Marta Barone and Claire-Louise Bennett explore the ways in which memories, images, and literature itself – shape the lives of their characters.

We tell stories in order to survive – and we remember in order to live. The female protagonists created by two authors, Marta Barone and Claire-Louise Bennett, are painfully, compelling evocative of this, as they learn to read the traumas of their experiences and memories. In Marta’s Sunken City, a young woman searches for the story of her elusive father’s life, lost in one of the darkest periods of Italy’s national history. In Checkout 19, Claire-Louise’s latest novel, another young woman reflects on the incidental yet pivotal moments that have shaped her life, and the ways in which books have saved her.

Marta Barone is Turin-born translator and editor. Sunken City has been shortlisted for the Strega Prize, and has won the Vittorini and Fiesole Prizes. Marta is also the author of several books for children.

Claire-Louise Bennett studied literature and drama at the University of Roehampton before moving to Ireland. Her debut work, Pond, was published in 2015 and was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize the following year.

The event will be chaired by writer Mia Gallagher.

‘A transfixing amalgam of novel, memoir and history … exquisite prose’ – Times Literary Supplement on Sunken City

‘A book to shake the world anew’ – Sebastian Barry on Checkout 19

Presented with the support of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura and the Embassy of Italy in Ireland.