Historical fiction, a genre in which Irish writers have been particularly prolific and influential, is a focus of this year’s festival
Helena Mulkerns
Wed Oct 21 2026 - 04:48 • 6 MIN READ
With its sense of celebration and inclusion, and its anticipation of new developments in Irish writing and publishing, the upcoming Dublin Book Festival has to be one of the most comprehensive arts events of the year.
For its 20th anniversary, books are of course the main focus, but the generous embrace of live performance, cross-arts collaboration and programming for children make it particularly broad-reaching. The current flourishing of writing in the Irish language is excellently showcased and traditional panels and workshops are offset by more cutting-edge sessions, such as late-night open mic and storytelling gigs.
One area that comes into focus is historical fiction. It’s a genre that has metamorphosed and expanded exponentially over this first quarter of the new century and one in which Irish writers have been particularly prolific and influential.
Whereas in the 20th century and earlier, the Irish canon tended to focus on the depiction of Irish history itself, or on Ireland’s political struggles, the horizons of Irish authors have expanded to explore a more international view of our past, with works about our diaspora and extending beyond themes strictly Irish. Their approach is more intimate, more character-focused and often questions the sources of history itself and offers alternative interpretations.
Two historical fiction sessions will take place on Saturday, November 7th, Writing History (1.30pm, National Library) and Macallaí na Staire/the Echoes of History (2pm, Royal Irish Academy of Music).
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For Writing History, author Neil Hegarty interviews novelists Martina Devlin, Henrietta McKervey and Emily Hourican.
Devlin’s Glorious Monsters, published by Lilliput, takes us to Rome in 1819, where the artist Amelia Curran (a sister of Sarah Curran, fiancee of executed Irish revolutionary Robert Emmet) meets the passionate trio of artists Percy and Mary Shelley and Mary’s half-sister, Claire Claremont.
The work follows several threads, primarily examining the complex relationship between the three. It also looks at the idea of art itself, and how a painting, such as one painted in the 17th century of Beatrice Cenci (a noblewoman executed for her part in her father’s murder), can influence artists of a different generation. The detail, emotional sensitivity and careful sense of place bring the subject to life and the reader becomes completely captivated by the whole.
“For some writers, history is a faintly defined background, an attractive setting really. But for me that’s not the case,” says Devlin. “I want to understand the texture of daily lives from the period I’m dealing with. And you can get lost in the sweep of large-scale world events: wars, plagues, famines, executions. But I’m trying to home in on individuals and how they are impacted. My hope is to make history feel vivid rather than words on a page, which can happen with history text books.”
Certainly, the historical facts could not paint three more colourful figures.
“We are fascinated by the Romantics today – they were dazzling, brilliant, volatile. But underneath the genius they were flawed human beings. I’m interested in how we relate to them when you lift the veil.”
The main protagonist in Hourican’s latest book, A House in Winter, also attracted the author as an intriguing historical figure. The book takes place over the 48 hours in 1965 when Britain’s Princess Margaret accompanied her husband, Lord Snowden, on a visit to his ancestral home in Abbeyleix.
When resentment against the royals’ visit generates IRA violence, the ensuing siege brings to light both the underlying feelings of the local community, the political situation in 1960s Ireland and the personal struggles of the princess.
“I would never have thought of writing about her if I hadn’t come across this weird historical episode,” says Hourican. “I couldn’t get over the fact that I’d never heard of it.” The author of four previous historical novels, Hourican’s passion for historical fiction comes from the challenge it presents to “move us into a different world”. “History doesn’t just tell us what happened back then, it tells us something about now. If it’s not reflecting things that are still important, then it doesn’t work.”
McKervey, whose latest novel, The Woman in The Water, is set in 1937, describes the recreation and interpretation of historical material as something she was reticent to approach at first, but came to love after discovering how much she liked the research.
“I have to go so far away from myself in the writing of it. I love that it’s not my experience, it’s not my life, it’s not that of anybody I know – so the challenge is to really inhabit a complete other world. I can lean on myself, obviously, for emotional responses – but everything else in the world I need to research.”
Macallaí na Staire/The Echoes of History sees Prof Michael Cronin of Trinity College Dublin in conversation with author and publisher Darach Ó Scholaí, author of Súil an Daill and more recently Bódléar; author and short story writer Réaltán Ní Leannáin, whose novel Cití na gCartaí takes us from Gallipoli to Belfast in the first World War and after, and Liam Mac Cóil, whose historical novels range from a literary detective novel to the Lucás O’Briain series of historical thrillers.
When I was starting out, I found there weren’t that many books that interested me in Irish, but that’s not the case anymore. If someone were to start reading now they would have a wealth of books to choose from
— Darach Ó Scolaí
For Ní Leannáin, the extensive geographical nature of her research was a challenge in itself. It involved not only trawling through historical records, but travel to the Mediterranean to research her grandfather’s time in the Great War. “It took a long time to finish the book as I went down rabbit holes of reading and research, but I value authenticity and factual accuracy and wanted it to ring true,” she says.
For Cronin, it’s an area that has traditionally been a staple of Irish-language literature, but has also seen huge expansion of late.
“There has been a whole slew of writers in recent years who have been taking on historical fiction in Irish and amplifying it. What these writers are doing is recreating a society where Irish was the everyday language of all the different social classes of society and they are looking at that both in Irish and in foreign settings – as in the Irish diaspora.”
Darach Ó Scolaí, who is a publisher as well as an author, has seen the steady success of new books in Irish since the turn of the century, and feels that this is very encouraging to see. Leabhar Breac uses a distributor to get books around the country, but Ó Scolaí describes it as “a joy” to ship books not just to Ireland but all around the world.
“Some years back, when I was starting out, I found there weren’t that many books that interested me in Irish, but that’s not the case any more. If someone were to start reading now they would have a wealth of books to choose from. This is especially good for bilingual readers. If an Irish reader is not used to reading in Irish, they’ll have to read a few books before they get into it. But you can’t do that unless the books are there, and they are now.”
Both panels promise to deliver some lively conversations between the authors, focusing both on their respective recent books and on the genre and its developments. Elsewhere in the programme, festivalgoers will find other authors of Irish historical fiction, from Sebastian Barry (November 7th, 2.45pm, RIAM) to the more recent genre-bending work of Doireann Ní Ghríofa (November 8th, 12.30pm, RIAM). Michael Cronin’s new book, Ireland: Why It Matters to Be an Island, is also featured during the festival (November 8th, at 11am, RIAM).
Dublin Book Festival highlights- November 4th: Launch event. 20 Years of The Dublin Book Festival – Roisín Ingle’s Irish Times Women’s Podcast Book Club presents authors on Irish women’s writing in the past two decades (Townhall, Windmill Lane, 6.30pm).
- November 5th: Literature and the Digital Age examines the fate of the written word in today’s tech vortex. (All day, St Patrick’s Campus, DCU.) Céadlínte: new Irish poets (5pm, Poetry Ireland and November 6th, 7pm, Poetry Ireland).
- November 6th: The Literary Producer Event. Patricia Forde speaks to Irish-language children’s books publishers, authors and illustrators (10.30am, RIAM). Emerging Writers: Jessamine O’Connor and Djamel White (6pm, The Grafton Hotel).
- November 7th: Day of the Imprisoned Writer. From PEN, with human rights lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher (3pm, RIAM). Fighting Words Story Slam for teen writers, with Dave Rudden (4.30pm, RIAM). A Hosting: the future of Irish writing with Martin Doyle, Kevin Barry and Paula Shields (6.30pm, RIAM).
- November 8th: Three Books To Save The Planet. Climate change explored with Mary Robinson, Sadhbh O’Neill and John Gibbons (2pm, RIAM); Other Worlds Than This, a speculative fiction showcase (2.30pm, Books Upstairs); Interview with Jodi Picoult by Miriam O’Callaghan (5pm, RIAM). Off The Scéal, a multilingual open mic and seanchaí night hosted by Daniel O’Flynn and Ola Majekodunmi.
- dublinbookfestival.com
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Source: The Irish Times · Helena Mulkerns
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