Caoilinn Hughes is the author of Orchid & the Wasp (Oneworld 2018), which won the Collyer Bristow Prize, was shortlisted for the Hearst Big Book Awards, the Butler Literary Award and longlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. Her poetry collection, Gathering Evidence (Carcanet 2014), won the Shine/Strong Award and was shortlisted for four other prizes. Her work has appeared in Granta, POETRY, Tin House, Best British Poetry, BBC Radio 3 and elsewhere.

She completed her BA and MA at Queen's, and has a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She was recently Visiting Writer at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. For her short fiction, she won The Moth International Short Story Prize 2018 and an O.Henry Prize in 2019.

The Wild Laughter is Caoiinn's much anticiated second novel, published by Oneworld in 2020.  

Set in Ireland over the long fallout of the 2008 economic crash, the novel is a sharp snapshot of a family and a nation suddenly unmoored. This epic-in-miniature explores cowardice and sacrifice, faith rewarded and abandoned, the stories we tell ourselves and the ones we resist. Hilarious, poignant and utterly fresh, The Wild Laughter cements Caoilinn Hughes' position as one of Ireland's most audacious, nuanced and insightful young writers. 

Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions about the novel in a live Q&A session.  If you haven’t already read The Wild Laughter click here to find out how where you can buy a copy and join the discussion.

To register your attendance for this event email alumni@qub.ac.uk