This year, the Belfast Book Festival invites the public to share their “shelfies,” offering a glimpse into the books that have profoundly influenced their lives, their thinking, or simply bring them joy every time they’re revisited.
In support of this initiative, six authors featured in the Belfast Book Festival’s 2025 programme reveal one book that has earned a permanent spot on their bookshelves.
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively – Chosen by Neil Hegarty
On a shelf in my study, there resides a well-worn copy of The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, a classic children’s novel by Penelope Lively that won the Carnegie Medal in 1973. Its pages, taped together, are a testament to the lasting impact this book had on me. The novel explores memory and the influence of the past on the present—themes that resonate deeply in my own writing today. This early reading experience helped shape my understanding of how stories can anchor us in time, revealing the long-reaching threads of our lives.
Children’s literature can set the stage for the rest of one’s life, becoming a lens through which we see the world, and this book did just that for me.
Beloved by Toni Morrison – Chosen by Babita Sharma
Beloved by Toni Morrison holds a permanent place on my bookshelf for its haunting power and poetic complexity. The novel tackles the harrowing legacy of slavery through the character of Sethe, a mother haunted by the ghost of her lost child. Morrison’s prose is both beautiful and unsettling, intricately weaving a fragmented narrative that immerses readers in the characters’ pain and resilience.
The novel’s raw honesty about the psychological scars left by slavery moved me profoundly. Beloved is a timeless, unforgettable work that everyone should experience 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
While conservative estimates suggest my bookshelf houses at least 3,000 books, one that has remained a fixture since my teenage years is Vivien Leigh, a biography by Hugo Vickers. Leigh, renowned for her roles in Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire, is also remembered for her turbulent marriage to Laurence Olivier and her battle with manic depression—an illness that was little understood in her time.
Vickers’ exploration of Leigh’s life and career has deeply influenced my own interest in the contrast between the public and private lives of creative people, a theme that continues to intrigue me.
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 has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – Chosen by Oliver Jeffers
I first encountered Catch-22 by Joseph Heller at the age of 16, when my father recommended it as a commentary on the absurdity of war. At the time, I couldn’t make sense of it, which, as I would later realize, was part of its brilliance. After giving up early in my first attempt, I returned to it a decade later, and this time, the disorienting chaos of the narrative revealed its underlying harmony in a striking, almost musical, crescendo.
Catch-22 is a book I return to repeatedly, each time attempting to make sense of the recurring human conflicts it so brilliantly exposes.
Oliver Jeffers is an Australian-born Northern Irish artist, illustrator, and writer. His award-winning picture books include The Day the Crayons Quit, How to Catch a Star, and 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, a 1979 poetry anthology edited by Kaye Webb, is a book that continues to resonate with me. Each poem in the collection was chosen by a child and accompanied by a personal explanation for their selection. This unconventional approach to compiling poems captivated me, and it introduced me to the works of Langston Hughes, William Blake, and Stevie Smith—poets whose words still speak to me today.
The poems about aging boxers and a dead bird became some of my earliest literary touchstones. This book, which felt like a secret club that I was invited into, was my gateway into the world of poetry.
Wendy Erskine is the author of two short story collections, Sweet Home and Dance Move. Her debut novel, The Benefactors, is set for release next month.
Henry and June by Anaïs Nin – Chosen by Paul McVeigh
Henry and June by Anaïs Nin, a book gifted to me by a friend during my university years, continues to reside on my bookshelf, holding a unique place in my life. As a young man, I read it on the London Underground, and it profoundly affected me. Nin’s fearless exploration of art, life, and particularly her sexuality, marked a pivotal moment in my own quest for truth and self-expression.
The book remains the only one I can always pinpoint on my shelf, and I often find my gaze resting on it. Its impact on my understanding of intimacy and personal freedom cannot be overstated.
