Two Irish writers are among the five on the shortlist for the 2026 BBC National Short Story Award with the University of Cambridge, which was announced this evening on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, as the prestigious award celebrates its 21st anniversary.
The all-woman shortlist includes previous winner and five-time shortlistee, Lucy Caldwell, from Belfast, and multi-award winning writer Caoilinn Hughes, from Galway, who is shortlisted for the second year in a row. Scottish writer Cherise Saywell, who was shortlisted in 2023, is shortlisted again along with two newcomers, Laura Beatty, who lives in Bath, and Merryn Glover, a Kathmandu-born Australian writer who has lived in Scotland for 30 years.
The award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story. Entries are read anonymously, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and the shortlisted authors £600 each. The winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on September 29th. The five stories will be broadcast in turn from September 14th to 18th on Radio 4 and available to listen to on BBC Sounds. The readers include Bafta award-winning actor Anne-Marie Duff (Shameless, The Virgin Queen, Bad Sisters) reading Caldwell’s Little Lands and Cathy Belton (Philomena, Hidden Assets) reading Hughes’s A Second Opinion. The shortlisted stories will also be published in an anthology by Comma Press.
Di Speirs, chair of the judging panel, said: “The BBC National Short Story Award has come of age. And it’s as vital as ever. In a fractured age, where we confront technological change and an often atomised society, the value of stories that reconnect us can’t be overstated. This year’s five shortlisted stories differ in style, location and approach, but they all penetrate the heart of human relationships, across generations and through friendship. Written with deep attention, we are confident that you will find as much in them to enjoy and to admire as we have.”
Speirs, who has judged the award since its launch, is joined on the judging panel by previous winner Saba Sams, previously shortlisted writers Tahmima Anam and Will Eaves, and Costa Best First Novel Award winner, Andrew Michael Hurley.
Little Lands, a story from Caldwell’s 2026 collection, Devotions, was inspired by her experience of watching The Sound of Music with her daughter for the first time and remembering watching it with her own mother.
A Second Opinion centres on widowed estate agent and rower, Carmel, who finds renewed energy in the most unexpected of places after a beloved daughter-in-law breaks up with her son, and he comes home to live with her.
Saturday’s pages
In The Irish Times on Saturday, Emily St John Mandel tells Laura Slattery about her new novel, Exit Party. There is a Q&A with Richard Osman about his latest work, We Chase Shadows. Rosita Boland explores a new John McGahern exhibition in Galway. And Margaret Kelleher writes about her new book on Padraic and Mary Colum, the five-decade love story of a forgotten Irish literary power couple.
Reviews are John Self on Anita Brookner: Art and Life by Hermione Lee; Margaret Kelleher on No One Tells You by Carlo Gébler; Helen Cullen on Switzy by Emma Cline; Catherine Taylor on the best new translations; Greg Londe on The Newer World by Sebastian Barry; Lindsay Powell on Agrippa by Robert Harris; Lucy Sweeney Byrne on The Renovation by Kenan Orhan; Ian Hughes on The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore; Henrietta McKervey on The Great Dictator by Matthew Sweet; Pat Leahy on Ourselves Alone: Sinn Féin Behind Closed Doors by Siobhán Fenton; and Paul Clements on local history.
Dingle Literary Festival
Dingle Literary Festival returns from November 20th to 22nd, bringing leading Irish and international authors to west Kerry for a weekend of conversations, readings, workshops and special events.
One of Ireland’s most celebrated novelists, Sebastian Barry, opens the festival in conversation with Martin Doyle. The programme also features Djamel White, whose debut novel All Them Dogs has been longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, alongside Katriona O’Sullivan, Liz Nugent, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Miriam O’Callaghan, Natasha Brown, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Joe Duffy and Mary Kennedy.
Children’s literature, poetry and Irish-language events feature throughout the weekend, alongside the Children’s Books Ireland Book Clinic and writing workshops.
“This year’s programme reflects what Dingle Lit is about. It brings together distinctive voices, different forms of writing and conversations that we hope will stay with audiences long after the weekend is over,” said festival director Sheila O’Reilly.
Dingle Lit is supported by the Arts Council, Kerry County Council, Fáilte Ireland, Wild Atlantic Way, Discover Kerry, Ealaín na Gaeltachta, Foras na Gaeilge, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Visit Malta, Culture Ireland and RTÉ Supporting the Arts. Children’s events are supported by the Irish American Partnership. Associate sponsors include Cara Credit Union, Poetry Ireland and Dúchas.
For tickets and the full programme details. visit dinglelit.ie.
The Story Makers’ Circle
Next Thursday, September 17th, Children’s Books Ireland, the national charity that champions every child’s right to develop a love of reading, will launch its Story Makers’ Circle.
At a special event in the Merrion Hotel, Laureate na nÓg Chris Haughton, author Belinda McKeon and the newly appointed Seamus Heaney Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland, Stephen Daly, will talk about the people who gave them a love of reading and influenced their journeys to where they are today.
Children’s Books Ireland’s latest initiative, The Story Makers’ Circle, is a giving community of philanthropic leaders who believe that all children should have access to the joy and power of books. Members can support CBI by making annual donations that will help children develop a love of reading that will enhance every aspect of their lives. You can find out more about The Story Makers’ Circle at childrensbookireland.ie
Celebrating Arlen House at 50
Arlen House in partnership with dlr Libraries, is holding the finale event of the Celebrating Arlen House at 50 series where it will also celebrate 40 years of the WEB women writers workshop, this Saturday, September 12th, at 2.30pm, in the LexIcon Studio Theatre, Dún Laoghaire. Free but booking essential at tickettailor.com/events/dlrlibraries/2357330
Arlen House, founded in 1975, was the first organisation to introduce equality and diversity in the Irish arts world, led by the visionary team of Catherine Rose, Margaret Mac Curtain, Eavan Boland, Terry Prone, Janet Martin and Mary Cullen. Alan Hayes has continued that mission over the past 30 years.
A stimulating afternoon of readings and discussions is promised with Mary Rose Callaghan, Celia de Fréine, Tanya Farrelly, Liz McManus, Lia Mills, Helena Nolan, Nessa O’Mahony and Nell Regan.
Red Line Book Festival
The Red Line Book Festival returns this October, marking its 15th anniversary with an exciting programme. Filled with over 40 events, the festival brings together some of Ireland’s best-known names alongside new and emerging voices, with events covering fiction, memoir, poetry, politics, music and more.
A cornerstone of South Dublin County’s cultural calendar, the festival is uniquely curated by librarians from South Dublin Libraries. The festival runs from October 12th to 18th, with events in The Civic, Rua Red, Rathfarnham Castle, and various South Dublin County Council Libraries.
Audiences can enjoy events featuring bestselling authors Cecelia Ahern and Louise O’Neill, acclaimed actor and author Ardal O’Hanlon, an evening of spoken word and theatre with Emmet Kirwan, broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan, and the award-winning Sarah Waters, bestselling crime writer Sophie Hannah, comedian, writer and social media favourite Justine Stafford, acclaimed British writer Imani Thompson, historian, actor and broadcaster Anthony Delaney, journalist and former Sinn Féin press adviser Siobhán Fenton and much, much more.
On Saturday, October 17th, Tallaght Library, Parthalán Place, and the Civic Theatre will unite for a Family Fun Day, an action-packed celebration featuring interactive creative workshops, live historical re-enactments, and pop-culture fun for all ages.
Visit redlinefestival.ie for more.
Seamus Heaney conference
The Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast is marking 60 years since the publication of Seamus Heaney’s first big collection, Death of a Naturalist, with a two-day conference exploring the poet’s early career and legacy.
First published in 1966, Death of a Naturalist, with widely renowned poems such as Digging, Mid-term Break and Scaffolding, would launch Heaney’s career and establish him firmly in the public eye as a poet of place, whose local accents and autobiographical marked a new direction in twentieth century Irish poetry.
In the same year, Heaney accepted a lectureship at his alma mater, Queen’s University Belfast, and made his first appearance on Ireland’s The Late Late show, where he read Blackberry-Picking to a mass television audience.
To mark the anniversary, the Seamus Heaney Centre, in partnership with the National Library of Ireland, Emory Rose Library, and Queen’s University’s Special Collections, are hosting Digging at 60: From the Archives to explore aspects of Heaney’s early career, first collection, and TV and radio materials.
The conference will hear from a variety of speakers and panellists including Dr Rosie Lavan from Trinity College Dublin; Stephen Ennis of the Harry Ransom Center; Crónán Ó Doibhlin of the National Library of Ireland; Professor Glenn Patterson, Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s; and Dr Adam Hanna from University College Cork, among others.
Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, Professor Glenn Patterson said: “Digging at 60 is an opportunity to celebrate Seamus Heaney’s work on a number of fronts at a critical moment in his development, and an opportunity for us at the Seamus Heaney Centre to discuss with colleagues and collaborators, nationally and internationally (and anyone who is interested in coming along!), aspects of our unique Seamus Heaney broadcast archive.”
There will also be a celebration for the Seamus Heaney Centre’s first album, ‘This is it, Yeah’ with readings from the album and live music from Mark McCambridge (Arborist), and a special screening Hammond: Duais an Dorais at the QFT, presented in association with DoubleBand.
The conference will run from September 11th to 12th at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, 38-40 University Road, Belfast.
The conference is free, but registration is essential. For more information and to register, please visit: seamusheaneycentre.com/Events/Conferences/Diggingat60-2026/
‘Best Irish Books’ guide
A national charity that champions every child’s right to develop a love of reading is encouraging parents, guardians and teachers to reignite ‘reading for fun’ with the launch of a new ‘Best Irish Books’ guide as children return to termtime routines this September.
Showcasing the best and brightest of 2026 publications for young readers across fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels and verse, the new free guide launched by Children’s Books Ireland features over 100 titles written or illustrated by an Irish-born or Irish-based artist. The guide includes titles for all age groups up to 18 and features reviews in English and as Gaeilge.
In their recently published Children and Young People’s Reading in Ireland report, Children’s Books Ireland found that a quarter of children aged 0 to 18 enjoy reading, or being read to, for fun daily. The charity hopes that classrooms and families will create and enjoy time to read for fun as they settle into school routines.
Book launch
The Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland is to launch Freedom of Speech in the Press in Times of Conflict: Historical Perspectives from Ireland and Europe edited by Richard C. Allen, Felix M. Larkin, Oliver O’Hanlon & Aoife Whelan. This volume is the latest in Peter Lang’s series of Studies in Franco-Irish Relations.
The volume will be launched by broadcaster and historian David McCullagh in the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) at 6pm on Tuesday, October 6th. Please register (for free) through this link.