A Sense of Place Danielle McLaughlin, Rob Doyle and Neil Tully in conversation with Naoise Dolan

In Partnership with Irish Writers Centre

“Every story would be another story, and unrecognizable if it took up its characters and plot and happened somewhere else.” Eudora Welty

Putting their mark, not only on the literary landscape of 2026, but also putting their mark on a particular place, three novelists talk about the importance of location and setting as a character in this Irish Writers Centre panel discussion that brings us to Cork, Dublin and Wexford, with Danielle McLaughlin, Rob Doyle and Neil Tully. Chaired by Naoise Dolan.

Rob Doyle is the Dublin-born author of several internationally acclaimed books: Threshold, Autobibliography, This Is the Ritual, and Here Are the Young Men, which has been adapted for film. His work has been translated into several languages and nominated for various prizes. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Observer, New Statesman, Dublin Review, and many other publications. His new novel, Cameo, is published by W&N.

Danielle McLaughlin’s short story collection Dinosaurs on Other Planets was published in 2015 by The Stinging Fly Press. In 2019, she was a Windham-Campbell Prize recipient, and won the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award. Her first novel, The Art of Falling, was published in 2021 by John Murray and was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2022. In 2023 she was a recipient of a Markievicz Award. Her second novel, Rituals, was published by The Stinging Fly Press in 2026.

Neil Tully is a writer from the west of Ireland. His debut novel, The Visit, was published in March 2026. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick and lives in Cork with his wife.

Naoise Dolan writes fiction, essays, criticism and features. Her debut novel Exciting Times was published by W&N in 2020, and became a Sunday Times bestseller. The Happy Couple was published in 2023, and her third novel is due in 2027. Naoise was the inaugural IPUT Writer in Residence at Wilton Park in 2025.

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