The Raptures by Jan Carson – A Book Club with the author and WLRFM’s Dymphna Nugent
Join Jan Carson and Dymphna Nugent as they discuss the Raptures – Jan’s third novel set in an Evangelical Protestant community in rural Northern Ireland during the summer of 1993. It is a world Jan knows inside out but it may be unfamiliar to some of you who will be reading and orientating yourselves about Ballyhack and the strange works of Hannah Adger. Since its creation a century ago, perceptions of Northern Ireland have often been dominated by stories of conflict and political unrest. But as anyone who lives there or who has visited knows, it is a picture that’s far from complete. This is your opportunity to explore with the author the idiosyncrasies of the everyday, hidden histories and untold stories, which outsiders rarely get to hear about.
Tuesday 25 February, Tramore Library at 7pm
FREE Event. Booking essential. Phone 051 - 849594
Creative Communities on a Shared Island, funded by Creative Ireland, is a joint two-year initiative between Waterford City and County Council and Mid and East Antrim Borough Council to develop and enhance our shared sense of community through the lens of creativity in areas such as heritage, literature and the arts.
Jan Carson is a writer based in Belfast. She has published three novels, three short story collections and two micro-fiction collections. Her novel The Fire Starters won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland 2019. Jan’s latest novel, The Raptures was published by Doubleday in early 2022 and was subsequently shortlisted for the An Post Irish Novel of the Year and Kerry Group Novel of the Year. Her short story collection Quickly, While They Still Have Horses was published by Doubleday (UK) in April 2024 and Scribner (US) in July 2024. Her writing has been aired on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and RTE.
She is the Seamus Heaney Centre Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast 2025 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her first stage play, an adaptation of the children’s classic, The Velveteen Rabbit will be produced by Replay Theatre Company at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in March 2025. Her next novel, Few and Far Between is forthcoming in early 2026.
Sinead O'Higgins, Senior Executive Librarian
Waterford Libraries
Waterford City
Mobile: 087 3637119
