Patrick McCabe with David Murphy and Michael Lightborne

This literary strand of Cork Midsummer Festival will explore, through cross artform collaboration, performance and conversation, the artistic frequencies, echoes and fever dreams over which we broadcast self and other culture, community, presence and absence.

Patrick McCabe is the author of eleven novels, including The Butcher Boy, The Dead School, Breakfast on Pluto, Winterwood, Heartland, Poguemahone, and the forthcoming Goldengrove (2025). His work has been adapted for both stage and screen, with two novels shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He is also the recipient of the Irish Times Irish Literature Award for Fiction and the Irish Independent Irish Novel of the Year. In addition to fiction, McCabe has written extensively for radio, stage, and screen, and is a member of Aosdána. His multimedia installation on Brendan Behan was exhibited to critical acclaim at MoLI (Museum of Literature Ireland) in Dublin in 2024. Born in 1955 in Clones, County Monaghan, McCabe continues to live and work in Ireland.

David Murphy is a pedal steel guitarist whose work spans Americana, folk, ambient, and experimental music, with contributions to film and collaborations with The Lost Brothers, John Blek, Ordnance Survey, Arborist, The Delines, Willy Vlautin, M. Ward, and Jolie Holland. His debut album Cuimhne Ghlinn: Explorations in Irish Music for Pedal Steel Guitar (Rollercoaster Records) reimagines traditional Irish harp tunes through pedal steel. With Ether Ensemble, Murphy presents these works in a modern Irish context, blending pedal steel with cello, violin, piano, harp, and electronics. He has performed at Kilkenny Arts Festival, Electric Picnic, Celtic Connections, Cork Opera House, TG4’s Fleadh Cheoil, and RTÉ’s Other Voices. Murphy continues to expand the instrument’s reach, linking pedal steel with Ireland’s musical heritage.

Michael Lightborne is an artist, writer, and researcher whose work explores sound, environment, and cinema. Recent albums include Dormant Volcanoes of Ireland (Gleo Records, 2025) and Slí na Fírinne (The Department of Energy, 2022), with sound featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC 6 Music, NTS, WFMU, and Resonance FM. His moving image work has shown at Cork Film Festival, Flatpack, Cinecity Melbourne, and Thessaloniki Queer Arts Festival. He is the author of the forthcoming Wild Sound: Cinema and the Sonic Environment (Bloomsbury, 2025), and has published essays on sonic space, projection, and experimental film. Lightborne also hosts Western Freqs on éist radio. As Michael Pigott, he is Reader in Film Studies at the University of Warwick, where he teaches and writes on film, video art, and sound. He divides his time between North Cork and Birmingham.