We are honoured to host Orwell Prize-winning author of My Fourth Time We Drowned , Sally Hayden, for a conversation on her powerful new book, This Is Also a Love Story. In this work, Hayden re-examines catastrophe through love stories she encounters along global frontlines, finding the human and the good in the face of unimaginable adversity.
She will be joined in conversation by Irish Times journalist Sorcha Pollak to tackle urgent questions around war and displacement, climate collapse and inequality; but also to discuss the importance of love central to This Is Also a Love Story :
What if news was recounted through the prism of the actions people take for those they love? Would it become harder to dehumanize those who seem different to us? This is Also a Love Story dares us to recognise how connection, self-sacrifice and love can be found in even the most difficult of times, and - as a result - to question what might be needed to create a better world.
Join us for this conversation which, in an era defined by crisis, is more important than ever. All are welcome to attend.
Attendance is free but booking is essential.
PRAISE FOR THIS IS ALSO A LOVE STORY
“A beautiful meditation on love … [Hayden] is our most vital journalist” - Irish Times
“Deeply moving and necessary” - Anne Enright
“Moving … Hayden is an excellent journalist” - Sunday Times
“Shows us that in the midst of war, around the most acute suffering, there is also tremendous heroism” - Nathan Thrall, author of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama
“A reporter of the first order … A searching, deeply moving work” - Jonathan Blitzer, author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here
“Hayden uncovers miracles. She may be one herself” - Alex Perry, author of Blood Will Flow
ABOUT
SALLY HAYDEN is an award-winning journalist, photographer and author. She is currently an international correspondent for the Irish Times based in Beirut, and has reported and worked for news outlets across the world, including VICE, CNN International, the Financial Times , TIME , BBC, the Washington Post , the Guardian , AND the New York Times . She was named Journalist of the Year at the Irish Journalism Awards in 2023 and 2025, and is a four-time winner of the Best Foreign Coverage award. Sally is also an adjunct professor at the UCD Sutherland School of Law.
Her first book, My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the An Post Irish Book of the Year, among other prizes.
[Photo: Hani Alagbar]
SORCHA POLLAK is an Irish Times reporter specialising in immigration issues and co-host of the In the News podcast. Previously, she worked as a reporter for the Guardian and TIME magazine. She has appeared on Irish radio including RTE’s Morning Ireland, Marian Finucane show, Drivetime, Raidio na Gaeltachta, and on BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. [Photo: Conor Horgan]