Roma Wells talks about the search for meaning, the joy in small things and the solace she finds in nature as she tells Ruth McKee which books she’d save if her house was on fire—with titles from Camus, Nabokov, Lemony Snicket and many more.
Roma Wells is the author of Seek the Singing Fish, her debut novel published by époque press.

Bernie McGill talks about Aesop’s Fables, the Irish short story, Lincoln in the Bardo and the pact between the author and the reader as she tells Ruth McKee which books she would save if her house was on fire. 

Bernie McGill is the author of two novels, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House and two collections of short stories, Sleepwalkers, and most recently This Train is For, published by No Alibis Press. 

The next episode of Burning Books features novelist and short story writer Bernie McGill, who talks about Aesop’s Fables, Lincoln in the Bardo and much more as she tells Ruth McKee which books she would save if her house was on fire. 

Olivia Fitzsimons talks about Hans Christian Andersen, Raymond Carver, Donna Tartt, and echoes through time as she tells Ruth McKee which books she would save if her house was on fire.

Olivia Fitzsimons is an award-winning short story writer whose debut novel, The Quiet Whispers Never Stop, is out now with John Murray.

Join Ruth McKee from Friday 13th May when she’ll be talking with author Olivia Fitzsimons to discover which books she would save if her house was on fire. Olivia Fitzsimons’ debut novel The Quiet Whispers Never Stop is out now with John Murray. 

Laura McVeigh talks about Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, reading in translation, and Ways of Seeing by John Berger as she tells Ruth McKee which books she would save if her house was on fire. 

Laura McVeigh’s debut novel Two Roads was published by John Murray Press in 2017. Her new book Lenny (New Island) is a magical tale of family, loss and the redemptive power of the imagination to heal and survive.

Join Ruth McKee from Friday 1st April when she will be talking with author Laura McVeigh to find out which books she would save if her house was on fire. Laura McVeigh’s new novel, Lenny, is out now with New Island. 

Audrey Magee talks about the transformative work of Marguerite Duras, her love of theatre, language and the stillness she needs to write, as she tells Ruth McKee which books she would save if her house was on fire. 

Audrey Magee’s first novel, The Undertaking, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and for France’s Festival du Premier Roman. Sarah Moss describes her new novel, The Colony (Faber) as “a vivid and memorable book about art, youth, love and sex, land and language.”

Join Ruth McKee from Friday 4th February, when she will be talking with author Audrey Magee to find out which books she would save if her house was on fire. Audrey Magee’s new novel, The Colony, is out now with Faber. 

Author Wendy Erskine talks to Books Ireland editor Ruth McKee about Molly Keane’s Good Behaviour, Ian Hunter’s Diary of a Rock and Roll Star and how reading a book when you’re twenty is very different to encountering it at fifty—as she reveals which books she would save if her house was on fire.
Wendy Erskine’s first short story collection, Sweet Home, was published by The Stinging Fly Press in Sept 2018, and Picador in 2019. Her new collection Dance Move will be published by Picador in February 2022.