2021 was another wonderful year for Irish writing and so many incredible books by Irish authors and authors living in Ireland were released this year. Even though festivals returned in-person and online not every author had the opportunity to launch their books with a public celebration or to engage with audiences in the “usual” way.

We’re delighted to bring you a small selection of these authors and we’ve invited twenty-four Irish writers to submit a short video reading from their new books. Our selection is an attempt to show the wide range of Irish writing and in particular to focus on writers whose books we feel deserve more attention and those who were not previously featured in WCLF 2021 events.

We hope that you will enjoy the chance to hear these writers reading their own work and to discover some new books for your reading piles. We will reveal a new author and reading each day from 1 to 24 December. When a new author’s face appears on the relevant door each day click on the image to open the Advent Calendar door. All of these videos have closed captions/subtitles available.

Visit our 2021 Advent Calendar