The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 25: ‘Youth’ by Kevin Curran

The Arts Council Podcast

The February Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Kevin Curran about his novel ‘Youth’ “Kevin Curran’s novel deals with the lives of four teenagers in Balbriggan, Ireland’s most diverse town. When the protagonists intersect, the connections they make will change the course of their lives. ‘Irish-English has always been wild,’ Roddy Doyle has written in The Irish Times. ‘Youth, at its liveliest, seems to be telling us that we’re only starting.’” — Colm Tóibín Kevin Curran is from Balbriggan and has been a secondary-school teacher in his hometown for over a decade. Youth, his third novel, was published to critical acclaim in 2023. His first novel, Beatsploitation (2013), brought him national attention due to his depiction of Ireland’s new multicultural landscape. He has also published a second novel, Citizens (2016), and numerous short stories in major anthologies and literary journals such as The Stinging Fly. His fiction largely concentrates on working class life in the Dublin suburbs. He has also written non-fiction for The Guardian and The Observer. Learn more about the Art of Reading Book Club and the Laureate for Irish Fiction programme: https://www.artscouncil.ie/Arts-in-Ireland/Literature/Laureate-for-Irish-Fiction/The-Art-of-Reading-Book-Club/