Join us at the Seamus Heaney Centre for a panel discussion featuring authors Andrew Cunning and Róisín Kiberd moderated by Siobhan Fenton.

Join us for our first event of the day in Belfast, at the Seamus Heaney Centre, where authors Róisín Kiberd and Andrew Cunning will be in conversation, exploring how their work blurs the lines between fact and fiction...

This conversation will be moderated by Siobhán Fenton. Tickets are free but booking is advised.

The Most Normal Woman is a new collection of essays where Róisín Kiberd explores the ways we change ourselves in pursuit of perfection – or simply normality – and the toll it takes on our inner lives.

In Andrew Cunning’s debut novel, Clara and Christina, he explores a relationship between the two women, who live their lives in books. Clara, writing her first, embraces this opportunity to learn from a writer finishing her last and during this time, Clara begins to question her own convictions, asking herself: what if there is nothing but fiction?

In this lunchtime discussion, chaired by writer and journalist Siobhan Fenton, Roisin and Andrew will examine how we are judged and defined by our own facts and fiction.

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More about the panelists:

Andrew Cunning was born on the north coast and now lives in North Belfast. He has a PhD in Literature and Theology and has taught in various universities on the island. In 2021 he published Marilynne Robinson, Theologian of the Ordinary with Bloomsbury. Inspired by the experience of meeting his literary hero (Marilynne Robinson), Clara and Christina is his first novel. Andrew now works in an all-ability boys secondary school, teaching English and literacy.

Roisin Kiberd is the author of The Disconnect: A Personal Journey Through the Internet and The Most Normal Woman: Essays on Appearances. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, and Winter Papers. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Galway.

Siobhán Fenton is a Belfast-based writer and journalist. She is the author of two non-fiction books. Her bestselling memoir ‘Ourselves Alone: Sinn Féin Behind Closed Doors’ was published in September 2026 by Penguin Ireland and recounts her experiences of working as a political adviser in Leinster House, during the recent emergence of the far-right. Her first book ‘The Good Friday Agreement’ was published in 2018 and examines how contemporary Northern Irish society continues to be affected by the legacy of the conflict. Her non-fiction writing has been published by outlets including the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the Guardian, the New Statesman and Vogue.

Description supplied by the event organiser.