Photo credit ©Rolex/Anoush Abrar

Colin Barrett in conversation with Ken Armstrong

(Note: This event immediately follows the short story reading and prize-giving at 7pm)

 Wild Atlantic Words’ 2026 short story competition judge Colin Barrett is the author of the short story collections Young Skins (2013), Homesickness (2022) and the novel Wild Houses (2024). In the year of its publication, Young Skins was the winner of the Guardian First book award, The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize and the Rooney Prize for Literature. Homesickness was a 2022 Irish Times and New Yorker Book of the year, and included in the 2022 New York Times 100 notable books of the year.  His novel Wild Houses was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and won the Nero Debut Fiction Prize. His short fiction has appeared regularly in The Stinging Fly, Harpers and The New Yorker, among many other journals and magazines.

Colin was one of the Observer New Review's 10 Best New Novelists of the Year 2024, is a former '5 under 35' National Book Award Winner in the United States, and was a 2018-20 Rolex Protégé in Literature for the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Program, mentored by Colm Toibin. He is the current Writer in Residence at DCU.