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21 Oct 2025

Bestselling author to give talk at Kilkenny library

Author Edel Coffey will share her experience of becoming an author at Loughboy library

Edel Coffey

Author Edel Coffey will share her experience of becoming an author at Loughboy library on November 25

Would you like to meet one of Ireland's bestselling authors and learn from their experience of managing the transition from journalist to fiction writer? 

Then take note of an exciting event scheduled for Loughboy Library on November 25 when Irish author Edel Coffey will appear personally in Kilkenny to talk about her writing career which spans working as a columnist with the Irish Examiner,  The Irish Times and the Sunday Business Post and as a book editor for the Irish Independent, to writing her first novel.

Edel Coffey is an Irish journalist and broadcaster who lives in Galway with her husband and children. She began work as an arts journalist and editor with the Sunday Tribune. She has since worked as a presenter and reporter with RTE Radio, editor of the Irish Independent Weekend magazine and as Books Editor of the Irish Independent.

Her debut novel Breaking Point was acquired by Darcy Nicholson, Editorial Director at Sphere in September 2020 after a multi-publisher auction and was published in January 2022

Breaking Point tells the story of Susannah, a frighteningly successful doctor with a husband and two young children. One morning, she leaves her youngest in the car, only realising when it is too late. From this harrowing beginning, unfolds a gruelling court case where Susannah is tried for negligence in the court room and for daring to try to have it all in the media – it is a modern witch hunt.

Edel’s debut is at once a thrilling suspense novel with the requisite twists and turns, and a rumination on what it means to be a successful woman with children today.

It promises to be a riveting evening especially for any aspiring Kilkenny authors. 

Praise for Breaking Point has been universal: 

“Breaking Point is raw, compelling, and ground-breaking; Coffey puts the life of working mothers under a microscope. To say I loved it is an understatement, I expect it will be a huge success” - Liz Nugent

“A gripping, compulsive page turner about what we expect from women, especially mothers. It’s going to be a massive hit” - Marian Keyes

“This very human story examines the heavy burden on working mothers, spinning the innumerable plates of parenting and career. Are working women set up to lose, to fail their children, and to fail themselves? Shocking, thought-provoking, and necessary, Breaking Point will change hearts and minds” - Frances Macken, author of You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here

“This novel about modern motherhood stretched beyond capacity merits bestseller status. And a movie too” - Sunday Independent

“Breaking Point has all the hallmarks of a future bestseller. Written in an economical, stripped-back style, it has the pace, setting and glamour of a Hollywood thriller… Coffey gives us an outstandingly good portrait of a woman on trial who discovers too late she is entirely the wrong person to win sympathy from others” - Jane Casey, The Irish Times

“Hugely compelling - I devoured it in a day . . . a compulsive debut that keeps you turning its pages” - Sunday Business Post

“Skilfully explores what it means to be a woman trying to juggle it all - and the consequences when tragedy strikes. You won't be able to put this down” - Image Magazine

“This debut novel from Edel Coffey craftily spins out that nightmare scenario of a clock you can't turn back, a situation you can't fix and how quickly envy turns to universal hate” - Sunday Life Magazine

Learn more at: www.kilkennylibrary.ie/eng/whats_on/library-event-calendar/meet-the-author-loughboy-library.html

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