“O’Doherty is a literary surgeon who uses his pen like a scalpel, cutting through the cancerous tissue of propaganda that has served all sides during “The Troubles”.”

– Richard O’Rawe, author of Blanketmen

The thirty-year long civil conflict and occupation of the Troubles left profound scars on all involved, and the ratification of the Good Friday Agreement, a bold and ambitious power-sharing agreement, was little short of a political miracle. Twenty-five years on, a panel of writers and journalists from both sides of the border reflect on the conflict, the peace talks, and the radically altered political landscape left in their wake.

This rich and far-reaching conversation will touch on all the ways we have collectively responded to and processed one of the darkest periods in modern history, and what has and has not changed in the post-war North.

Malachi O’Doherty is one of the country’s most respected journalists, having begun his career in the worst days of Troubles Belfast in 1972. His most recent book is How to Fix Northern Ireland.

Kerri ní Dochartaigh grew up in Derry with her Catholic mother and Protestant father, until their home was petrol bombed in 1994; her book Thin Places, is an unflinching account of her war-torn hometown.

Darragh McKeon’s novel Remembrance Sunday revolves around the IRA bombing of a parade in Enniskillen, and the contemporary narrator’s reflections on his childhood in the Irish borderlands.

This panel discussion will be moderated by Northern Editor with The Irish Times and author Freya McClements.

“Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s burden as a child – to exist in “the gaps between” the Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland – has become her gift as a writer.” – Amy Liptrot

“Deeply felt and delicate, Remembrance Sunday is a timely evocation of the havoc the Troubles wreaked not just on the street, but on the soul.” – Claire Kilroy
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Malachi O’Doherty is a writer and broadcaster based in Belfast. He covered the Troubles and the peace process as a journalist and has written for the Irish Times, the New Statesman, the Scotsman and the Guardian.

Kerri ní Dochartaigh is the author of Thin Places which was highly commended by the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021. She has written for the Guardian, Irish Times, BBC, Winter Papers and others.

Darragh McKeon was born in 1979 and grew up in the midlands of Ireland. His debut novel All That is Solid Melts into Air was published in 2014 to widespread international acclaim and was translated into nine languages.