Emerging Writers Jessamine O'Connor and Djamel White in conversation with Aingeala Flannery

Join us as we delve into two captivating debut novels from some of the freshest voices in Irish fiction. Jessamine O’Connor’s Somewhere (Lilliput Press) is a raw and intimate portrait of a woman balancing on the edge of survival, seeking meaning and love amid isolation and addiction. Djamel White’s All Them Dogs (John Murray) is a gritty, sharp and unexpectedly tender dive into West Dublin’s underworld, where loyalty, desire and survival collide. The authors join author Aingeala Flannery in conversation.

Jessamine O’Connor lives on the Sligo-Roscommon border. Her collection Silver Spoon is published by Salmon Poetry. She has pamphlets with Nine Pens Press and the Black Light Engine Room press. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Ireland Chair of Poetry Travel Award in 2025 and the Dermot Healy Award for Fiction and Poetry. Her work has been published in Banshee, The Stinging Fly and Skylight47. She is an editor with Drunk Muse Press and The Poet’s Republic and currently works as an ESOL tutor. Somewhere is her first novel.

© Conor Horgan

Djamel White’s long road to publication is both moving and inspiring. Djamel left secondary school at the age of 17 and was dealing with lots of problems at home, he managed to fight his way out and enrolled in a community training programme for early school leavers. From there he found people who believed and respected him, propelling him to go to university at the age of 21. There, he earned a BA in English and Creative Writing, and an MFA in Creative Writing, both from University College Dublin, where he was mentored by writers such as Declan Hughes, Sarah Moss and Anne Enright. During this time, he worked with Irish non-profit literary organisation Fighting Words, established by Roddy Doyle in 2009, that sparked his belief that one day he could become a writer. All Them Dogs is his debut novel and has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2026.

© Conor Horgan

Aingeala Flannery is deputy publisher of The Dublin Review and producer of The Dublin Review Podcast. She is a writer, broadcast journalist and teacher. Her book The Amusements won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year in 2023.

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