Youth audiobook, read by Florence Adebambo (Princess), Gabriel Adewusi (Angel), Jordanne Jones (Tanya), Conall Keating (Dean), Kate Gilmore (Narrator)

Duration: 7 hours, 2 minutes

Youth by Kevin Curran dives into the lives of four teenagers in Ireland’s most diverse town, Balbriggan. Angel is about to finish school and discover if Drill music and his YouTube fame can deliver on their promises. Princess is battling to escape her claustrophobic surroundings and go to university. Dean is ready to come out from under his famous father’s shadow. Tanya, struggling with the spotlight of internet infamy, is still posting her dream life for all of her faithful followers.

Isolated and disorientated by the white noise and insurmountable expectations of adolescence, our protagonists are desperate to find anything that helps them belong. Oblivious to each other’s presence, potential and struggles, they pass on the street as strangers. But when they do intersect, the connections they make will change the course of their lives.

Twenty-first century life – hyper-sexualized, social media saturated, anxiety-plagued – is here. Living inside its characters’ heads, and negotiating their interior landscapes, this book is a love song to the possibilities of youth.

Curran’s evocative writing yields the authenticity this novel demands. An instinctive affection and admiration for the characters portrayed in Youth takes the reader on a journey through streets less travelled.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin Curran is from Balbriggan and has been a secondary-school teacher in his hometown for over a decade. His fiction largely concentrates on working class life in the Dublin suburbs. His first novel, Beatsploitation, was published in 2013 and brought him national attention due to his depiction of Ireland’s new multicultural landscape. His second novel, Citizens, was published to critical acclaim in 2016, and he has published numerous short stories in major anthologies and literary journals such as The Stinging Fly. He has also written non-fiction for The Guardian and The Observer.

ABOUT THE YOUTH AUDIOBOOK NARRATORS
Florence Adebambo was born and raised in Dublin to Nigerian parents and first appeared in the role of Flora in RTÉ’s crime drama ‘Taken Down’. She has also appeared in ‘Finding Joy’, short film ‘Cáilín Álainn’, ‘Dear Ireland’ (Abbey Theatre) as well as You Are Not My Mother, a feature film which had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival 2021. As well as featuring in recent films and TV, Florence appeared in the video for Hozier’s song ‘Nina Cried Power’.

Gabriel Adewusi is a Nigerian-Irish screen and stage actor based in Dublin. He has trained at the Gaiety School of Acting as well as the Bow Street Academy for Screen Acting. Gabriel is a dynamic and versatile actor. On screen, he most recently starred in Viaplay’s ‘North Sea Connection’ and Netflix’s ‘The Problem With People’. On stage, he is currently on tour with Druid’s ‘DruidO’Casey’.

Jordanne Jones is an award-winning actress, having earned the Dublin Critics’ Circle Award and IFTA nomination for her debut in Frank Berry’s ‘I Used to Live Here’.  Jordanne was awarded Best Newcomer at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2018 and was named as one of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow 2019.  As well as TV and feature film, Jordanne has featured in short films for spoken word artist and actor Emmet Kirwan and musicians Dermot Kennedy and Lilla Vargen.

Conall Keating is a graduate of the Gaiety School of acting and co-starred in the acclaimed play ‘Leper and Chip’ written by Lee Coffey which was nominated for the Broadway Baby 5 Star Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the National Student Drama Award for Best Play in 2015.  Since then, Conall has featured in many films, TV and most recently in the Abbey Theatre’s 24 hour plays in 2023.

Kate Gilmore is an award-winning actor and writer from Dublin. She has an extensive theatre career, performing in shows such as ‘The Snapper’, ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘PIAF’ and  ‘A Christmas Carol’. She won the Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2017. As a writer, her short film ‘Someday Sadie’ travelled to festivals nationally and internationally and is now in development as a feature film with Screen Ireland.

PRAISE FOR YOUTH BY KEVIN CURRAN

‘Vibrant and punchy … this excellent production has a full cast and I’d highly recommend it as an audiobook.’ The Late Night Literary Club

Listen to Kevin Curran and Gabriel Adewusi (audiobook voice actor for Angel) being interviewed on RTÉ Culture File here

 Listen to Kevin Curran on Newstalk’s Moncrieff Show here

Read an exclusive extract from Youth by Kevin Curran on RTÉ Culture here

‘I’m really interested in the role language plays in Youth … this is what makes it such a stand-out book. … It is a novel that is lyrical in its movement – almost musical – and yet also cinematic. Place, pace and rhythm are essential components – characters? – in this novel. It feels as if you walked the streets of Balbriggan, if not literally, then in your head, like Joyce did for Ulysses but at the same time, Youth taps into the universality of human experience.’ SHAUNA GILLIGAN, WRITERS CHAT

‘Youth is a tender, unsentimental portrait of young Ireland.’ ANNA CAREY, IRISH TIMES

‘Kevin Curran’s fine new novel is ambitious. Expansively titled (Tolstoy, Conrad and Coetzee chose it too), its excellence is in particularities, the fine detail of the lives of four teenagers in a specific place at a specific time.’ JULIAN GIRDHAM

‘Youth is current. It’s Here and Now! You feel the language of Youth in your very pulse.’ MELATU UCHE OKORIE

‘Cocky, funny, complex, vulnerable – the kids in Youth deserve to be treated with seriousness, compassion and focus. And that is exactly what Curran does with such energy and confidence in this vibrant, important novel.’ WENDY ERSKINE

‘A vivid and memorable portrait of a new emerging city from a gifted and committed writer.’ KEVIN BARRY

‘Curran animates the precise, minute-to-minute oscillation between triumph and catastrophe that is adolescence. All the embarrassments, missteps, bluffs, and vulnerabilities of youth are here. And all the yearning too. He captures the voices of a diverse young Ireland, harried by racism, exploitation, and lack of opportunity, battling with itself for itself. His great skill is to carry us along so completely and so confidently, and his affection for his characters is infectious. I’m hoping against hope that these kids will be alright. It could go either way.’ KEITH RIDGWAY

‘Vibrant and immersive – it captures brilliantly the fragile confidence that lies at the heart of youth culture.’ RÓNÁN HESSION

‘Youth is a tour de force. A vital novel that embraces the tender vulnerability and brutality of adolescence. Curran vividly captures the lives of Irish young people trying to figure out who they are and what they want with evocative and edgy prose. Stunning. A must read.’ OLIVIA FITZSIMONS

‘An atmospheric, immersive novel, Youth is more than painstakingly faithful to its location – it’s faithful to the real-life experiences represented by its characters … The obvious comparison is with Roddy Doyle’s Barrytown novels, yet the style of Youth reminded me more of reading Irvine Welsh for the first time 30 years ago, and giving myself up to its language and rhythms, ready to go wherever it was taking me. Youth’s multi-narrative style lends itself perfectly to the audiobook. … It is an exceptional novel, joyous and hopeful. For all the divisive, anxiety-plagued reality of social media saturation, Youth champions solidarity and compassion.’ HENRIETTA MCKERVEY, IRISH TIMES

‘You cannot teach where I teach, and be in my classroom and not feel uplifted, or have hope for the future.’ Read an interview with Kevin Curran in the Irish Times here

PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS WORK
‘Kevin Curran’s twenty-first century … is a thrilling dispatch from life lived amid the ruins of idealism.’ ROB DOYLE

‘Kevin Curran … [writes] with confidence and brio.’ COLIN BARRETT

‘“The isolation of whole communities can be glimpsed through stories of marginalised individuals.” Kevin Curran exemplifies this idea.’ SALLY ROONEY

‘[Curran has] some big things to say about Ireland, past and present.’ THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST

‘Brings an edge of hard-won resolve to his tale while keeping mindful of broader social issues.’ SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

‘A writer of real perception and sensitivity.’ IRISH INDEPENDENT

‘Razor-sharp contemporary cultural commentary.’ HOT PRESS

‘Hugely sympathetic characters that have you wishing them on at every page turn. I read it in three sittings. Gripping.’ AMAZON CUSTOMER

YOUTH AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION
This title uses the Glassboxx service for delivery of the Youth audiobook – you can download the Glassboxx app on your iOS or Android phone or tablet, or Windows or Mac computer to listen.