It has also featured staged readings of her plays, including Shay Linehan’s adaptation of her Aches & Pains, and excerpts from her journalism. Writers who have taken part include Catherine Dunne, Diarmaid Ferriter, Patricia Scanlan, Joseph O’Connor, Martina Devlin, Declan Hughes, and Frank McGuinness.

Self-described as a “literary event with Maeve Binchy at its heart”, Echoes features the best of Irish writing and contemporary writers. Now in its third year, and attracting an international audience, Echoes is programmed and hosted by Dalkey Castle and Heritage Centre in collaboration with Gordon Snell. Green was speaking at the inaugural Echoes literary weekend in October 2017. We have the sound of her voice, we have her writing. In 2017, her long-time agent and friend Christine Green said: “I found myself thinking that Maeve is gone but we don’t have to believe it. Translated into 37 languages – the most recent being Korean – her influence is so prevalent that it’s hard sometimes to think of her as no longer writing and publishing. She remains one of Ireland’s most popular writers: her novels have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and counting. Maeve, who died in July 2012, would have turned 80 today. They had a tradition of writing each other jokey verse to celebrate. Maeve Binchy and her husband Gordon Snell always made a big thing of birthdays.

Echoes by Maeve Binchy