The Unsettling Supernatural John Connolly, Sarah Davis-Goff and Deirdre Sullivan in conversation with Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan
Join us as three authors discuss the supernatural, the unsettling and the element of horror in their novels with writer and performer Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan. The Land of Lost Things (Hodder & Stoughton) by John Connolly is a moving tale of loss, parenthood, and the place of books and stories in our lives, which transports us to a land of witches and dryads, giants and mandrakes. Silent City (Tinder Press) by Sarah-Davis Goff is an apocalyptic tale of a young woman fighting for life and justice in the tyrannical Phoenix City. Wise Creatures (Hot Key Books) by Deirdre Sullivan is a darkly thrilling psychological horror about how hauntings begin with people, not places.
Photo © Ivan Gimenez Costa
John Connolly is author of the Charlie Parker mysteries, The Book of Lost Things, the Samuel Johnson novels for young adults and, with his partner, Jennifer Ridyard, co-author of the Chronicles of the Invaders. John Connolly’s debut Every Dead Thing introduced the character of Private Investigator Charlie Parker, and swiftly launched him right into the front rank of thriller writers. All his subsequent novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers, and he has sold more than 8 million copies in English language alone. He was the winner of the 2016 CWA Short Story Dagger for ‘On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier’ from Night Music: Nocturnes Vol 2. In 2007 he was awarded the Irish Post Award for Literature. He was the first non-American writer to win the US Shamus Award and the first Irish writer to win an Edgar Award. Books To Die For, which he edited with Declan Burke, was the winner of the 2013 Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Awards for Best Non-Fiction work. John writes regularly for newspapers, hosts a radio show on RTE and divides his time between Dublin and Portland, Maine.
Photo © Brid O’Donovan
Sarah Davis-Goff’s writing has been published in the Irish Times, the Guardian and LitHub. Her first novel, Last Ones Left Alive, was an Irish Times Book of the Year. She lives in Dublin.
Deirdre Sullivan is a writer from Galway. Her 2016 novel Needlework was awarded a White Raven and the CBI Honour Award for fiction. Tangleweed and Brine, a collection of dark fairy-tale retellings, won an Irish Book Award in 2017, and her first book for Hot Key Books, Perfectly Preventable Deaths, was shortlisted for the Awards in 2019. Deirdre loves reading, knitting, bodily autonomy and guinea-pigs. Her latest book, Wise Creatures, out on 28th September 2023.
Photo © Tristan Hutchinson
Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan is a Dublin-based writer and performer from India. Her work has been published by Dedalus Press, Lifeboat Press, Poetry Ireland, Banshee, and Stinging Fly amongst others. Chandrika was selected to participate in the Irish Writers Centre’s XBorders programme 2018 and 2020, Poetry Ireland’s Introductions 2021, and Science Gallery Dublin’s Rapid Residency 2021. Chandrika was editor of Poetry Ireland’s Trumpet issue 9, is book reviewer for Children’s Books Ireland’s Inis magazine, and is on the Board of the Irish Writers Centre. She is Writer in Residence for the Institute of Physics for 2023.