette Books Ireland and became a No.1 bestseller.
Naomi Linehan
Naomi Linehan is a journalist and documentary maker who worked in flagship current affairs and features programmes on Newstalk Radio from 2008-2014. She was born in Dublin and grew up in Zambia. In addition to her radio work, Naomi has written articles for The Irish Times and various other newspapers and magazines. Nowhere’s Child, which tells Kari Rosvall’s remarkable story, is her first book.
Cathy Kelly
Cathy Kelly is published around the world, with millions of books in print. A No.1 bestseller in the UK, Ireland and Australia, her trademark is warm Irish storytelling about modern life, always with an uplifting message, sense of community and strong female characters at the heart. She lives with her family and their three dogs in County Wicklow, Ireland. She is also an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland, raising funds and awareness for children orphaned by or living with HIV/AIDS.
Claudia Carroll
Claudia Carroll first shot to fame with her role as Nicola Prendergast on ‘Fair City’. It was during this time (in the dressing rooms of RTE), where she penned her début novel, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. Since 2004, she has published a dozen bestselling titles, selling over 670,000 copies of her paperbacks alone. Claudia’s latest novel (published in March), Meet Me in Manhattan, was a No. 1 bestseller in Ireland upon its release.
Alex Barclay
Alex Barclay studied journalism in college, and went on to work as a journalist and copywriter before writing her first novel, Darkhouse, a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller. Her impressive list of titles include: Time of Death, Blood Loss and Blood Runs Cold, for which she received the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Award.
Liz McManus
Liz McManus is a novelist and short fiction writer. Her awards include, Listowel, Irish PEN and the Hennessy Award for New Irish Writing. Her first novel, Acts of Subversion, was shortlisted for the Aer Lingus / Irish Times award. She was a TD for County Wicklow for 18 years and a Minister for State for Housing and Urban Renewal in the Rainbow Government 1994/1997. Her latest novel, A Shadow in the Yard was published in January.
Caroline Grace Cassidy
Caroline Grace Cassidy is an actress and author. She began her acting career on the BAFTA winning children’s programme Custers Last Standup for the BBC/RTE playing Mary Mull. Since then she has gone on to appear in various productions for the BBC/RTE/TG4 and TV3. She first found success as an author with her novel When Love Takes Over. Her fourth novel Already Taken is due for publication in July 2015.
Susan Loughnane
Susan Loughnane is an actress best known for her role as Debbie on the hugely popular RTE series Love/Hate, for which she won the IFTA for Best Supporting Actress in 2013. Susan’s first novel, The Art of Scandal, was published by Poolbeg Press in 2014.
Ciara Geraghty
Ciara Geraghty is the author of five novels: Now That I’ve Found You, Lifesaving for Beginners, Saving Grace, Becoming Scarlett and Finding Mr Flood. She lives in Dublin with her husband, three children and a dog.
Kathleen MacMahon
Kathleen MacMahon is a writer and journalist. Her first novel, This is How it Ends, was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Book of the Year award, as well as two Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards and was chosen by the public as runner-up in the Liveline listeners’ poll for Book of the Year 2012. Her second book, The Long, Hot Summer, publishes in May 2015. Kathleen lives in Dublin with her husband and twin daughters.
Martina Reilly
Martina Reilly, formerly known as the author Tina Reilly, lives in County Kildare with her husband and two children. Her bestselling novels include What If?, Something Borrowed, A Moment Like Forever and Things I Want You to Know.