Described by the Washington Post as “one of the greatest stylists alive”, Tessa Hadley has published eight novels and three collections of short stories. Beloved of writers such as Hilary Mantel, Colm Tóibín, Zadie Smith and Anne Enright, she has contributed stories to The New Yorker since 2002. Hadley’s work is a triumph of restraint and superbly rich prose.  She explores with fond exactitude the burdens and losses her characters live with as they negotiate their way through life.

Tessa Hadley writes with clear-eyed affection for her characters and a lack of judgement about decisions that can turn a life around with devastating impact. Her latest novel, Free Love, set in the 1960s, is a fascinating exploration of what transpires when a married woman falls for a much younger man, upending her own settled family life and setting off ripples that will entangle all around her.

EBCF is delighted to welcome this wonderful writer in 2023. Tessa will be in conversation with Bríona Nic Dhiarmada, (Kathleen O’Donnell Professor Emerita of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame in the U.S., film maker and writer).

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