IN CONVERSATION: Sharon Guard and Jackie Lynam on ‘The Silence of October’

We look forward to welcoming Sharon Guard and Jackie Lynam to celebrate the publication of Sharon’s new novel The Silence of October for what promises to be a fascinating conversation about love, friendship, grief, change and all things Samhain.

All are welcome but booking using the form below is essential.

Sharon proves with this new novel that she is a writer of immense power and elegance, gifted with a deep understanding of human nature, and a sublime ability to give language to loss and love and all of our complexities, sentence after extraordinary sentence. DONAL RYAN

An immensely involving and beautifully written novel from a terrific storyteller. JOSEPH O’CONNOR

The Silence of October is a deeply felt examination of love and grief; there are so many forms of both in this moving and often sharply funny book. Lifelong expectations are not only thwarted but profoundly derailed, the sources of self-worth shattered, and every relationship, human, animal, material and artistic, is questioned. This is a searingly honest account of what it means to love. ELAINE GARVEY

‘Powerful, lyrical and captivatingly vivid storytelling from a gifted writer.’ FERDIA MAC ANNA

Beautifully written, Sharon Guard’s new novel is an insightful commentary on how we ‘perform’ in our daily lives in an effort to avoid truths we’re afraid of. This is a magnificent book which reminds us that the shadows of the past are never too far away and often it is those buried secrets which continue to shape us. Set in contemporary Dublin, it brings us into the world of family trauma, the pettiness of academic politics and the persistence of snobbery based on social class. A must read. EOIN DEVEREAUX

Sharon Guard has an extraordinary gift for illuminating the quiet moments that define our lives. This deeply moving novel explores grief, loneliness, forgiveness, and second chances with honesty, sensitivity, and grace. It stayed with me long after I turned the final page. ORLA MACKEY

SHARON GUARD lives in Dublin. She graduated with a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick in January 2024. Her creative work has appeared in New Irish Writing , SWERVE magazine, The Ogham Stone and the Washing Windows anthologies. She won the Molly Keane Creative Writing Award in 2020 for a story called ‘Fishing’, and her story ‘Artifice’ was shortlisted for the RTÉ Francis MacManus Short Story Competition in 2024. She has been long and short listed for other competitions and publications and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2023. She was one of twelve writers selected for the Irish Writers Centre Evolution Programme in 2025/2026. Her debut novel, ‘Assembling Ailish’, was published in February 2025 and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award 2026. Her novel ‘The Silence Of October’ was published Poolbeg Press in September 2026.

JACKIE LYNAM is a writer from Dublin. Her poems have been published in several journals and anthologies, and she has been shortlisted for the Anthony Cronin International Short Poem Award and RTÉ’s The Prompt writing competition. Her writing has also featured in the Irish Independent and on RTÉ Radio 1’s Sunday Miscellany programme. Her debut chapbook Traces: Poems and Essays was published in 2023.