Donal Ryan in conversation with Kit de Waal

About this event

We are thrilled to welcome the prize-winning Irish novelist Donal Ryan for a talk about his exquisite new novel, Where Are the Kings – an unforgettable, deeply poignant, and moving story about a young boy coming of age after the loss of his mother. ‘ A beautiful, compassionate novel – Donal Ryan at his inimitable best . ’ – Maggie O’Farrell ‘ A force of nature… a life-enhancing talent . ’ – Sebastian Barry Jack is just twelve years old when he rushes down the hill after his mother ’ s car on his bike, desperate to reach her before she reaches the lake. What happens next cannot be undone. Jack ’ s life changes just at the moment he is entering those dizzying years when he will transition from boy to man; when nothing makes sense at the best of times. Yet Jack is not alone. Enveloped as he is by his extended family – his ferociously loving Nana; Grandad, given to sudden bursts of rage; his earthy uncles Haulie and Theo who want to show him what it means to be a man, and the irascible JJ who resents him deeply. Then there is beautiful aunt Rose, whose mere presence ignites every atom in his changing body. But how can a boy with so many questions, in a family with so many secrets, understand the person he is becoming? Without his mother to ground him on the earth, will he spin off into the stars? Tender, moving, full of warmth, crackling with humour and the love of family, this is a novel that resonates beyond the page, exploring masculinity, belonging, family, silence, and grief. ‘ His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show, and he writes with a social accuracy that is devastating .’ – Anne Enright ‘ The book has stayed with me .’ – Jonathan Franzen Donal Ryan has published seven bestselling novels, and has won several awards for his fiction, including the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award and six Irish Book Awards. He has been twice nominated for the Booker Prize, and his most recent novel, Heart Be at Peace , won both Novel of the Year and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. His work has been adapted for stage and screen and translated into over twenty languages. Kit de Waal , born to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, is the author of My Name is Leon, which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, and was adapted as a film for BBC Two. Her second novel, The Trick to Time , was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction; as was her most recent novel, The Best of Everything , in 2025. Her memoir, Without Warning and Only Sometimes , was shortlisted for Biography of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Ticket price includes a glass of wine or a soft drink.