Short Stories in Focus Maggie Armstrong and Lucy Sweeney Byrne in conversation with Jan Carson
Maggie Armstrong’s Old Romantics (Tramp Press) is an acutely observed and hideously entertaining collection of linked short stories where unreliable, deceptive and flawed narrators navigate a world of devious attraction and latent hostility from first love through to motherhood. Lucy Sweeney Byrne’s Let’s Dance (Banshee) is a hilarious and provocative collection of short stories, exploring women on the brink – of love, of joy, of disaster. Join the authors in conversation with author Jan Carson.
This is an 18+ event.
Maggie Armstrong’s work has been published in the Dublin Review, Stinging Fly, Banshee and elsewhere. She has worked as a critic and reporter for various newspapers. In 2023 her story ‘Dinner and a Show’ was long-listed for an Irish Book Award. She grew up in Dublin, where she still lives. Old Romantics is her first book.
Lucy Sweeney Byrne is the author of Paris Syndrome, a short story collection, published by Banshee Press, met with critical acclaim and shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Edge Hill Prize, the Kate O’Brien Award, the Butler Literary Award, and the John McGahern Prize. Lucy’s short fiction, essays and poetry have appeared in The Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Banshee, Southword, AGNI, Litro, Grist, 3:AM magazine, and other literary outlets. She also writes book reviews for The Irish Times. Lucy’s writing has been made possible by the Arts Council of Ireland.
© Frankie Quinn
Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 followed by a short-story collection, Children’s Children (2016), and two Postcard Stories anthologies. Her second novel, The Fire Starters (2019), won the EU Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award. The Raptures (2022) was shortlisted for the An Post Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Novel of the Year. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She won the Harper’s Bazaar short-story competition and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, the An Post Irish Short Story of the Year, and the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize. Jan’s writing has been widely translated. Her newest short story collection, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses was published in April. Jan is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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