Opening Night

Official Opening by Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Fergal Dennehy

Rituals with Danielle McLaughlin

Danielle McLaughlin in conversation with Siobhán Rea. Moderated by Declan Meade

CWBF Exclusive

Join us for the launch of Rituals, Danielle McLaughlin’s second novel published by The Stinging Fly Press. Danielle will be in conversation with Siobhán Rea, a Dublin-based artist and teacher whose work spans the disciplines of painting, multi-media and collaborative practice, and Declan Meade, publisher and editor with The Stinging Fly.
Rituals grew out of a collaboration with Siobhán, whose personal practice is concerned with our need to construct rituals in our confusing everyday. The discussion will be chaired by publisher and editor, Declan Meade.
In Rituals, Joan, a public servant in her fifties, is in the habit of living alone. Or rather, she’s in the habit of living with the many rituals and routines – some ordinary, some less so – that allow her to navigate her days. It’s a system that works very well for Joan… until it doesn’t. An unexpected career break prompts her to take in a lodger, a young man studying English Literature at the university. Together they must learn to negotiate everything from a shared bathroom to the hazards of global warming. Set in Cork city, Rituals takes us inside an obsessive mind and invites us to reflect upon the power and beauty contained within our daily lives, but also the dark grip of compulsion. By turns tender, funny and poignant, it celebrates the bravery involved in opening our hearts to change and to chance.

“I loved Rituals. It’s funny and generous and warm. The writing, from sentence to sentence, is just so good. Very few books are this joyous.” Tessa Hadley

Tuesday 21 April 2026

City Library | 7pm | Free