12th January 2026: Pádraig Ó Tuama and Reshma Ruia

Pádraig Ó Tuama (b. 1975, Ireland) is a poet with interests in language, violence, power, and religion. He is the host of On Being’s Poetry Unbound and has published volumes of poetry, essays, a memoir and theology. 2025 saw the publication of Kitchen Hymns, a volume of original poems (CHEERIO and Copper Canyon Press), and the anthology 44 Poems on Being with Each Other; A Poetry Unbound Collection (Canongate and WW Norton). He lives in Belfast and New York City.

Reshma Ruia is the author of two novels, Something Black in the Lentil Soup, and Still Lives, winner of the 2023 Diverse Book Readers’ Choice Award and longlisted for the 2023 Peoples Book Award.  She has published a poetry collection, A Dinner Party in the Home Counties, winner of the 2019 Word Masala Award and a short story collection, Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness, shortlisted for the 2022  Eastern Eye ACTA Award. Her poetry and fiction has been commissioned by the BBC, Manchester Literature Festival and University of Cumbria among others. She is the co-founder of The Whole Kahani, a writers’ collective of British South Asian writers and a trustee of Manchester City of Literature board.

www.reshmaruia.com

www.thewholekahani.com