This year the Belfast Book Festival is asking the public to “take a shelfie”, sharing a photo of beloved books that have greatly influenced their life, way of thinking or that bring them joy with each re-read.
In support of this, six authors from the Belfast Book Festival’s 2025 programme share one book that holds permanent residency on their bookshelf.
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively - chosen by Neil Hegarty
On a shelf in my study sits a Sellotaped-together copy of Penelope Lively’s classic children’s novel The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, which won the Carnegie Medal in 1973. I often look at it, and each time I’m reminded of its lasting impact on me. The book deals with memory, and with the influence of the past upon the present – with themes that register in my own writing today, and which I can trace back directly to this formative reading experience.
Children’s books can do this: they can set you up for life – they can, in other words, change your life.
Neil Hegarty, is a writer from Derry, Northern Ireland. Hegarty’s novels include The Jewel; and Inch Levels, which was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year Award.
Beloved by Toni Morrison - chosen by Babita Sharma
This book holds a permanent place on my bookshelf because of its haunting power and poetic complexity. The novel explores the traumatic legacy of slavery through Sethe, a mother haunted by the ghost of her lost child. Morrison’s language is both beautiful and unsettling, weaving a fragmented narrative that immerses you in the characters’ pain and resilience. The story’s honesty about the horrors of slavery and its psychological scars left me deeply moved. Beloved is unforgettable and timeless. Everyone should experience its profound impact, at least once.
Babita Sharma is a journalist, broadcaster and author of The Corner Shop and the Priya Mistry series.
Vivien Leigh by Hugo Vickers - chosen by Eimear McBride
Conservative estimates suggest at least 3,000 permanent residents but a survivor from my early teens is Hugo Vicker’s biography of Vivien Leigh. Famed for Oscar-winning roles in Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire, as well as her tumultuous marriage to Laurence Olivier, Leigh was a fascinating woman. Vickers’ exquisite exploration of her life and career, as well as the tragedy of her manic depression in an era of poor understanding and treatment, has led to a lifelong interest in the gap between private and public selves in the lives of creative people.
Eimear McBride is the author of four novels: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, The Lesser Bohemians, Strange Hotel and The City Changes Its Face. She held the inaugural Creative Fellowship at the Beckett Research Centre, University of Reading and is the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Goldsmiths Prize, Kerry Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - chosen by Oliver Jeffers
My dad recommended Joseph Heller’s commentary on the absurdity of war, Catch-22, when I was about 16. I started it, but couldn’t make any sense of it. That was entirely the point, at least to begin with, and I gave up about a dozen pages in. About 10 years later, as we discussed another looming crisis, he urged me to try again. I did. And it is, to this day, one of the only books that has ever given me a physical reaction, as what began as a swirling, discordant cacophony of writing found its harmony in a beautiful and sudden crescendo. An absurd book I return to time and again to make sense of humanity’s recurring conflicts.
Oliver Jeffers is an Australian-born Northern Irish artist, illustrator and writer. His award-winning and bestselling picture books include The Day the Crayons Quit, How to Catch a Star, What We’ll Build
I Like This Poem: A Collection of Best-Loved Poems Chosen by Children for Other Children - chosen by Wendy Erskine
I Like This Poem is a 1979 poetry anthology, edited by Kaye Webb, and published in the International Year of the Child. Each poem included was actually chosen by a child and accompanied by an explanation as to why they picked it. It’s a pretty brilliant, unusual selection: Langston Hughes, William Blake and Stevie Smith are there. And the kids’ justifications were so singular and engaging! The grubbiest pages denote my favourites – a poem about ageing boxers and another about a dead bird. The 10-year-old me felt like I could be welcomed into the poetry club by these kid selectors, if I knew them. It was the gateway book for me, I suppose you might say.
Wendy Erskine is the author of two short story collections, Sweet Home and Dance Move. Her debut novel, The Benefactors, is published next month.
Henry and June by Anaïs Nin - chosen by Paul McVeigh
I have a copy of Henry and June by Anaïs Nin that was gifted to me by a friend while I was at university 35 years ago. I’d never read anything like it before. I remember as a young man reading it on a tube in London and getting off at a station and I couldn’t meet anyone’s eye, I felt so affected by it. Her fearlessness in exploring art, life and particularly her sexuality was a watershed moment for me in pursuit of my own truth. It is on a shelf in my living room; it’s the only book I know exactly where it sits and my eyes go there from time to time and rest on it.
The Belfast Book Festival will take place from June 5th-12th all under the one roof at The Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast. The 15th edition of the festival promises a packed programme of poetry, fiction, crimewriting, journalism, screenwriting, a memorable exhibition plus developmental opportunities via expert-led discussions and workshops. Tickets on sale at: belfastbookfestival.com
