“The Answer to Every Problem”? Narratives of Boomtime Ireland: Service by Sarah Gilmartin, translated by Valeria Rigoldi In Conversation with the Author and her Italian Translator

Born in Limerick in 1982, Sarah Gilmartin is one of Ireland’s most talented literary voices of this decade. An arts journalist and a lecturer at DCU, she made her debut with short stories that have appeared in The Dublin Review, The Tangerine and The Stinging Fly, with The Wife receiving the Máirtín Crawford Short Story Award in 2020. Her novel Dinner Party (2021) was shortlisted for the Irish Book Award and the Kate O’Brian Award, and Service (2023) was top book of summer for The Washington Post. In 2025, Gilmartin became the Arts Council Writer-in-Residence at DCU, and Service was published as Il ristorante in Valeria Raimondi’s translation. What follows explores the creative work of both Gilmartin and her Italian translator, with special attention to Service and its compelling read.