 |
Books for BreakfastAuthor: Peter Sirr and Enda Wyley
A podcast focussing on fiction and poetry hosted by poets and writers Peter Sirr and Enda Wyley. Also features the Toaster Challenge where guest writers are given the time it takes to make toast to talk about a book that has resonated with them. Language: en-ie Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
89: Hugo Hamilton, Conversation with the Sea
Wednesday, 25 February, 2026
Send a textWe’re back for the first episode of 2026. This week we’re back in Books Upstairs in Dublin to interview Hugo Hamilton about his latest novel, Conversation with the Sea. Fleeing his failed marriage in Berlin, Lukas Dorn revisits the West of Ireland, the place of his honeymoon two decades earlier. While his former wife is being cancelled at work and his daughter is arrested at a street protest, he tries to make sense of his broken life with a journal as his sole companion. His inherited memory of the Nazi Holocaust comes face to face with the present when he meets a refugee from a recent warzone. As Lukas communes with the elements in this wild coastal place, he is forced into a confrontation with the past that will carry him to the edge of existence. Conversation with the Sea speaks with heart-rending tenderness to the present moment, as it explores truth, illusion and the deadly silencing of war in a captivating tale of love in a time of displacement. Truly a book for our time' PAUL LYNCH FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF 'THE SPECKLED PEOPLE' 'Told with Hamilton's signature purity of tone, an epic story about how love and history intersect.' ANNE ENRIGHT'I don't think I've ever read a book as wise, or as moving. I will treasure it forever.' DONAL RYAN'Hypnotic, passionate, urgent … Hamilton cuts a clean line to the truth of our mindless moment.' PAUL LYNCHThis episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. Logo designed by Freya Sirr.Support the show
