Two voices raised in unison on bodies, disability, politics, and sex in a conversation guaranteed to be unmissable.

Lauren Foley’s debut collection of short stories is visceral in its depiction of women’s bodies and sexuality, searing in its portrayal of societal attitudes towards both. Polluted Sex will resonate with girls and women within and beyond Ireland’s borders. In Cristina Morales’s new novel, Easy Reading, Ángela, Marga, Nati, and Patricia are cousins living contested lives together in Barcelona. Branded as disabled and sharing a state-subsidised apartment, they strive to find new and inventive ways to express their lived experiences. This is both an indictment of marginalising institutions and a celebration of the female body.

Lauren Foley is an Irish/Australian bisexual author. She has Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and is disabled; the majority of her writing is dictated. She won the inaugural Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize in 2016, and has been shortlisted for both the Irish Books Awards Short Story of the Year, and the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year.

Cristina Morales, is an author, artist and curator from Granada. Her work resonates at the intersection of art and politics, across multiple contexts. She is the author of four novels and a collection of short stories. In 2021, she was named a Granta Best Young Spanish-Language Novelist.

‘A brave and boisterous new voice in Irish fiction.’ – June Caldwell on Lauren Foley

‘The most brutal, provocative and hilarious voice in contemporary Spanish literature,’ – Paul B. Preciado on Cristina Morales

Presented in association with Instituto Cervantes / Spanish Embassy in Ireland