Irish authors among 100 essential female reads

Marian Keyes, Eimear McBride, and Edna O’Brien join JK Rowling and Harper Lee on a list of the 100 essential books by female writers from the past 100 years, according to a new poll.

These authors appear alongside the likes of Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, Sylvia Plath, and Hilary Mantel on the list, unveiled by the Hay Festival.

The annual literary and arts event in Wales is this year celebrating literature penned by women since 1918 to mark the centenary of women first gaining the right to vote.