Staying Alive by Roisín O’Donnell
A day paddleboarding at the beach takes a dangerous turn for two women when they are swept further out to sea.
An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Roisín O’Donnell. Read by Aoibhéann McCann.
The Author.
Roisín O’Donnell is an award-winning Irish author whose debut novel ‘Nesting’ became an instant Sunday Times and Irish Times bestseller and was the 2025 An Post Irish Book Award Novel of the Year winner. ‘Nesting’ was also awarded the 2026 BBC Radio 2 Book Club Award and featured in the Observer Best New Novelists 2025. Roisín’s short story collection ‘Wild Quiet’ was published in 2016 and was shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award and longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Her stories have been published in The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times and been broadcast on RTÉ Radio.
Writer: Roisín O’Donnell
Reader: Aoibhéann McCann
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
On radio
More episodes
Broadcasts
- Fri 14 Aug 202615:45BBC Radio 4
- Sun 16 Aug 202623:45BBC Radio 4
