Rosamund Taylor in conversation with Mary Morrissy

Cork World Book Festival is delighted to announce Rosamund Taylor’s Filly as Cork City Libraries’ One City One Book 2026.

Filly (Banshee Press, 2025) is a gripping and genre-bending coming of age story centred on Orla, who is discovering her sexuality in the hostile and misogynistic world of Ireland’s school system. When her friend Muireann rejects her advances, she turns to her charismatic English teacher Irene Wall for a love affair both passionate and annihilating. Written with Taylor’s trademark earthy lyricism, Filly is an exploration of intergenerational love and trauma, and an explosion of queer joy.

‘Everything about Mrs W was wide –

her shoulders, her breasts, her chin.

She mainly wore blazers

and dark brown boots, though once,

for Halloween, she dressed

as Charlie Chaplin with a moustache

and bowler hat. Her swagger

made my thighs clench.’

Thursday 23 April 2026

City Library | 8.30 pm | Free