In this episode, Eimear Ryan, lecturer in English and Digital Humanities at UCC, interviews novelists Clara Kumagai and John Patrick McHugh in UCC Library’s Creative Zone on March 26th, 2026. They discuss their writing careers and recent acclaimed publications.
Clara Kumagai is from Canada, Japan and Ireland. Her debut novel, Catfish Rolling, received the 2024 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award. Her second novel, Songs for Ghosts, was named one of the Best Irish Books of 2025 by Children’s Books Ireland, and has been longlisted for the 2026 YOTO Carnegie Medal for Writing.
John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His work has appeared in the Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Banshee, Tolka, and Granta and been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. He is the author of the short story collection Pure Gold and the novel Fun and Games.
We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Intro music: Bog Jazz - Bad Ducks
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