Heart, Be At Peace: Donal Ryan in conversation with Paul McVeigh

Donal Ryan has rapidly become one of Irelands most celebrated authors. Join Donal as he talks about his new book, Heart, Be at Peace, and his career, with author Paul McVeigh.

Donal Ryan, from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, is the author of six number one-bestselling novels and a short story collection. He has won several awards for his fiction, including the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award and four Irish Book Awards, and has been shortlisted for several more, including the Costa Book Award and the Dublin International Literary Award. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2013 for his debut novel, The Spinning Heart, and again in 2018, for his fourth novel, From A Low and Quiet Sea. In 2016 his debut novel, The Spinning Heart, was voted Irish Book of the Decade. In 2021 he became the first Irish writer to be awarded the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. His work has been adapted for stage and screen and translated into over twenty languages. A law graduate and former civil servant, Donal has lectured in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick since 2014 and lives in Castletroy with his wife Anne Marie and their two children. His seventh novel, Heart, Be At Peace, will be published worldwide in August 2024.

Paul McVeigh’s debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize, The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix de Roman Cezam. His short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals and newspapers, as well as, on BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5, and Sky Arts. He edited the Queer Love anthology and The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices. His writing has been translated into seven languages. 

His collection of short stories written for BBC Radio, I Hear You, will be published by Salt Publishing in March 2025.