Louise Kennedy is 2027 IPUT Writer-in-Residence

Louise Kennedy has been announced as the 2027 IPUT Writer-in-Residence, a year-long residency in a refurbished Georgian apartment overlooking Wilton Park, together with a generous stipend, enabling the recipient to live and write in Dublin.

Kennedy follows this year’s writer in residence, Patrick McCabe, and inaugural recipient, Naoise Dolan, in 2025. Based in Sligo, she will move to Dublin to take up the residency in January.

The apartment includes a dedicated writer’s study, with views towards the Grand Canal and the statue of Patrick Kavanagh. It is adjacent to Mary Lavin Place, the first public square in Ireland named in honour of an Irish woman writer, in a neighbourhood long associated with Dublin’s literary life known as Baggotonia.

Kennedy’s debut short-story collection, The End of the world Is a Cul de Sac, won the John McGahern Prize. Her debut novel, Trespasses, won Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2022, Book of the Year for Debut Fiction at the British Book Awards and the McKitterick Prize. It was also shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize and was adapted into a Channel 4 television series in 2025.

Her second novel, Stations, was published in September and has been shortlisted in two categories at this year’s Irish Book Awards. Before beginning her writing career, Kennedy spent almost 30 years working as a chef.

The residency is selected by a committee chaired by Colm Tóibín, including publicist Cormac Kinsella and members of IPUT.

“We are delighted to welcome Louise Kennedy as our third Writer-in-Residence,” Niall Gaffney, CEO of IPUT Real Estate, said. “We established the residency in the belief that arts and culture are essential to a thriving city, and we look forward to hosting events with Louise next year.”

Tóibín said: “Louise Kennedy is rightly admired for the emotional accuracy with which she creates characters and scenes, for the energy and honesty in her writing, and for the originality of her narrative voice. It is marvellous that she is, as a guest of IPUT, coming to live and work beside the Grand Canal.”

Kennedy said: “I am stunned to be awarded this unique and incredibly generous residency. Wilton Park is a vibrant, exciting new community in a gorgeous corner of Dublin and I can hardly believe I’ll get to spend a whole year writing there. I’m so very grateful to IPUT and everyone involved in the selection process. Bring on January!”

Tomorrow’s pages

In The Irish Times tomorrow, Jonathan Coe tells John Self about his new novel, Lessons in Harmony. Laura Slattery runs the rule over the Booker Prize shortlist in advance of Monday’s prize ceremony.

Reviews are Gerard Howlin on Resetting the Republic: How to Build a Better Ireland by Conor Brady; Mick Heaney on Talk to Joe: Life, Liveline and Me by Joe Duffy; Frank Wynne on the best new fiction in translation; Nicholas Allen on From Out My Heart by Sue Rainsford; Andrew Lynch on This Boy’s Voice by John Creedon; Kevin Gildea on Gaza’s Gravediggers by Norman G Finkelstein; NJ McGarrigle on Alexei Sayle’s How I’ve Tried to Change the world; Sinéad Mac Aodha on American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee; Jan Carson on Reckless Laughter by Philip Taylor; Paschal Donohoe on Everyman by Antara Haldar; Eoin Ó Broin on This Modern Love by Emma Gilleece; and Henrietta McKervey on Miss Bates: Emma Revisited by Catherine Cliff.

Polari Book Prizes

Sarah Maria Griffin has been shortlisted for the £2,000 Polari Book Prize for Eat the Ones You Love (Titan Books), alongside Leon Craig, Rosie Garland, Martin Sherman, Joelle Taylor and Keio Yoshida.

Founded in 2019, the prize is sponsored by DHH Literary Agency and has been awarded to Andrew McMillan, Kate Davies, Diana Souhami, Joelle Taylor, Julia Armfield and Jon Ransom.

The six writers shortlisted for the £1,000 Polari First Book Prize 2026 are Roxy Bourdillon, Sam Furlong, Fiona Keating, Majid Parsa, Matilde Pratesi and Alessandra Thom. Founded in 2011, it is awarded annually to a debut book that explores the LGBTQ+ experience, and has been won by Kirsty Logan, Amrou Al-Kadhi, Diriye Osman, Mohsin Zaidi, Adam Zmith and Nicola Dinan.

This year’s prize winners will be announced on Monday, November 30th, at the Polari Prize 2026 ceremony at Heaven nightclub, with performances from Dee Chanelle, John McCullough, Joelle Taylor and Son of a Tutu. Tickets £10-£15 from Outsavvy.

Baillie Gifford Prize

Edmund Richardson has won the £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2026 for Alexander: God, King, Man (Bloomsbury), becoming the first author to win the award for a book about ancient history.

Goldsmiths Prize

China Miéville has won the £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize 2026 for The Rouse. At 1,242 pages, is the longest novel to win the award in its 14-year history.

Francis Spufford, chair of judges and professor of creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, said: “Excellent though all the books on the shortlist are, it seemed only right to give this year’s Goldsmiths Prize to the one that, in terms of ambition, bold use of history, linguistic experiment and sheer scale, broke most explosively with expectation.”

Miéville’s previous novels include The City & The City, Embassytown and Perdido Street Station. He has written non-fiction about international law and the history of the Russian Revolution. Known for often describing his work as ‘weird fiction’, he co-wrote a book with The Matrix star Keanu Reeves in 2024.

Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Said the Dead and Keith Ridgway’s Dooneen were also shortlisted, alongside Aea Varfis-van Warmelo’s Attention Seeking Behaviour and Missouri Williams’ The Vivisectors.

Gulliver’s Travels turns 300

A big anniversary took place at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, marking 300 years since the publication of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

Three centuries after Swift’s masterpiece first appeared in print, the Cathedral where he served as Dean celebrated his extraordinary legacy through an evening of music, literature and performance.

To celebrate the tricentenary, the Lilliput Press has published a special edition of Gulliver’s Travels, which was launched in the Deanery of St Patrick’s Cathedral with speeches from Dr Brendan Twomey and the Very Revd William M Morton. Limited to 300 copies, they are available now from lilliputpress.ie.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar stage adaptation

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas Show comes to the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire from December 18th to January 3rd.

Eric Carle’s timeless classics leap from the page to the stage. Created by Jonathan Rockefeller, the show features 75 magical and larger-than-life puppets, including the star of the show – The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Audiences will also meet Brown Bear, travel the world with 10 Little Rubber Ducks and celebrate the spirit of the season with Dream Snow, brought to life by storytellers, sweeping original music, puppetry and maybe a special guest or two. Bookings here.

Listowel Writers’ Week

Listowel Writers’ Week has announced details of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award 2027, celebrating the very best of Irish fiction published during 2026.

Novels published between January 1st and December 31st, 2026 are eligible. Closing date for submissions is December 31st. Full submission guidelines and entry criteria are available from Listowel Writers’ Week.

The adjudicators for the 2027 award are Richard Skinner, writer, poet and director of the fiction programme at the Faber Academy, and Prof Margaret Kelleher of University College Dublin, a leading scholar of Irish literature and culture.

Previous winners include Gráinne O’Hare, Niall Williams, Darragh McKeon, Aingeala Flannery, Claire Keegan, Sebastian Barry, Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín and John Banville.

The winning author will receive a prize of €20,000, with the winner announced during Listowel Writers’ Week 2027, taking place from June 2nd to 6th.

Listowel Writers’ Week has also announced details of the Pigott Poetry Prize 2027, Ireland’s largest monetary prize for a new collection of poetry by a living Irish poet, sponsored by Mark Pigott and his family. The winning poet will receive €20,000, with €2,000 awarded to shortlisted poets.

Two exceptional poets as adjudicators for the 2027 Prize: Anthony Vahni Capildeo and Zaffar Kunial.

Limerick literary event

Novelists Sharon Guard and June O’Sullivan will be in conversation with Limerick writer Eoin Devereux about their experiences of becoming a creative writer. Expect a lively and entertaining chat about the realities of writing a novel, finding an agent and getting published.

Both Guard and O’Sullivan are graduates of UL’s Masters in Creative Writing. O’Sullivan was born in Co Limerick and her latest novel, The Sky Is Not Enough, examines the life of the pioneering aviator Sophie Pierce. Guard’s new novel The Silence of October includes a protagonist who hails from Janesboro.

O’Sullivan said: “The highs for me of being a creative writing are the joy of writing. While you are writing you are not thinking about anything other than your story. It is true escapism. And even when you are not writing you have the story in your head – washing dishes, driving to work, going to sleep – your characters are there with you. I also love meeting people who have read my books and want to talk to me about them. I was a reader before I was ever a writer. I still am and I love any opportunity to discuss books.”

Guard said: “I’m never happier than when I’m talking about books and writing. I realise this is not necessarily everybody’s idea of a good time, so I find I gravitate towards friends who are writers themselves and therefore might have a slightly longer tolerance for such meanderings.”

Becoming A Creative Writer takes place at O’Mahony’s Booksellers, O’Connell Street, Limerick at 7pm on November 19th. Early booking from Eventbrite is advisable.